Minister of Youth and Sport Development, Mr Sunday Dare, has assured that the Ministry will build on the capacity of programmes already earmarked for the youth and scale them up to reach more beneficiaries in pursuit of government’s objective of employment and wealth creation.
The Minister, who addressed participants of N-Power Software at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday during a working visit, promised that opportunities to be created from such expanded programmes will be accessible to all interested youth.
Mr. Dare said, “One of the plans we have is DY.NG; it is a plan to train our youth to make them employable. The ministry will partner with this programme (N-Power Software) to make sure that we ratchet up this programme. So that in the coming year we can reach more of you in the thousands.
“We would build on the capacity of the programmes already earmarked for the youth. We will not reinvent the wheel. The Ministry will be able to bring several of your colleagues to benefit. We have youth centres spread across the country that we will use to achieve this.”
To further explain, Mr. Dare said, “It will be a transparent system because there will be a digital footprint. Wherever you are in this country, you have the opportunity to access whatever programme there are for youth in this country.”
The Minister expressed delight at N-Power Software organised by the Presidency, saying the youth were on their way to being part of the digital wealth economy of the 21st century. He also said that part of the mandate handed down to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development was to create opportunities for young people to plug into the opportunities of the 21st century.
Mr. Dare urged the selected 2000 to count themselves lucky and work hard to achieve the set objectives of the program, while adding that the digital skill gap in Nigeria provides an added advantage for them to get jobs after the training. He also intimated on the Ministry’s plans for the youth, part of which is to help 500,000 young people acquire digital skills in two years, create an avenue for them to get access to information for opportunities through an online platform, among others.
While addressing the media after the event, the Minister said, “I am excited at what I have seen today. It forms part of the larger vision. The President says to keep the youth busy in whatever way, but especially, there’s a commitment to providing them with digital skills. What is happening here today, 2000 youth from across the North will be here for three months, and will be equipped with digital skills to self-start themselves.”
He said that the program will be replicated across the states with the Federal Government as the driver, providing encouragement for the state governments to embark on similar programs like the one in Abuja.
The Minister, while further highlighting the benefits of the program, said, it has first succeeded in taking the 2000 number of young people away from social vices like drug abuse, kidnapping and the likes among other benefits.
He promised that the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development would support the program to ensure that more youth have access to the digital skills needed for in contemporary time.
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