The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has engaged the Nigerian youth in order to identify their challenges and proffer ways of addressing them.
The Director-General of NOA, Dr Garba Abari, while addressing youths at a youth summit organised by the agency, said the summit was intended to serve as a platform of engagement with youth on key national issues.
He said youth are knowledgeable, vibrant and versatile; and once their creative energies are positively harnessed and channelled, there is no limit to what we can accomplish as a nation.
“The NOA national youth summit is therefore intended to provide a veritable platform of engagement with the youth on key national issues that are of utmost concern to them and come up with recommendations on ways to effectively and efficiently address them.
“The summit was borne out of the urgent unmet need to dialogue with the youth on a sustainable basis and understand the challenges they face from their perspectives in order to be proactive and contextual as government, in dealing with them.
“The NOA youth summit is a continuation of the agency’s engagements with the youth through its overarching programme, Campus Focus, which is designed to address the myriads of vices existing in our tertiary institutions with adverse consequences on the youth, who constitute the most energetic, resourceful and productive segment of the nation’s population and the key to national development,” he noted.
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He said the youth summit is another significant milestone in the Agency’s deliberate effort to provide an effective communication platform to engage the youth on national issues that affect them.
Dr Abari further added that the theme of the summit, which is ‘youth participation in national development’ is very apt and imperative as it underscores the clear fact that the youth are an indispensable critical mass for meaningful national development.
He said the agency’s messaging at youth engagements will emphasise the “consistent engagement with the youth on government policies, programmes and activities, enlightenment on various social investment programmes designed for their empowerment and how to key into the programmes.
“Sensitisation of the youth on the need to eschew social vices such as thuggery, cybercrime, cultism, drug abuse, armed robbery, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and other criminalities.
“The need to embrace dialogue and peace. The obligation to imbibe the national core values and others.
“To build the confidence of the Nigerian youth in the ability and commitment of the government to address their challenges.”
Speaking further on COVID-19, the NOA DG said youth are susceptible to the pandemic infection and death.
“With regard to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, we wish to use this opportunity to highlight the fact that recent statistics have shown that the youth are also susceptible to COVID-19 infection and death, hence the need to denounce the belief that only elderly persons are mostly at fatal risk.
“As we are currently experiencing the second wave of the virus, we must continue to take responsibility for the protection of all, by adhering to the safety protocols and guidelines.”
NOA engages youth on ways to address their challenges|NOA engages youth on ways to address their challenges|