Nigeria is considering plans to include young people on its delegations to the United Nations meetings as early as this September.
The revelation came amidst talks as the UN secretary-general’s envoy on youth Jayathma Wickramanayake met with foreign affairs minister Geoffrey Onyeama at the start of a five-country tour of Africa.
The inclusion could extend to other international platforms as those on climate change and migration to enable young people engage more with decision making on issues that directly impact them.
Onyeama said the move was in line with the Buhari administration’s push at a speech during the last UN meeting to have young people represented on global stages.
“A lot of the challenges is in communicating and giving voice to youths,” said Onyeama.
“They have to participate to chart the way forward globally.”
He said the president planned to organise fora to get youth engaged in fighting corruption after he was named the African Union’s Anti-Corruption Champion.
Wickramanayake, appointed envoy on youth six months ago, ran a civil society group that worked with young people.
Her office is to bring the UN’s youth programmes closer to young people, improve their participation and engagement.
She called her tour an exciting time to transit from local youth-oriented interventions to a global stage addressing challenges young people face.
Over the next 24 hours, Wickramanayake will meet with young people to talk about girl child education, irregular migration, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and listen to concerns about job creation and opportunities.
