Civil Societies for Good Governance and ECOWAS Youth Council have asked Nigeria to prioritise efforts towards building the youth for national development.
The groups made the call on Monday in Abuja while presenting an award of effective performance and recommendation for higher responsibility to the President, National Youth Council of Nigeria, Solomon Adodo.
Speaking on behalf of the CSOs at a brief ceremony graced by their representatives and the ECOWAS Youth Council, President of Civil Societies for Good Governance, Comrade Dominic Ogakwu, said the call became necessary following series of promises made by successive government officials and other youth stakeholders without adequate commitment towards implementation.
Ogakwu maintained that time has come for the nation to make concise efforts in building the youth rather than paying lip service to their needs and challenges.
He expressed optimism that the new leadership of the National Youth Council of Nigeria was leading in the course to repositioning the youth towards productivity and national development.
“The new leadership of NYCN is unifying all youth groups and is focused to drive this initiative. This is the first time in the history of NYCN that it has a unifying figure at the helm of affairs that is setting agenda for inclusive youth emancipation.
“The current President is never resting in amplifying the needs of the youth in a selfless and patriotic manner. The NYCN has set agenda for productivity.
“We are confident with the processes that have been put in place by the President of NYCN to harnessing youth potentials for productivity. We are willing to commit resources towards these efforts,” Ogakwu noted.
Also speaking, the ECOWAS Youth Council Ambassador, Austin Peacemaker, stressed that the new leadership of NYCN has within a short period help in salvaging the image of the nation.
“The leadership of the NYCN is on the verge of changing the narrative of Nigerian been recognised as failed state to a working state.
“The NYCN has for long been led by mediocre, the reason we had several factions in the council. Thankfully, the new leadership is not only focused but unifying the youth for productivity and national development”, Peacemaker added.
In his response, the President of NYCN, Solomon Adodo thanked the groups for finding him worthy of their recognition.
He explained that though Nigeria was inundated with challenges of hunger, insecurity amongst others, emphasising the challenges was not a viable path to follow but rather think of creative ways to make progress.
