By Iliya Kure
Nigeria’s Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, has described the youth as priceless resources for development and sustenance of any country, stressing the need for meaningful investment in them.
He said, realising the potentials and critical role of the youth in nation building, the Buhari administration has introduced programmes aimed at impacting on them positively.
“Young people and not oil are the most valuable resource we have as a nation,” Osinbajo said in Abuja, at the National Summit on Demographic Dividends in Nigeria. The event also featured the launch of Nigeria’s 4th National RAPID — Resources for the Awareness of Population Impacts on Development, an evidenced-based document that showcases social and economic gains for a country, when it harnesses the potentials of its population, especially in sectors like labour, education, health, urbanization, and agriculture.
Osinbajo cited NPower and Social Investment Initiatives, among plans aimed at harnessing potentials of Nigerian youth, in line with the African Road Map on demographic dividends saying, “In 2016 African Heads of States and Governments devoted the year 2017 to harnessing the demographic dividends through investments in Youth, and have since got funds to adopt the African Union road map on harnessing demographic dividends through investment in youth.”
Represented by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, the Acting President said government will not disappoint the youth, but rather provide them opportunity to display their talents.
In an address, Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, emphasized the need for Nigerians to embrace child spacing for the country to address its high fertility rate, which currently stands at 5.5%.
He called for concerted efforts to attain levels where other African countries like Rwanda and Gabon have reached, which places their fertility rates at 3.90% and 3.91% respectively.
Adewole said, if Nigeria achieved her desired goal on population management, the country would attain a per capital ratio of $5800 by the year 2050.
Country Director for Palladium’s USAID-funded project, Health Policy Plus (HP+), Onoriode Ezire, who made a presentation on the RAPID model, called on Nigeria to plan for its growing population before it is too late.
Key stakeholders at the meeting included representatives of the World Bank, USAID, Population Council, UNFPA, Pathfinder International, Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, among others.
With the launch of the 4th National RAPID and the Roadmap on Achieving Demographic Dividends, Nigeria has indicated a commitment to implementing the right policies that would address future population growth and sustainable development.