The Federal Government has commenced a nationwide registration exercise for Nigerians aged between 15 and 35 as part of efforts to establish a comprehensive National Youth Data Bank.
The initiative, launched in Abuja by the Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, is designed to provide reliable information on the country’s youth population and connect young Nigerians with employment, skills acquisition and other government opportunities.
Olawande said the database would cover youths across both the formal and informal sectors, including those involved in agriculture, sports, creative industries and technology.
According to the minister, having accurate data on young Nigerians would help the government understand their population, skills, locations and specific needs, thereby improving the design and implementation of youth development programmes.
He explained that the National Youth Data Bank would provide answers to key questions about Nigerian youths, including who they are, where they live, what skills they possess and the type of opportunities they need.
Olawande stressed that the registration was a continuous government programme and had no connection with any electoral exercise.
He said, “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.”
Also speaking, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of POGMA Nigeria Limited, the technical partner handling the project, Otunba Oluyinka Akerele, said registration centres had already been established in educational institutions.
He explained that the registration points would be expanded to local government areas and wards across the country to ensure wider coverage.
Akerele said the exercise would capture youths in secondary schools, polytechnics, universities and colleges of education, as well as young people working in the informal sector and those living in 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 register youths, including those living in hard-to-reach communities.
Akerele urged young Nigerians to participate in the exercise, noting that registration would enable the government to identify their skills and locations and determine how best to connect them with available opportunities.
“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.
He explained that the age bracket of 15 to 35 was based on the Nigerian Youth Policy, which defines youths within that range.
“You are addressed as a youth in Nigeria once you are 15, and once you are 35, you still remain a youth,” Akerele said.
According to him, the database will also be regularly updated to capture Nigerians who subsequently attain 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,” he added.
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