The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Youth Development, Martins Esin, says Nigeria needs increased budgetary allocation to drive skills acquisitions, opportunities and support for its youth demography.
Esin, representing Oron/Mbo/Okobo/Udung Uko/Urueoffong Oruko Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He spoke with NAN on the sidelines at the opening ceremony of a two-day inaugural retreat for members of the committee in Lagos on Friday, organised by Yiaga Africa.
Esin said that government must show more commitment to the youth cause by increasing the budgetary allocation for youth development.
“We need a youth responsive budget. We cannot drive skills without having a budget that is youth responsive. We are not yet there but we are making progress.
“We want to see a situation where the government is committing a significant amount specifically for youth development. This is the major thing we are driving at.
“As a parliament, we feel improving the skill development capacity of the youth of this country is the way to go.
“We want to drive that with a youth responsive budget. We want to see a significant jump in what is appropriated for youth of this country.
“I think that is when the youth will now begin to have confidence in the nation and feel a sense of belonging,” he said.
While calling for creation of more opportunities and support for the youth, Esin, however, said that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration had increased youth participation in governance.
“We are not where we used to be. In the House of representatives now, we have a lot of young persons.
“Over 20 per cent of the House are young persons of less than 40 years and below and a lot of young people are also in the cabinet of Mr President.
“That’s an improvement, we are just talking about budgetary provisions,” he added.
He said that youth development remained a top priority in the mind of the House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abass.
“Once we get it right with the youth, we are in the path to sustainable future. Anything youth development in Nigeria is welcome by us.
“This is a must for everybody and it concerns all. Our security challenges in the nation are perpetrated by the youth because some of our youth are not well taken care of.
“My message to the youth of this country is to know that there is no other country other than Nigeria they can call theirs.
“I think we should take ownership of our country. We should take our country back, we should be at the driving seat of the affairs of our country.
“More importantly, we should have hope in our country.
“Yes, we know there is trust deficit, here and there, but we should look at the bigger picture and have hope.
“If we look away, everything will go bad. The youth of this country should take the country back and just believe in the country and things will work out,” the chairman said.
On the focus of the members of the committee for Nigerian youth, Esin explained that the committee’s agenda was captured in the term , ” S.O.S” for youths.
According to him, S stands for Skills for the youth, O stands for Opportunities for the youths and the last S stands for Support for the youths.
“For skills, this is one area that is lacking. It is obvious now that government cannot provide employment for all of the youth. The way out is skills, we need to look at entrepreneurship.
“The youth of this country are in “SOS” situation, and what we require at this times is skills, opportunities and support. We are looking at how we are going to give these to the youth,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the retreat was organised by by Yiaga Africa, a non-profit organisation promoting participatory democracy, human rights and civic participation, and funded by the European Union.
