Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Youth Development has launched the National Youth Data Bank (NYDB), a platform intended to support youth development planning, connect young Nigerians with opportunities and strengthen evidence-based policymaking.
The initiative was launched in Abuja on Tuesday under the theme, “Building a Stronger Future for the Nigerian Youth through Data, Opportunity and Inclusion.”
Speaking at the launch, the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, said reliable information was needed to better understand the country’s young population and respond to their needs.
“We cannot adequately plan for what we cannot properly see.”
Olawande said the Data Bank would provide a centralised platform containing information on demographics, education, skills and competencies, employment, entrepreneurship, civic participation and health.
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He said the platform was also intended to connect young Nigerians with opportunities in skills development, employment, entrepreneurship, internships, digital programmes and other youth-focused interventions.
“Our ambition is clear, Data must become a bridge between the aspirations of young Nigerians and the opportunities available to them.”
The Minister stressed the need to ensure that young people in rural and underserved communities were represented in the national youth data system.
“No young Nigerian should be left behind because government does not have sufficient information about them.”
He called for collaboration among government institutions, state and local governments, educational institutions, development partners, private-sector organisations, civil society and youth organisations to support implementation of the initiative.
Olawande also stressed the importance of data accuracy, security, privacy and responsible management, saying the objective was to use information to improve the lives of young Nigerians rather than collect data for its own sake.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Maryam Ismaila Keshinro, represented at the event by the Director of Human Resources, Mr Akin Olanipekun, said the National Youth Data Bank represented a significant step towards strengthening youth development planning.
She said the platform would support evidence-based policymaking, targeting of programmes, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination of youth development initiatives.
“Our goal is clear, to ensure that no young Nigerian is left behind due to inadequate information or poor targeting.”
Representing the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Youth Development, Senator Adeyemi Raphael Adaramodu, Dr Ijeoma Chikwem said credible youth data was essential to effective legislation, policy oversight and responsible resource allocation.
Adaramodu said the initiative went beyond the creation of a database, describing it as a national infrastructure for understanding the country’s youth population and their development needs.
“It is a national youth data infrastructure designed to provide reliable information on our youth or young people, their demographics, education, skills, employment, entrepreneurship, talents, aspirations, and development needs.”
He said the success of the initiative would depend on sustained collaboration among government institutions, the private sector, development partners, youth organisations and young Nigerians.
Adaramodu also called for the information contained in the Data Bank to remain accurate, secure, regularly updated and responsibly managed, with appropriate safeguards for privacy and data protection.
The launch is part of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development’s effort to establish a coordinated national youth-data system for planning, targeting and evaluating programmes for young Nigerians.
The ministry said the initiative was intended to improve the availability of information needed to design, implement and measure youth development programmes.
