The Nigerian government is seeking partnership with the United Nations to tackle the abuse of drugs and reduce crimes among youths in the country.
The Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Mr. Ayodele Olawande disclosed this during a working visit to the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
This is contained in a statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations Unit of the ministry,
Maryam Umar.
Olawande revealed that the Ministry of youth development is planning to establish an institution which will be known as the Nigerian Youth Academy (NIYA)) where the youths will be taken through some training to engage them in meaningful ventures in order to avoid the temptation of drug abuse and crime.
The Minister noted that lack of engagement, unemployment, and skill gap have led to an increase in the consumption and abuse of drugs among the youth.
“The youths are more concerned with following trends. It is now time for the youth to stop following unproductive trends and start thinking and working”, he added.
Olawande further said that the Ministry plans to introduce a door to door campaign, which will be spearheaded by him to engage the youths in all the 774 local government areas of the federation
“We will use the Corp members as a force to engage the society at large, especially secondary school students, to curb drug abuse, corruption, and cybercrime”, he added.
The Minister reiterated that it was high time that society stopped neglecting the youth in the informal sector, as they are flexible and open to activities that can cause disruption and commotion in the society.
He then called on the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime to join hands with the government to establish the Nigerian Youth Academy to ensure that the youths are gainfully engaged.
Earlier, the Country Representative of UNODC, Mr. Oliver Stolp expressed his appreciation to the Minister and his team for taking out time to pay a visit to his office.
Mr. Stolp said that the United Nations has numerous intervention programmes on youth engagement, drug abuse, cyber crime, and corruption.
He then called for the support of the federal government in these interventions.
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