* Scheme to connect 20m Nigerian youth to jobs, training opportunities by 2030

* Shettima emerges GenU Board chair, urges inclusive, demand-driven approach to youth unemployment

Deji Elumoye in Abuja 

The Federal Government has announced a new national skills programme aimed at connecting 20 million young Nigerians to jobs, training and entrepreneurship opportunities by 2030, with at least 60 per cent of beneficiaries expected to be women.

This is just as Vice-President Kashim Shettima has assumed the chairmanship position of the reactivated Board of Generation Unlimited (GenU) Nigeria, with a mandate to connect 20 million young Nigerians to employment opportunities by 2030.

Speaking during the inaugural board meeting of Generation Unlimited Nigeria in Abuja, Shettima described Nigeria’s youthful population as the nation’s superpower and comparative advantage in a rapidly ageing world.

The GenU board meeting coincided with International Youth Day 2025, themed ‘Youth Innovation for a Sustainable Future.’

According to the vice-president: “With over 60 per cent of our population below the age of 25, we cannot afford to squander this asset. An advantage unrealised is merely potential wasted. We must refine it, we must invest in it, and we must channel it towards productive destinies.”

Shettima warned that Nigeria’s “national skills ecosystem faces a trilemma” with too many young people excluded from the start, training disconnected from livelihoods, and inadequate infrastructure for large-scale hands-on learning”.

“Another isolated training scheme will not deliver us from these constraints. What we need is systemic change—a new architecture built to last,” he added.

The centrepiece of this push is the Digital Access and Livelihoods Initiative (DALI), described as a demand-driven national talent pipeline that will link foundational and work-readiness training directly to guaranteed jobs or enterprise pathways.

“We need a platform to unify government, private sector leaders, development partners, and the boundless energy of our youth under a single banner. This is a proposition to attract coordinated investment and replace fragmented efforts with a common front,” the vice-president said.

He pledged that all training under the initiative will align with the National Skills Qualification Framework to ensure that “our young people possess not only the skills to work but the credentials to compete globally”.

Charging the new board, in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners, to proceed with full development and implementation of DALI, Shettima said: “Let this be the turning point. Let this be the day history remembers as the moment we stopped managing youth unemployment as an inevitable crisis and started unlocking the creative, entrepreneurial, and intellectual capital of our people.

“We owe young Nigerians jobs. We owe them hope. We owe them the future, not just promises, but proof that their country believes in them enough to invest in their success.”

Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, said the administration’s vision is “clear — create jobs, bridge the skills gap and empower young people through human capital development, not just token gestures”.

“Nigerian youths are not limited. We have the talent, creativity and courage to thrive. What we need is a meaningful and enabling environment, and we must work together as one team to create and deliver real impact,” he said.

Also speaking, the Special Assistant to the President on Strategy and Policy (Workforce Development), Rimamskeb Nuhu, explained that the government had identified three major challenges facing young Nigerians — foundational skills gap, livelihood disconnect and infrastructure deficit.

“In response, we created DALI, built on two pillars: equipping underserved communities with foundational digital skills and establishing Renewed Hope digital hubs to scale up existing government efforts,” he noted.

Other stakeholders at the meeting highlighted achievements across GenU 9JA’s three pillars, including Digital Learning and Connectivity, Workplace Readiness, and Youth Engagement and Empowerment.

Over 10 million youth have already benefited in the first four years from flagship initiatives such as FUCAP Campus Ambassadors Programme (with Unilever), Passport to Earning (P2E) with Microsoft, Green Rising, and the Girls’ Education and Skills Partnership (GESP) with FCDO, among many others.

On his part, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Mohamed Fall, urged stakeholders to “reaffirm commitment to Nigerian youths,” describing them as “the most critical assets of the country and the continent”.

“Every day, Nigerian youths demonstrate their potential. Together, we can drive large-scale impact by leveraging our networks to support initiatives like GenU 9JA — the biggest partnership platform for young people,” Fall added.

Also, UNICEF Nigeria Country Representative and GenU 9JA co-chair, Ms. Wafaa Saeed, said a major achievement of the project was the formal recognition of Youth Agency Marketplace (YOMA) as Nigeria’s national youth opportunities aggregator, a one-stop digital platform connecting young people to skilling, innovation, volunteering and economic pathways.

“Children and young people must be at the centre of everything we do. This board meeting, coinciding with International Youth Day, reaffirms our shared belief that young Nigerians are not just beneficiaries of development, they are drivers of change. Through GenU 9JA, we are proving that youth-led transformation at scale is possible,” Saeed said.

Also speaking, Global CEO of UNICEF Generation Unlimited, Kevin Frey, lauded Nigeria’s leadership in youth-focused innovation.

“Nigeria is one of the most dynamic countries globally. The vision, partnerships, and commitment of young people here are charting a new course for youth ecosystems at scale,” he said.

Launched in 2021, GenU 9JA is a Public-Private-Youth-Partnership (PPYP) platform targeting 20 million Nigerian youth by 2030, supporting their transition from learning to earning, productive work and active citizenship.

Private sector partners, including Microsoft, Airtel, IHS Towers, Unilever, CISCO, MTN, and Jobberman, are working alongside the government and UNICEF to expand opportunities in digital education, green jobs, entrepreneurship and civic engagement.

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