Actionaid Nigeria and Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) have commemorated the 2020 International Youth Day with a call on youths, especially those in local communities within Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory(FCT), to be fully engaged in the civic space and political activities.

The organizations respectively, working with the poor and excluded to ensure justice, erradicate poverty, ensure development and good governance, believe that this will not only increase the fairness of political processes by reducing democratic deficits and contributes to better and more sustainable policies, but also contribute to restore trust in public institutions, especially among youth.

The International Youths Day marked every year around the world, was observed with youths from five local communities-Dakwa, Tunga Ashere, Pasepa in Bwari Area Council, Leleyi Gwari in Kwali Area Council and Gaube in Kuje Area Council of the FCT, where  CITAD with support from Actionaid Nigeria, is offering interventions, via a Zoom platform, on Wednesday.

It was quite a rewarding and educative moment as representatives of  youths from these communities and resource persons discussed on various topics in line with the theme of this year’s celebration, tagged: “Youth Engagement for Global Action”.

Speaking on the theme during the Zoom meeting, Actionaid Nigeria Representative, Joseph Augustine said the theme is apt, to sensitize and guide youths who are the potential  future leaders to be prepared to take their rightful place in their respective societies in the nearest future.

He said youths  needed to be encouraged to participate in the civic space and political arena, stressing, “their participation is very important.”

Program Officer for Economy and Empowerment Network for Community Advancement, Hassan Sarikin- Noma harped on the need for youths to tap the resources within their localities as he spoke on Youth Eploring Opportunities at the Grassroot.

He urged youths to take advantage of opportunities at their doorstep as well as explore other available opportunities.

On her part, Youth Corps Member and Volunteer with SDG Mobile Library, Kehinde Obafemi discussing on Youth Volunteerism, said it is the key to creating life-long change.

Earlier, CITAD Program Officer, Salma Abdulwaheed said the International Youth Day is a significant event that offers the opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young people’s voices, action and initiatives.

Emphasizing the significance of the theme, she explained that youth engagement for global action seek to highlight the way in
which the engagement of young people at the local, national and global levels is enriching national and multilateral institutions and processes.

Furthermore, it draw lessons on how their representation and engagement in formal institutional politics can be significantly enhanced, she noted.

Also CITAD Sponsorship Officer, Mubarak Ekute who discussed on The Way Forward and Advocacy, emphasized on advocacy as key for communities to achieve their goals.

He therefore, tasked the youths in the communities to see advocacy as  the key to global change.

As part of activities to mark the celebration, the non governmental organizations had also, since Monday, commenced a training on implication of  land grabbing in respective communities in the FCT, for people in the participating communities.

The 5-Day training which is expected to be concluded on Friday, aims at designing  campaign strategies to mitigate the menace of land grabbing.

Abdulwaheed said the training became necessary because land grabbing has become a serious issue affecting the FCT people, some of whom have lost their lands, thereby, losing their livelihood as majority of them are into farming.