Edo Youth task Obaseki over implementation of Edo Youth Agenda
Speaking, a member of the Board of Trustees- Dr. Dan-Eheremwen Enowoghomwenma said the youth form the largest segment of Nigeria's population. According to him, "young people below the age of 35 years constitute above 60% of Nigeria's general population".
He said Nigeria being the most populous country in Africa and seventh in the world, has an estimated population of 206,139,589, as at 2020.
"According to 2006 population census, Edo State has a total of 3,233,366 population, and it is estimated that children of age 0-17 years, represent 47.3%, young people between the age of 18 and 35 years, represent 32.5 percent of the population, while persons of age 36 and above only represent 20.2% of the total population.
"It is often said that youth are the leaders of tomorrow, but this will only be made possible if the enabling environment and infrastructure is right at the disposal of the youth. The Edo state youth agenda is aimed at aggregating the yearnings of young persons to engage politics actors in the State and to demand the state government accountability in his four years tenure", he said.
Speaking, the Executive Director of MIND Initiative - Comrade Peter Aguebor said MIND Initiative is a nonpolitical and nongovernmental youth focused civic hub of active democratic change makers that are passionate in the advancement of good governance and civic rights, anti-corruption, climate action and youth engagement. “We do this by attracting reforms through data driven advocacies, building of active and informed citizens via capacity development.
“Over the years, MiND Initiative had continually partnered with both local and international organizations to actively engage our citizens in environmental friendly initiatives, support and advocate reforms in our democratic process that achieves a more sustainable development for the Africa continent. Our core values are centered on accountability, result-oriented, inclusion, integrity, innovation and teamwork with a mission to influence all-round citizens’ participation in the democratic process and to have informed climate change agents in our society.”
According to Aguebor, MiND Initiative decided to carry out survey across the 18 local government areas of Edo state by administering a total of 360 questionnaires, 20 each in the 18 LGAs of the State after the 2020 September 19th Edo Governorship election.
He said the demographic data of the respondents shows that 54.5% of the respondents are male while 45.5% are Female. The respondents include students, employed and unemployed youths, farmers and entrepreneurs.
“Our research team developed a data collecting tool known as the Edo Youth Priority Needs Questionnaire (EYPNQ) with special regards to the respondents’ ethnical view and the tools were administered by our deployed enumerators to reach the randomly selected audience in the local government areas. Also key informant interviews were conducted with major stakeholders and experts from Edo state who had real-time information on youth development to get them informed perspective on the reality of the happenings in the state via phone calls so as to reduce persons to persons contact.
“From the survey, Edo state youth demand that the present government focuses more on Education, Employment / Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, Agriculture and Security during his second tenure. It is the hope of Edo state youth that the government will as a matter of public interest expedite action to implement the five priority needs of the youth as they are committed to push this demand till it gains full implementation. This agenda is expected to stimulate intense conversation among Edo state youths on youth active inclusion in decision making, good governance and service delivery that will bring about a more robust sustainable development in the state.
“Our survey report shows that 65% of the total respondents identified Education (18%), Employment / Entrepreneurship (15%), Security (13%), Health (10%) and Agriculture (9%) as the top priority developmental issues.
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