The Federal Government has commenced youth registration in Nigeria for citizens between the ages of 15 and 35 under the National Youth Data Bank, NYDB.
The initiative is designed to create a comprehensive database of young Nigerians and help the government connect them with employment, skills development and other opportunities.
Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, announced the commencement of the registration in Abuja during the launch of the National Youth Data Bank project.
Olawande said the database would capture young people across both formal and informal sectors, including those involved in agriculture, sports, creative industries and technology.
According to the minister, reliable data would help government understand the size, location, skills and needs of the country’s youth population, leading to better planning and implementation of youth development programmes.
He said the database would help answer key questions about young Nigerians, including who they are, where they live, what skills they possess and what opportunities they need.
Olawande stressed that the programme was a continuous government initiative and should not be viewed as an electoral exercise.
“We also want to get the formal and the informal youth to make sure that they are part of this. We want everybody,” he said.
He added that the government wanted to identify young people working in agriculture, sports, creative technology and other sectors so that skills and employment interventions could be better targeted.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of POGMA Nigeria Limited, the project’s technical partner, Otunba Oluyinka Akerele, said registration points had already been established in educational institutions.
He said the exercise would subsequently extend to local government areas and wards across the country.
The registration will cover youths in secondary schools, universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, as well as those working in informal sectors and 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,” Akerele said.
He disclosed that enumerators would be deployed across all 774 local government areas to reach young Nigerians, including those in hard-to-reach communities.
Akerele urged eligible youths to participate in the exercise, saying registration would enable the government to identify them 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,” he said.
Akerele explained that the youth registration in Nigeria covers ages 15 to 35 in line with the Nigerian Youth Policy.
He said the database would not remain static, as it would be regularly updated to capture Nigerians who subsequently enter the eligible age bracket.
“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 explained that those below 15 would be added once they become eligible.
“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.
