Minister urges UN to create commission for youth development

The Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung has urged the United Nations to create a Commission which would address issues related to youth development.

Dalung said this when he received the UN Secretary General’s Youth Envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake, in his office.

“The absence of this has led to our not having a meaningful development in the youth, because there is no platform for the young people to operate.

“The Nigeria youths are facing poverty, not only material poverty but also poverty of the mind. Unemployment and lack of inclusion in governance.

“Once the UN runs an inclusive policy of having a specific budget for the youths, it will go a long way in addressing some of these problems,’’ the minister said.

He said the UN should ask all member-states to dedicate a specific percentage of their annual budget for youth development.

Dalung noted that the world had over time been gambling with its future, which happens to be the youths.

Earlier, Wickramanayake had said she was in Nigeria to work to expand the UN’s youth engagement and advocacy efforts such as sustainable development, human rights, peace and security, and humanitarian action.

Wickramanayake has worked extensively on youth development.

She has also played a key role in transforming the youth development sector in her home country of Sri Lanka.