Nigerian youths have urged the government to take immediate action to address the country’s pressing development challenges, citing a lack of opportunities and disconnection between leaders and young people.
Speaking at an International Youth Day event in Abuja, youths emphasized the need for government to prioritize education, employment, climate action, and gender equality. They noted that the current generation of leaders had various opportunities when they were young but have not provided the same for the current generation.
Opeyemi Ogundeji, NGYouthSDGs Programme Manager, said, “I will say we are on track but we are not there yet. However, we can still get to that place, and that is why we are narrating the problems that we have been noticing in this space, and also the solutions we are preparing for it, and we need to intensify that action in order to take us to where we are looking at.”
Joseph Ibrahim, Programme Manager at Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation, noted that many leaders view youths as having nothing to offer, emphasizing the need for intergenerational collaboration.
Maxwell Osarenkhoe, Communication Officer at Oxfam in Nigeria, said, “So part of the room to bridge the intergenerational gap that we’ve seen is through policies. This is because when policies actually work, we don’t have to talk too much.”
The event highlighted the crucial role young people play in advancing sustainable development and addressing national challenges, and called for urgent action from government to address the pressing development challenges facing Nigerian youths.
