In commemoration of the 64th independence anniversary of the country, the Nigerian Youth Union (NYU) has called on President Bola Tinubu to implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.
The National President of the Union, Chinonso Obasi, made the call at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
The theme: “Nigeria@64: The State of Nigerian Youths”, is to call the attention of the government on the need to place more priority on youths’ welfare.
Mr Obasi said that some of the challenges the country was faced with before the confab were still there noting that there was a need to address them.
He also called on the government to create an enabling environment for youths to thrive.
According to him, creating an enabling environment for every youth will prevent the country from losing the best brains on the account of migration popularly known as the ‘Japa Syndrome ‘.
“The only way to empower the greater majority of Nigerian youths is by creating an enabling environment for everyone to strive.
“Revive the moribund companies like Ajaokuta Steel Company Kogi State, Nigeria refineries, Nigeria Cement Company Nkalagu Ebonyi State, Nigeria textile companies, etc.
“We are concerned with the increasing level of hopelessness and the lack of an enabling environment to excel as a youth in present-day Nigeria.
“A youth surviving in Nigeria today ironically is like a camel passing through the needle’s eye. What does the future hold for me in Nigeria?
“Ranging from education, economy, security, and youth empowerment,” Mr Obasi said.
Speaking on education, Mr Obasi commended President Bola Tinubu’s giant stride for the novel initiative of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
He, however, said that with the economic situation, the loan given to the students would not be adequate for the purpose it was meant for.
“While we thank President Tinubu for the novel NELFUND, it becomes imperative that N500,000 loan to students in an economy where a litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is over N1,500 in some parts of Nigeria, is a mess.
“Universities raising tuition fee to over N400,000, students’ hall of residence being a death trap and lack of job opportunities upon graduation, all of these make a mess of the good intention of the NELFUND,” he said.
He called on the government to look into the security issues in the country as youths could no longer travel freely and willingly without making a special budget for exigencies.
“Most insecurity that exists in Nigeria is politically motivated. For instance, in Zamfara State, the high deposit of gold is the major cause of insecurity through the activities of economic saboteurs.
“Likewise in Imo state, more than 50 percent of gas deposits in Nigeria are found there and the economic sabotage of this resource is the major cause of insecurity in that state,” he explained.
He, therefore, said that the union had mapped out solutions to some of the challenges bedevilling Nigerian youths.
Mr Obasi added that in the coming days, the union would visit relevant stakeholders in pressing home those solutions.