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Minister Canvases Inclusive Approach to Youth Issue.

Published

6 years ago

November 8, 2019

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, has advocated a more inclusive approach for profiling youth for development and empowerment interventions to capture those in the informal sector even as he identified funding as a major challenge to be addressed.

The Minister, who was speaking, when he gave the audience to Junior Achievement Nigeria (JA), a non-governmental organization, in office in Abuja, further noted that the era when Youth Development was just a footnote is over.

He said “We need to be more inclusive to include those without tertiary education in the profiling of the Nigerian youth. The informal sector plays a major role in the economy. I think when empowering the youth we should look not just at the elite population, when we are all-encompassing we will make progress.”

Reacting to Junior Achievement’s presentation on how to empower the next one million youth over the course of the next five years, Mr. Dare noted that “the challenge of youth development has been funding and how to scale up. You need to work with us as a Ministry to also achieve our target of (training and empowering) one million youth.

“As I listened to both of you speak, I was just wondering if someone somewhere compared notes because as I reel out plans, you will find that there are just several plug-ins. To a very large extent, they are similar. What we are doing differently this time is that we are putting youth and sports development on equal care.

The Minister assured the organization that their priorities are also the Ministry’s priorities noting that “What we want to do is to scale up the empowerment of our youth, also to deepen the skills that we offer them and above all, to create opportunities for them. It is about opportunities. What you do is also creating a platform for opportunities.”

He informed the gathering of the Ministry’s vision to empower 500,000 youth in the next two years in partnership with groups like JAI to scale the numbers up, among other programs of the Ministry.

Speaking earlier, the Director Junior Achievement Olaniyi Yusuf, while giving a background on the organisation, said JA has three major areas of focus which includes Financial Literacy; which teaches young people how to spend and invest wisely, Work Readiness; working with students and prepare them for work, Entrepreneurship; working with students and those out of school to make them successful entrepreneurs, with a fourth pillar, Digital Literacy, in recognition of the fact that the world is a global village.

The Executive Director of the Junior Achievement Nigeria, Simisola Nwogugu thanked the Minister for receiving the group and highlighted some of the organization’s achievements. She said, “In our first 20 years in the country, we focused on making an impact on the students that were under our care, we believe that by the end of this year we would have reached 1 million students. We are now at 980,000; we have a few programs to help us reach 1 million by the end of the year. At our 20th anniversary, we decided to look for a way to reach another 1 million without waiting for another year and that is why we are here”

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Featured

Nigeria’s Historic Bid for the 2030 Commonwealth Games: A Call for National and Global Support

Published

1 week ago

September 30, 2025

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

Nigeria is poised to make history as it seeks to host the Centenary Commonwealth Games in 2030, a monumental opportunity that promises to transform the nation’s economy, infrastructure, and global standing.

More than a sporting spectacle, the Games would serve as a catalyst for development across multiple sectors, leaving behind a legacy of national pride and sustainable growth.

The benefits of hosting the Games extend far beyond the sports arena. Nigeria stands to gain both empirical and non-empirical advantages, with direct, indirect, and induced impacts that will touch every corner of society. Infrastructural development will take center stage, with new facilities such as indoor sports halls, conference centers, and improved road networks reshaping urban landscapes while strengthening the nation’s capacity to host future international events.

Economic growth is another significant dividend. Over 10,000 jobs are expected to be created, spanning construction, facility management, event planning, and tourism services.

The hospitality industry will undergo major improvements as hotels and resorts are upgraded to meet international standards, while local restaurants, lounges, and tourist attractions will see a surge in patronage from international visitors. Small and medium enterprises, particularly in the transport, finance, and food service sectors, will become some of the greatest beneficiaries, as the Games generate new demand and expand opportunities for local businesses.
The Commonwealth Games will also accelerate the growth of Nigeria’s sports industry.

Investments in training facilities, coaching, and talent development will inspire a new generation of athletes, ensuring long-term benefits that extend beyond 2030, a major focus of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
At the same time, the process of preparing for the Games will create opportunities for Nigerians to learn new crafts, acquire technical skills, and engage in global-standard event management, thereby strengthening human capacity and innovation across industries.

Mallam Shehu Dikko, Chairman of the Nigeria Sports Commission, and Hon. Bukola Olopade, the Director General, have been widely recognized for their tireless and visionary leadership in repositioning Nigeria’s sporting sector.

Their commitment to facilitating infrastructural development and strengthening grassroots sports development has laid the foundation for Nigeria’s bold bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games. Under their leadership, the NSC is fostering strategic partnerships and driving innovation in sports administration, they have demonstrated the nation’s readiness to stage an event of such global magnitude.

Beyond the tangible gains, the hosting of the 2030 Commonwealth Games carries profound symbolic value. It would be a moment of unity and pride, a chance for Nigeria to showcase its cultural richness, resilience, and excellence to the world.
As a centenary edition, the Games would stand as a historic milestone not just for the Commonwealth but for Nigeria itself, cementing its place on the global stage as a capable, ambitious, and forward-looking nation.

The gains from hosting the Commonwealth Games can never be undermined or overemphasized. This is Nigeria’s time to step forward and show the world our resilience, and excellence. We call on every Nigerian, across sectors and communities, to support this noble aspiration.

Nigeria’s pursuit of the 2030 Commonwealth Games is a vision for transformation, a blueprint for national development, and a legacy project that will inspire generations to come.

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