The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, has said there is no monopoly of the number of umbrella youth organisations, and that his ministry was prepared to work with willing partners to spread its programmes and initiatives.
Dare spoke in Abuja when he received the leadership of the Nigerian Youth Congress (NYC) who paid him a courtesy visit to thank the him and President Muhammadu Buhari for the establishment of the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF).
The minister said: “Inasmuch as having a single umbrella body for the Nigerian Youth would be beautiful, we have also learnt a couple of lessons that by our share size, it might not be possible to achieve what we want to achieve through one single congress.
“But also, we have identified two or three such groups that are strong. We can always have them around the table to drive that process so there is no monopoly.”
Earlier, the Founder of NYC, Yakubu Shendam, had expressed the group’s appreciation to the minister and Buhari for establishing NYIF, noting that the fund is a first of its kind with potential to reduce youth unemployment.
Shendam said NYC offered an alternate for government to diversify the platforms to reach the Nigerian youths.
“We are ready as a group to work with you. We are not here to push anybody away; we are rather here to consolidate on the interaction that the ministry is already having with the youth,” he said.
Other members on the delegation were the NYC President NYC, Blessing Akinlosotu, and the association’s Secretary General, Raymond Edoh.
