Youth are the future of FCT and they deserve a community that supports, protects, and empowers them to grow into confident, responsible adults.
Nigerian youth are largely not empowered due to factors including a lack of political inclusion, limited access to quality education and digital skills, high levels of poverty and unemployment, and systemic issues like corruption and patronage. These barriers hinder young Nigerians from gaining the skills and opportunities needed for economic and political participation, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation and fostering social challenges like restiveness and insecurity.
This piece is a call for action and accountability. As a youth advocate, you have demanded the same from many leaders. I hope you don’t take this to heart; no public servant is above public scrutiny, whether past or active in service.
As a baby communicator, I will adopt international theory to explain this better. Let me use Professor Ibrahim Gambari’s concentric circles of Nigeria’s foreign policy.
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According to Prof. Gambari, Nigeria’s foreign policy should begin at home, then Africa, then the Black diaspora/Global South, and finally the wider international system.
In October 2024, Wike unveiled President Tinubu’s N10bn investment for FCT youths.
Following the establishment of the FCT Youth Department Secretariat, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barr. Nyesom Wike, stated that President Tinubu has allocated 10 billion naira to support the youths, as he said it is a groundbreaking initiative to empower youths in Abuja. In Wike’s enthusiasm, he stated that the initiative will help youths grow and thrive, which will address the needs of women and youths, previously neglected.
And finally, the FCT Youth Secretariat was established. Sadly, the manifestation of the 10 billion approved by Mr. President fell below expectations and is invisible.
No FCT student benefited from the Department of Youth and Development Secretariat scholarship.
FCT natives have not seen any youths empowered with FCT Youth Mandate Secretariat starter packs from the Livelihood Programme.
95% of FCT natives see the FCT Youths Secretariat as a scam, because billions were allocated to the sector, yet little progress is visible.
Many FCT natives were excited when the department was created and appeared on the FCTA Governing Council, trusting the youths’ inclusion. But after the appointment of the FCT Youth Mandate Secretariat, they never heard from the department anymore, from the Youth Department to the Sports Department. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu created the Youth Secretariat in the FCTA to ensure that youth in the Territory are carried along in the government’s policies and programmes.
Meanwhile, the tears of FCT youths have not been mopped and substandard remediation work grew louder.
Abdullahi Adamu
