TheCable

Sunday Dare, minister of youth and sports, says only an increase in youth-targeted investment can stop irregular migration.

Many young persons have endangered their lives out of desperation to seek greener pasture abroad.

But speaking on a discussion panel alongside Amina Mohammed, deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, during the launch of the UNDP migration report at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, Dare advocated partnerships between critical non-for-profit agencies and his ministry to check the trend of irregular migration.

The minister, said the technical expertise of such organisations would help in training young people to acquire digital skills and become employable, thereby discouraging irregular migration.

“We need to invest more in our youth. I’m shocked by the fact that the bulk of those that leave our shores are actually educated. Some of our youth go over to Europe just because they want to enjoy constant power (electricity),” he said.

“They want a life that is easier and gives opportunities. If we invest more in our youth, perhaps whatever pulls them to engage in irregular migration will no longer be so strong and they will find reasons to stay back. There’s political will now to look at the youth buzz and see what can be done.

“There are over 250 digital skills that we can train our youth on. We have come up with the plan called DEEL, with digital skills acquisition as a key component. In partnership with Junior Achievement Nigeria, we are setting up digital hubs. 24 of them. We want to have 300 youths go through trainings at each of these digital hubs for 2 months per group in 10 different areas of digital skills. They will get certification, after which they get some support to self-start.

“We have designed so many programmes and we need to build capacity and so we have NGOs like the UNDP and the DFID not just the resources but also the manpower to help us train our youth. Partnerships are important.”

The minister said he has been on a quest to identify the best opportunities to improve the employability of young people and profitability of their enterprises.

“There is a United Nations programme for the Youth called the Junior Professional Officers and Nigeria has the opportunity to place 122 youth in those offices,” he said.

“We intend to send 122 of our youth into the UN system, working with the Ministry of Finance. It comes at a cost, about $3.2m but we will do it. There is a new drive to cater for our youth, even those at the very bottom of the pyramid. From the vulcanizers on the roadside to the graduate that news new digital skills.”