Olawande: President Tinubu Determined to Create Enabling Environment for Youth Devt 

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande yesterday  disclosed  President Bola Tinubu’s determination to creating an enabling environment for youth development.

Olawande, who made the disclosure while speaking on the Arise News television programme, Prime Time, noted that the Tinubu’s administration is not only people focus but has the future of Nigerians at heart in all his programmes and policies. While noting that Nigerian youths just like their counterparts worldwide are doing great in all spheres of live, the minister lamented previous administrations in the last 40 years have not been able to impact on the youth.

He stated that the current administration through its planned National Youth Conference slated for the first quarter of 2025, is aiming to bridge the gap between the government and the youth.

“What we are trying to do is to look at what has been done before … nobody can tell us for over 40 years we have built system and institutions but Nigeria youth have not been able to feel the government in anyway, they can’t see the government, they can’t touch the government, we have been having back and forth and the government of President Bola Tinubu for the first time since 1999, we are having a youth-for- youth government that listen to us, that hears us, that wants to as much as possible feel what we are feeling,” he said.

He added that what the average Nigerian youth needs is an enable environment to thrive and “that is the focus of this president and that is the focus of this government”.

He stressed that the administration is working tirelessly and within the shortest possible time begin to showcase to the people successes recorded in efforts at transforming the youth.

“The president is determined to create an enabling environment and he started it with student loan scheme”, Olawande maintained, adding that in addition to the scheme, the president also support students with tokens as well as made them first beneficiary of the CNG buses to facilitate their movements.

Other efforts he listed as enhancing the capacity of the youth is the introduction of the Nigeria Youth Academy (NYA) initiative which, according to him, aims at ensuring that within the next two years “a Nigerian youth must have at least two skills”, while opportunities abound for those who already have to upgrade.

Others are the Youth Help Desk and the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund, which he disclosed would soon be transformed into a youth bank, to support entrepreneurship and other businesses.