FG begins nationwide registration of Nigerians aged 15–35

The Federal Government has launched a nationwide registration exercise for Nigerians aged 15 to 35 under the National Youth Data Bank, aimed at building a database of young people and connecting them with employment, skills and other opportunities.

The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, announced the initiative on Tuesday in Abuja at the launch of the National Youth Data Bank project.

Olawande said the database would capture young Nigerians across both formal and informal sectors, including agriculture, sports, creative industries and technology.

He said accurate data on the youth population would enable the government to better identify their skills, locations and needs while improving the design and implementation of youth-focused programmes.

According to the minister, the initiative would help answer key questions about who Nigerian youths are, where they live, what skills they possess and what opportunities they require.

Olawande said the programme was a continuous government initiative and was not being introduced for electoral purposes.

“We also want to get the formal and the informal youth to make sure that they are part of this. We want everybody. We even want to know the youth in agriculture. We want to know the youth in sport. We want to know all those in creative tech and all that, so that even when we say some people need jobs, we know, okay, these people need skills,” he said.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of POGMA Nigeria Limited, the technical partner for the project, Otunba Oluyinka Akerele, said registration centres had been established in educational institutions and would be expanded to local government areas and wards across the country.

He said the exercise would cover students in secondary schools, polytechnics, universities and colleges of education, as well as young people working in the informal sector and those living in rural communities.

“For the Nigerian youth registration, we have created cluster points in schools, polytechnics, universities, College of Education. These are targets for the formal sectors,” Akerele said.

He added that enumerators would be deployed across the 774 local government areas to register youths, including those in hard-to-reach communities.

Akerele urged eligible Nigerians to participate in the exercise, saying registration would help the government identify young people and match them with relevant opportunities.

“All we appeal to our youth to do is to embrace the programme, go out en masse and be registered. It is only when you are registered that we know who you are, where you are, and how you can benefit from the supposed government dividend of democracy,” he said.

Akerele said the registration was open to Nigerians aged 15 to 35, in line with the Nigerian Youth Policy.

“You are addressed as a youth in Nigeria once you are 15, and once you are 35, you still remain a youth,” he said.

He explained that the database would be regularly updated to capture new entrants as they attain the eligibility age.

“For those that are not up to 15, that’s why you have an updating, just like you have with INEC. Once they are 15, our enumerators are there to capture them,” Akerele said.