Mr. Sunday Dare, the minister of youth and sports, has challenged Nigerian youth to develop the entrepreneurial skills required to make a difference in the global workplace and contribute to the country’s economic prosperity.
Dare, speaking during the Presidential Communications Team’s special weekly Ministerial briefings, said the Sports Ministry has trained 300,000 youth in various sectors over the last two years, pushing youth to modify their unfavorable impressions of the government’s programs and activities.
The Minister said although apathy and a lack of trust between government and the younger generation is a global phenomenon there should be deliberate efforts to bridge the gaps that currently exist and build public trust.
“There is a need to build the confidence and trust of our youth in the programs and initiatives of the Government. In the last six years, there have been several key youth initiatives and programs in the different agencies and ministries. Despite efforts to create awareness about them, the responses were not encouraging.
“I counted up to forty-six different youth programs that this administration put together, because we commissioned research on it when I got into office, so this statement of mine is data-based, but only a few of our young people took advantage of them.
“For some of our programs, we had to change our approach and get credible Strategic Implementation Partners (SIPs) on board. These partners are competent, have capacity and integrity. They are trusted names and brands. With them, onboard, we got better results and feedback for our programs.
“In all the states where we had applications, only about ten percent met our criteria to become beneficiaries and that reveals the need for our youth to develop new skills that will make them fit and effective in the global market,” Dare stated.
Looking ahead, the Minister expressed confidence that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will guarantee that more young benefit from his ministry’s efforts.
“The years ahead hold so much promise for the Nigerian youth because the plan is to upscale the number of those that will benefit from our programs. As a Government, we will be very deliberate about this.
“The Ministry wants to touch more young people, positively engage them, and spread our programs wider than we have done so far. That explains my call for the youth to begin to trust the Government more,” he concluded.
Ada Peter
