By ifeoma Onyekachi

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has inaugurated the Office of the Vice-President Generation Unlimited (OVP-GenU) Secretariat, a major step aimed at expanding education, skills development and employment opportunities for millions of Nigerian youths.

The Generation Unlimited initiative, a programme led by UNICEF, is a public-private-youth partnership designed to connect 20 million young Nigerians to education, training and livelihood opportunities by the year 2030.

Speaking during the inauguration in Abuja on Tuesday, the vice-president said the establishment of the secretariat would accelerate the implementation of the programme and strengthen collaboration among government institutions and development partners. Represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Sen. Ibrahim Hadejia, Shettima explained that the secretariat would help align skills development programmes with the needs of communities and industries across the country.

He added that the initiative would operate through a transparent and accessible process to ensure that young Nigerians across all regions benefit from the opportunities provided under the programme.

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, noted that the GenU framework aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme, which targets economic growth and development at the grassroots level across Nigeria’s 8,809 electoral wards.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, said the establishment of the secretariat reflected the vice-president’s commitment to strengthening skills development and vocational training in the country. She disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education would adopt the GenU programme as a technical guide, particularly in conducting a national skills census whose results would be integrated into government planning for vocational and technical education.

The UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Wafaa Abdelatef, described the hosting of the secretariat in the Office of the Vice-President as a strong demonstration of Nigeria’s commitment to youth development and job creation. She said the country was showing leadership in Africa in coordinating programmes aimed at improving youth employment and skills development.

Abdelatef also reaffirmed UNICEF’s commitment to supporting the programme through technical expertise and partnership in key youth-focused initiatives.

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on Job Creation and MSMEs, Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, said the initiative had the potential to significantly reduce youth unemployment by leveraging existing government programmes and innovation hubs across the country.

He added that the programme would utilise the network of Shared Hubs under the National MSME Clinics to expand skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development in various sectors of the economy.