International Youth Day: Government Has No Excuses Not Impacting On Citizens

By Bukar BOLORI

Government have no excuses to make on why the life of the citizens are not being impacted as it remains accountable for policies that are not compatible to the needs of its people.

This was the main thrust at the celebration of the International Youth Day in Abuja on Monday.

This year celebrates the power and potential of young people, focusing on how government will be more committed to action and held accountable for the policies that are not compatible to the needs of citizens, and key discussions centered on gender equality, climate action, decent work, and employability.

Tagged, “From Awareness to Action: empowering youth in Nigeria for the SDGs,” stakeholders said more actions are needed since we are all aware of the problem youth are facing, which include bridging digital divides, boosting investments in education, critical thinking and information literacy, tackling the gender biases that often dominate the tech industry, and supporting young innovators in expanding digital solutions in bringing about changes we all yearning for and development.

The communication manager (NGYouthSDGs), Aliyu Yusuf speaking at the celebration, said the goal and objective of the organisation, the Nigeria Youth SDGs (NGYouthSDGs) registered as Network of Youth for Sustainable Initiative is a youth led civil society organisation advocating for meaningful youth engagement in policies and programmes for youth to lead and thrive.

He added that NGYouthSDGs focuses on education and capacity development, livelihoods and employment and civic participation for young people.

He noted that NGYouthSDGs began as an unregistered youth group in 2017 and got registered in 2021 to ensure that it can influence the process of Nigeria achieving sustainable development with the support of her young people”.

He further recognized the support of the following organisations: Oxfam in Nigeria, African Activists for Climate Justice, Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation, International Labour Organisation. Amnesty International Nigeria, Aid for Rural Education Advancement Initiative, and Connected Development.

He said this are amazing organisations working to improve the lives of people, especially youth and women and involved in part of the efforts to demand a people-focused approach to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Speaking at the event, the Programme Manager, Opeyemi Ogundeji said NGYouthSDGs has been mobilising efforts for meaningful youth engagement in policies and programmes for young people to lead and thrive.

She said: “We believe that young people have the power. They have the strength and they have the creative ideas to lead change. And one of the things that we do is that we afford this theory of change, that’s where young people have the knowledge and skills to drive systemic issues, right. They’ll be able to also influence their peers and also their stakeholders”.

Communications Officer, Oxfam in Nigeria, Maxwell Osarenkhoe said: “What Oxfam does is influencing policies that advocate for the rural people, for the poor and vulnerable in our communities, and also help to make better living by putting down legacy projects that focuses on food security and also improving livelihoods. We’ve been doing this for over the last four years, and under the last project, which is the work in progress, we’ve been actively engaging youths in SME development to improve their quality, to improve their standard, and also give them better skills that will help them compete in the 21st century market”.

The international Youth Day 2024 is an initiative that celebrates the qualities of young people and that recognises the challenges that today’s youth can face and also provide exemplary youth who are doing fine in their respective occupation which other youth can emulate.