Jobs, Skills: FG Launches Fresh Registration For Nigerians Aged 15-35

The Federal Government has urged Nigerians between the ages of 15 and 35 to register with the National Youth Data Bank (NYDB) to enable it to identify their skills, locations and needs.

The government said the data collected would also be used to connect young Nigerians with employment, skills and other opportunities in both the public and private sectors.

The Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, made the call on Tuesday in Abuja during the launch of the National Youth Data Bank project, Naija News reports.

Olawande said the registration would cover young people in both the formal and informal sectors.

He listed youths in agriculture, sports, creative industries and technology among those expected to register.

According to the minister, having reliable data on young Nigerians would help the government understand the youth population better and improve the planning and implementation of programmes targeted at them.

He said the database would provide answers to key questions about young Nigerians, including “who are our young people?”, “where are they?”, “what can they do?” and “what opportunities do they need?”

Olawande also stressed that the initiative was a continuous government programme and was not being introduced for electoral purposes.

“We also want to get the formal and the informal youth to make sure that they are part of this. We want everybody. We even want to know the youth in agriculture. We want to know the youth in sport. We want to know all those in creative tech and all that, so that even when we say some people need jobs, we know, okay, these people need skills,” he said.

Also speaking, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of POGMA Nigeria Limited, the technical partner handling the project, Otunba Oluyinka Akerele, said registration points had been created in educational institutions across the country.

He said the exercise would later be extended to local government areas and wards nationwide.

Akerele said youths in secondary schools, polytechnics, universities and colleges of education would be targeted alongside those in the informal sector and rural communities.

“For the Nigerian youth registration, we have created cluster points in schools, polytechnics, universities, College of Education.

“These are targets for the formal sectors,” he said.

He added that enumerators would be deployed across the 774 local government areas to capture young Nigerians, including those living in hard-to-reach communities.

Akerele urged young Nigerians to take part in the exercise, saying registration would help the government identify them and determine the kind of support and opportunities they need.

“All we appeal to our youth to do is to embrace the programme, go out en masse and be registered. It is only when you are registered that we know who you are, where you are, and how you can benefit from the supposed government dividend of democracy,” he said.

Akerele explained that the registration was open to Nigerians aged 15 to 35, in line with the Nigerian Youth Policy.

He said anyone who is 15 is recognized as a youth under the policy, while those aged 35 are also still covered.

“You are addressed as a youth in Nigeria once you are 15, and once you are 35, you still remain a youth,” he said.

He added that the database would be regularly updated to include those who are currently below 15 once they reach the eligible age.

“For those that are not up to 15, that’s why you have an updating, just like you have with INEC. Once they are 15, our enumerators are there to capture them,” Akerele said.