TheCable

The federal government is set to partner with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) to empower 20 million Nigerian youths by 2030.

The initiative tagged “Generation Unlimited” and set to be inaugurated by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday in Abuja, is targeted at 20 million persons between the ages of 10 and 24.

Peter Hawkins, representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, said the programme is aimed at developing the capacity of young Nigerians to be better positioned as leaders of tomorrow.

He said if the youths are not equipped with the right skills, especially in view of the ongoing digitisation of the world, they would be unable to bring value to the future of Nigeria.

The UN representative added that such initiatives would also help in turning the youth away from drugs or crime.

He added that the initiative is also being replicated in many other countries with 1.8 billion young people targeted around the world.

“Nigeria has 65 million people between the ages of 10 and 24, so young people of Nigeria are more importantly the future. That generation would shape the future of Nigeria,” he said.

“What Generation Unlimited is trying to do is to first act as a platform between the government, the United Nations and the international community and the private sector.

“Out of the 65 million young people, Generation Unlimited is trying to help 20 million of those over the next 10 years to step over the generation that they are in to be able to meet their own ambitions and be valuable commodities in Nigeria.

“What is going to define the future of any country, particularly Nigeria, is the digital platform – access to data, access to digital information.

“It is not only expanding the digital platform but expanding young people’s access to that platform.

“There are initiatives like school-2-school connectivity, looking at how we can bring digital learning into the schools, communities and ensure that young peoples’ skills around digital platforms come to the fore.”

Hawkins said UNICEF is focused on the connection between the skills and opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship, and trying to develop the skills that jobs require.

“Already, over the past year, we have been engaging with 450,000 young people through different initiatives around the country,” he said.

“There is a massive prospect in this country to engage young people.

“On Monday, Nigeria’s Vice President will inaugurate the Generation Unlimited Nigeria. This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate a vision for the young people of Nigeria and give them the opportunity to engage in what happens in Nigeria in the future.

“What we are trying to do at Generation Unlimited is to allow the platform of all of these to go to scale, using different initiatives to trigger off other initiatives to reach the 20 million that we want to reach in the next 10 years.”

The UNICEF representative listed some of its partners to include GIZ, EU, USAID, Unilever, Microsoft, Tony Elumelu Foundation, and MasterCard.