President Muhammadu Buhari has approved over 600 million dollars investment programme in Digital and Creative Enterprise (iDICE) to support young tech and creative entrepreneurs.
Buhari, while declaring open three-day National Youth Conference on Monday in Abuja, said iDICE was supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The theme of the conference is, “Youth Inclusiveness-Governance, Security, Employment.’’
Represented by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari said that across the world, Nigeria’s most potent ambassadors were young people who were breaking new grounds; breaking records and winning laurels in diverse fields of endeavour.
“We recognise that our young people are this country’s most strategic asset. Investing in them is clearly investing in the economic strength and development of our nation.
“This is why my administration has established initiatives such as the N75 billion National Youth Investment Fund and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Creative Sector Fund.
“ This is why I recently approved the investing in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme, an over 600 million dollars programme supported by the AfDB which will support young tech and creative sector entrepreneurs through the provision of finance, skills development and infrastructure.’’
He said that earlier in year, Nigeria partnered with the UNDP and the private sector in the Jubilee Fellows internship programme.
According to him, for the next five years every year 20,000 students after youth service will be given internship opportunities in private sector companies and in public agencies.
“The idea will be for the participants to gain relevant career and life skills that will enable them transition seamlessly into professional, business or public sector careers, while also earning very good pay during the internship.
“I have also as you must be aware approved the increase of NPOWER beneficiaries from 500,000 to one million .
“Because young people constitute the majority of our population, they are by both default and design at the very centre of all of our efforts to stimulate growth.
“From our social investments and interventions to our promotion of an innovation economy and support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, we have placed the interests of our youths at the heart of policy making,” he said.
He said that despite the aforementioned efforts, it would be natural and inevitable that there would be a degree of tension between a generation at the vanguard of innovation and the establishment.
Buhari acknowledged that young Nigerians often feel frustrated by the inability of the nation’s institutions to keep pace with their drive, their aspirations and their dynamism.
“While differences of opinion in respect of official policies is normal in liberal democracies such as ours, but out of respect for the rights and sensitivities of others disagreement must be temperate and channeled through legally and socially acceptable means.
“Most importantly, we must keep our faith in our country and remain optimistic that it will serve as the locus for fulfilling our aspirations.
“Building a nation is an inter-generational endeavour; I think this is a particularly important point; governments can be changed in electoral cycles but the destiny of a nation is shaped across generations.
“This country is ours – above and beyond partisan squabbles, disagreements and everything else – the future will be what we make of it,’’ Buhari added.
He said that in present days, when the nation seemed to be assailed on all sides, it was natural to fear for the future and to nurse anxiety about what the next day held.
The president said, however, it was not the time to give up or to succumb to despair.
“This is the time to engage and to work more assiduously to build the country of our dreams.
“The successful “Not too Young to Run” campaign which led to legislation that expands opportunities for the political inclusion of young Nigerians is a sterling example of how dedicated youth advocates initiated and saw through a key piece of political reform by working through the system by insisting on following the rules.
“ It is evidence of what can happen when Nigerians from diverse backgrounds make common cause.
“My signing into law of the Not too Young to Run bill almost three years ago opened the door for youth inclusion in our political process and by extension, in governance,” he said.
Buhari urged youths to reject the temptation to inherit the biases and prejudices of their parents or of seeing the country through the jaundiced eyes of some in generations that had gone before them.
Earlier in his address, Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare, said Nigeria joined the continent in marking the Africa Youth Day.
According to him, Nov.1 every year is dedicated to celebrate Nigerian youths as a national youth day by the Federal Government. (NAN)
