The Country Director, International Alert Nigeria, Paul Nyulaku has harped on the need to address the prevailing gap in youth engagement within policy formulation, particularly concerning the review of the National Youth Policy.
He noted this at the one-day conference organised by the International Alert in collaboration with Africa Youth Growth Foundation (AYGF) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to amplify the voices of young people and bring the issues of their inclusiveness in governance to the front burner.
According to Nyulaku, the event which also marks the International Youth Day, with the theme “Green Skills for Youth Towards a Sustainable World, underscored the need for youth involvement in policy and the role they play in development overall.
He said that although there have been quite a lot of interest around youth involvement, however, it would continue to remain a dream if actionable steps were not taken .
Also, the Executive Director of Africa Youth Growth Foundation (AYGF),
Dr Arome Salifu said there was an online youth challenge, which garnered the participation of over 93 individuals from across our nation and three winners emerged to receive prizes totalling 1 million naira.
Salifu said those interests would then be mainstreamed into development interventions from policy design, to project design to implementation at the federal, state and local government levels.
The Chief of Mission of International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Nigeria, Mr Laurent De Boeck, who was represented by IOM’s Youth Focal person, Aisha Dahiru, said the representation should be in national policy, social inclusion, entrepreneurship, climate change issues and development for national productivity and growth.
