The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Nigeria, Bengt van Loosdrecht, today, said that unemployment is a greater push factor for young Nigerians seeking to migrate abroad than insecurity.
The ambassador said findings from the Youth Pulse Survey, conducted among more than 100 young Nigerians, showed that young people were primarily seeking opportunities to acquire relevant skills, secure decent employment, earn better incomes and access capital to establish businesses, reports The Guardian.
Van Loosdrecht disclosed this in Abuja, during the Youth Pulse Dialogue organised by the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nigeria to commemorate International Youth Day.
The dialogue, themed “Nigerian Youth at the Heart of National Development,” brought together young people, government representatives and other stakeholders to discuss challenges affecting Nigerian youths and ways of creating greater opportunities for them.
He said: “Young people want opportunities, not only in the West, but definitely in Nigeria. They want useful skills, not skills that they cannot use in the labour market. Useful digital skills. They want decent work, decent pay, and they want access to capital if they start a business.
“They want to be able to build a future where they are, here in Nigeria. But this is a bit of a, I would say, catch. Many of them are considering leaving the country and seeking opportunities elsewhere. To them, unemployment is a greater push factor for migration than insecurity.
“I felt insecurity should be a real push factor, but unemployment is really felt as a bigger obstacle. So, this is even more important, as many told us, that better opportunities at home in Nigeria would change the decision to go to Japa. If you had a thriving economy with opportunities and skills, people would stay.”
He stressed the need for government and other institutions to ensure that young people had access to useful skills, decent work, decent pay and capital to enable them to build sustainable livelihoods.
The ambassador also highlighted the contributions of young Nigerians to the country’s development, noting that they were creating businesses and developing solutions in areas including technology, fashion, music and other creative industries.
He said young people should no longer be regarded merely as subjects of policy discussions but should be allowed to lead conversations on issues affecting their future.
He added, “We have arrived now at this moment, a moment where young people are not only the subject of the conversation, but are really leading the conversation.
“We must act on those findings, change the systems so that skills, work and capital really become accessible. We need to act, not only analyse.”
The envoy further called for stronger collaboration among government, the private sector, civil society organisations, development partners and young people themselves to create meaningful opportunities for the country’s youthful population.
In her remarks, the Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Community Engagement (North Central), Dr. Abiodun Essiet, commended young people for their commitment to supporting initiatives aimed at strengthening youth participation in national development.
Essiet said the concerns and demands of young Nigerians had the power to influence positive changes in the country, stressing the importance of ensuring that the voices of young people were heard.
She also advocated greater inclusion of women in youth development initiatives, saying women should not be treated merely as numbers but should be given meaningful opportunities to contribute to national development.
Also speaking, the Co-Chairperson of the Youth Advisory Committee to the Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria, Derefaka Derefaka, said the Youth Pulse initiative was developed after members of the committee identified the need to hear directly from Nigerian youths rather than relying solely on their own experiences.
He said the committee conducted surveys across universities, civil society organisations and youth-led organisations to identify the major concerns and aspirations of young Nigerians.
He said that the findings showed that Nigerian youths were willing to remain in the country and contribute to its development but were constrained by what he described as “unfair systems,” inadequate employment opportunities and weaknesses in the education system.
Derefaka said migration was a conditional issue, arguing that improving jobs and education in Nigeria would reduce the rate at which young people leave the country.
He said: “It was clear that migration is a conditional issue. Youth are willing to stay back in their country, but they need fair systems. They need improved jobs. They need an improved educational system because most of them indicated that jobs and education are some of the things that drive them, or make them want to leave the country.
“If these two sectors or aspects in Nigeria are well developed or well improved, I believe the outflow of youth, the high rate of young people emigrating out of Nigeria, would reduce.”
He urged the government to study and implement the recommendations contained in the Youth Pulse policy brief, stressing the need for a coordinated and integrated approach to youth development.
He also called for greater accountability from government and increased involvement of young people in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring.
Derefaka further urged stakeholders to ensure that young people in rural communities were not excluded from government programmes and other initiatives designed to create opportunities for youths.
