The Federal Government on Saturday said the national youth conference proposed by President Bola Tinubu will begin February 2025.
The Minister of Youth Development, Mr Ayodele Olawande, said delegates would only converge on the FCT, Abuja, for one week after spending three weeks engaging youths at the grassroots.
He said, “We will do the confab by the first week of February. It is not going to be the usual confab. That is why about three weeks of this confab will be spent with the grassroots.”
Olawande added that President Tinubu would inaugurate selected delegates by mid-January.
While providing updates on preparations for the confab, the youth minister said the event would not be a time to “talk and spend money.
“We have changed the idea. The President has given us the go-ahead to come up with something more action-oriented, and after clarifying it with the Chief of Staff and getting his input, we will announce the modalities before the year (2024) ends.
“We will announce the committees. We’ll hit the ground running by mid-January or the last week of January. We will nominate representatives from each ministry and agency to collaborate with the delegates.
“We will announce those people; the President will approve and inaugurate them, and we will do the confab properly by the first week of February. I can assure you that we are going to the grassroots.”
He noted that the 30-day event would allocate two weeks to engagement in federal constituencies, followed by one week in states and local government areas.
The final week will involve a convergence on Abuja, where all findings and progress will be reviewed and discussed to formulate actionable steps.
Reflecting on previous conferences, such as the 2014 confab, he emphasised the need for a fresh and result-oriented approach to avoid repeating mistakes that yielded minimal results.
“This period, we have been looking at what has been done and how we can do things differently and better. That is why we are taking our time because we want results.
“As of now, we are setting up committees and giving them templates. We need to go back to where the challenges are the grassroots. We will not have the same people in various youth organisations who have always been there for a long time and just recruit them for the confab. We don’t think that is the right step this time around.”
Witness recalled that President Tinubu during his Independence Day broadcast, announced the gathering of a 30-day national youth conference to address critical issues facing the country’s youths, including unemployment, education, and political participation.
The planned conference was part of the administration’s response to the youth-led protests, including #EndBadGovernance in August 2024 and the #FearlessOctober in October 2024.
“The conference aims to provoke meaningful dialogue and empower our young people to participate actively in nation-building. By ensuring that their voices are heard in shaping the policies that impact their lives, we are creating a pathway for a brighter tomorrow,” the President said.
