The Federal Government has commenced nationwide registration of Nigerians aged 15 to 35 under the National Youth Data Bank, NYDB, to build a comprehensive database of the country’s youth population and link them with employment, skills and other opportunities.
Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja while launching the National Youth Data Bank project.
Olawande said the initiative would capture youths in both the formal and informal sectors, including those engaged in agriculture, sports, creative industries and technology.
He said the availability of reliable data on young Nigerians would enable government to better understand their needs, skills and locations, thereby improving the planning and implementation of youth development programmes.
The minister said the database would provide answers to critical questions about the country’s youth population, including who they are, where they are, what they can do and what opportunities they require.
He stressed that the initiative was a continuous government programme and not an electoral exercise.
Olawande said: “We also want to get the formal and the informal youth to make sure that they are part of this. We want everybody.
“We even want to know the youth in agriculture. We want to know the youth in sport. We want to know all those in creative tech and all that, so that even when we say some people need jobs, we know, okay, these people need skills.”
Also speaking, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of POGMA Nigeria Limited, the technical partner to the project, Otunba Oluyinka Akerele, said registration points had been established in educational institutions and would be extended to local government areas and wards across the country.
He said the exercise would cover youths in secondary schools, polytechnics, universities and colleges of education, as well as those in informal employment and rural communities.
“For the Nigerian youth registration, we have created cluster points in schools, polytechnics, universities, College of Education. These are targets for the formal sectors,” Akerele said.
According to him, enumerators would be deployed across the 774 local government areas to register youths, including those in hard-to-reach communities.
Akerele urged young Nigerians to participate in the exercise, saying registration would enable government to identify them and determine how best to connect them with available opportunities.
“All we appeal to our youth to do is to embrace the programme, go out en masse and be registered. It is only when you are registered that we know who you are, where you are, and how you can benefit from the supposed government dividend of democracy,” he said.
He said the registration age bracket of 15 to 35 was in line with the Nigerian Youth Policy.
“You are addressed as a youth in Nigeria once you are 15, and once you are 35, you still remain a youth,” Akerele said.
He added that the database would be regularly updated to accommodate young Nigerians who attain the eligible age.
“For those that are not up to 15, that’s why you have an updating, just like you have with INEC. Once they are 15, our enumerators are there to capture them,” he said.
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