By Lanre Oloyede
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Special Needs and Equal Opportunities, Hon. Mohammed Abba Isa, has succeeded in securing the commitment of the Hon. Minister of Youths Development, Dr. Jamila Ibrahim on the implementation of the 10% Presidential directive on inclusion policy for Persons With Disabilities in her Ministry.
Hon. Abba Isa achieved the giant stride on Wednesday at a Youth Critical Stakeholders parley with the Minister of Youths Development in Abuja.
The stakeholders parley convened by Dr. Abubakar Sadiq, former zonal youth leader northwest of APC had in attendance youth leaders from across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
In his special remark, the Senior Presidential aide, who was a Special guest of honour and a key stakeholder in youth leadership in the country, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointing one of their own, Dr. Ibrahim, who is a youth, as the Minister of Youth Development.
The SSAP submitted that 40% of Persons With Disabilities in Nigeria fall into the category of youths, adding that these people suffer employment inequalities, economic deprivation, starvation and lack of access to good healthcare service.
Hon. Abba reiterated the mandate given to him by President Tinubu which is to liaise with Ministries, Departments and Agencies to create avenues of opportunities for the inclusion of disability requirements and perspectives in their policies plans and programs so as to achieve an inclusive government where everybody regardless of their disability status have a sense of belonging.
In order to realize this, the presidential aide requested for the establishment of a bilateral committee between his office and the Ministry of Youths Development which shall be responsible for fashioning out modalities for the implementation of programs that pertains to youths with disabilities emanating from her office.
Secondly, the SSAP made a passionate appeal for reservation of 10% empowerment programs from the Ministry for youth with disabilities which shall be coordinated by his office.
In her response, the Hon. Minister, Dr. Jamila Ibrahim expressed the commitment of the ministry to implement the 10% inclusion policy, while also assuring the Ministry readiness to work in collaboration with the office of the SSA on Special Needs and Equal Opportunities so that young persons with disabilities will benefit optimally from the programs and initiatives of the ministry.
The Minister decried that over the years trust between the young people and government has broken down and there was need to rebuild this trust, which she said can only be achieved by making commitment that can be delivered.
The Minister stated that it is not enough to bring youths to the table to discuss, rather it is time to put resources in their hands. To this end, she announced that the Ministry has secured the approval of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, for the establishment of Nigeria Youth Investment Fund and National Youth Development Bank to enable youths get access to more funds and grants for their business initiatives.
Dr. Ibrahim added that the Ministry has equally secured the approval of the Federal Executive Council,FEC, for the establishment of the Presidential Initiative on Youth Enterprise Clusters, and has also gotten approval for 30% youth involvement in governance.
She explained that the Youth Enterprise Clusters will help the youths to benefit from the Economies of scale and to be able to aggregate resources in their respective clusters.
The Minister stressed that an executive bill will be sent to the National Assembly for all these initiatives to be passed into law and institutionalize them.
While speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youths Development, Dr. Umar Ahmed, stated that the stakeholders parley which was the first in the series of interaction and engagement with the Minister is expected to continue to hold on a regular basis.
He assured the youths that his office is open to them for collaboration and support anytime the need arises.
On his part, the Convener, Dr. Abubakar Sadiq noted that the essence of the meeting was to create avenue for key stakeholders and youth leaders to have meaningful interactions and engagement with the Minister and to rally support for her to succeed in delivering on her mandate.
Dr. Sadiq noted that the youths have a very high expectations from the Ministry hence it is imperative to convene a forum like this so that the young people can give their inputs on how to chart the way forward for the Nigerian youths.
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