Nigeria on the path to harness youth potentials – UNFPA

Fri, May 31, 2019 | By publisher


Youth

THE United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, has said that Nigeria was on the road map to harness the potential of young people and empower them for a sustainable development.

Mr Pashe Dasogot, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, UNFPA, Nigeria, made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Dasogot said “2019 is a celebratory year for UNFPA as it marks 50th Anniversary of the establishment of UNFPA and 25th Anniversary of International Conference on Population and Development.

“One of our greatest achievements recently in Nigeria is that we have been trying to sensitise the government to harness the demographic dividends.

“Today, Nigeria has launched the road map to harness the demographic dividend, and have come up with interventions to invest in young people in areas of employment, entrepreneurship, health, education and youth empowerment.

“It is an AU road map agenda, initiated in 2016, which designed a road map in 2017 on the theme “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investment in Youths’’; directing all countries to launch and implement the road map,’’ he said.

Dasogot said that young people in Nigeria formed about one-third of its population, who are very energetic and of high intellect.

He highlighted some interventions that would help Nigeria harness the potential of young people for a sustainable development to include, the bill passed by the President on “Not Too Young to Run Bill’’, which is aimed at reducing the age limit of people seeking political offices in Nigeria.

He said others include: continued support for family planning, to meet the needs of young people; capacity building, job creation, participation of young people in policy making and legislature, among others.

Dasogot said“Our President has promised to take Nigeria to a greater height; we are confident that with support from donors, development partners and UN agencies such as UNFPA, we can achieve our mandate.” (NAN)

– May 31, 2019 @ 16:57 GMT |

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