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Principles Guiding The Nigerian Youth Parliament Must Be Adhere To-Sunday Dare

Published

5 years ago

December 30, 2019

Joel Ajayi

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare has stated that the principles guiding the creation of the Nigerian Youth Parliament must be adhering to in order to achieve the desired outcome.

He Stated this at the Opening Session of the 1st Sitting of the 4th Session of the Nigerian Youth Parliament in Kano.

The Minister represented by the Permanent Secretary Mr. Gabriel Aduda expressed appreciation to the Government and people of Kano State for collaborating with the Ministry is hosting the event.

It will be recalled that the Nigerian Youth Parliament was formally inaugurated in 2008 in line with the United Nations call on member states to establish a platform through which Young people can adequately contribute to decision making processes on issues that concern them as well as inculcate in them democratic principles and leadership qualities.

According to him, with the inauguration of the 4th Session of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, the Ministry and its stakeholders have been working to ensure that the Parliament begins sittings, concludes elections of its principal officers and begins deliberations on important issues affecting our youthful population.

“The activities of the Ministry for the youth such as the one-week leadership training for Parliamentarians at the Sea school in Apapa in collaboration with the Citizenship and Leadership Training Center (CLTC). This bothers on required leadership qualities, self-discipline, teamwork, and the ability to offer selfless services to their constituencies amongst others.

“The packages for the youth such as DEEL is a flagship initiative and explained that the acronym stands for D – Digital skill acquisition E – Entrepreneurship E – Employability L – Leadership and mentoring.

“This initiative the Ministry will train as many youths as possible in a space of ten (10) years.

“To realize this initiative, the Ministry will work with blue-chip companies. The Ministry is also collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) to upgrade six youth development Centers in the country. This effort is being made by the Ministry to meet with the Nigerian Development Bank who has shown great interest in funding these laudable and impactful ideas that will get the attention of youths. A meeting with the AFDB comes up in January 2020 for accessing grants for the youth.”

However, Minister intimated the gathering of the Ministry’s intention to introduce an online platform tagged “NOYA” which is Nigeria Online Youth Assembly. “This platform will showcase opportunities open and available to Nigerian youth both locally and internationally, also relevant links and information will be provided. It could be education, employment, business, political opportunities etc.

“The area of Sports is not left out as the Hon Minister is introducing the Adopt Campaign which has four models viz Adopt an Athlete, Adopt a Pitch, Adopt a Sport and Adopt a Sports center.

“All these are geared towards the development of the youth. Dare admonished the Parliamentarians that the Ministry hopes on them to drive the Engine of growth in the Nation where ethnicity, tribalism, and vices will be a thing of the past.”

In his Opening Address, the current Speaker Nigeria Youth Parliament Rt Hon Mubarak Mijiyawa enumerated the achievements of the Nigerian Youth Parliament since inception such as the organization of Youth conference in Lagos for youth to discuss salient issues and organization of a symposium on climate change in Abuja where trees were planted.

“Nigerian Youth Parliament will continue to advocate against child abuse and sexual harassment and advised delegates to interact with their constituencies to know their problems for discussion as the sitting starts and not to be concerned only on the financial benefits they will derive from the event.

On his own, National speaker children Parliament Rt. Hon Maisara Abdulkadir Abass reiterated the evil of child abuse and said that more than one billion children are abused globally. He called on all to fight and protect our children. He reminded the youth that they are the leaders of tomorrow and wondered why the Nigerian Youth Parliament has not been participating in global events.

On his part the Governor of Kano state,Abdullahi Umar Ganduje represented by the Acting/Deputy Governor of the state Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Dawuna in declaring the session open said the potentials of youths should be tapped for the growth of the nation and advised them to take up the challenge/ responsibility for them to be trusted as Leaders hence the Not Too Young to run Bill. He enjoined them to criticize responsibly especially in the social media and reiterated that the state will create opportunities for the youth to be self-reliant.

A total of One hundred and six (106) delegates from across all the states of the Federation attended the event. Also in attendance is the Kano state commissioner of Youth amongst others.

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Nigeria Will Take Good Shape In No Distant Time- Olawande

Published

5 hours ago

September 16, 2024

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande has urged the citizens of the country to be patient with the Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in transforming the lives of its citizens through various policies and programs of the federal government.

The Minister made this submission while delivering his speech at the Joint Union Negotiating Council’s week of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development branch. This is the first edition since both Ministries of Youth and Sports had been damaged. The JUNC week which was held at Atiku Hall, Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation in Abuja had its theme: “The working people in a volatile, uncertain, and complex economy”

In the words of the Honourable Minister: “I urge you to be patient with this administration. In no distant time, the country will take good shape and the lives of its citizens will be transformed”.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not a pauper, he is an acknowledged epitome of wealth, and so it cannot be said of him that he desires to loot the treasury of Nigeria. He has seen money and as a result of this, he is not interested in looting the nation’s treasury”, Olawande explained.

He emphasized that “leadership is all about being committed to serve. If you are a Minister now, tomorrow you will be addressed as a former Minister, likewise a Director because there is no permanent position but the impact that you made while in that office will speak after you”, the Minister reiterated.

Olawande expressed his gratitude to the workers of the Ministry for being supportive of the government policies and programs. He promised that the welfare of the staff would not be compromised, adding that workers deserve remuneration for being hardworking.

Earlier in his address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Olubunmi Olusanya admonished the staff of the Ministry to put in their best as “Performance Management System” which replaces APER is the criteria to be used for promotion effective next year. This, according to him is because the Performance Management System (PMS) records the best efforts and input of each staff which will in turn be used to grade such staff.

Olusanya who disclosed that the welfare of the staff is his priority as workers deserve the best for the services rendered. He opined that “the hungry man is angry and as a worker, if you are not treated fairly and properly, it is impossible to get the best out of you. As a result, all staff will be treated properly as motivation to propel the best in you”, he concluded.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Esther Didi Walson-Jack, OON, MNI, in her address, informed that the activity to reinvigorate the Civil Service in a bid to ensure that Civil Servants carry out their duties with much diligence to have efficient and incorruptible civil service is currently on course. She advised workers to wake up and be committed to the service of the nation.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Jerry Akume, the General Secretary of the Union expressed his delight in celebrating this year’s edition of the Union week, while highlighting the achievements of the union so far. These include:

Upward review of staff welfare, prompt payment of repatriation allowances, payment of first 28 days allowance, assistance to the sick, general training of staff, and sending forth/retirement package for retired staff.

He also appealed to the Management of the Ministry, saying that irrespective of the aforementioned achievements, a lot still needs to be done in such areas as procurement of staff buses, upward review of welfare payment for festive periods, consistent general staff training, and procurement of office and work materials.

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