FG getting young people involved in policy formulation ― Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the Federal Government was getting young people involved in policy formulation.

Osinbajo stated this on Friday in Abuja at the Presidential Dinner for the Global Youth Employment Forum (GYEF), of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), organised in honour of the Director-General of ILO, Guy Ryder.

Ryder is in Nigeria to attend the ILO’s GYEF where more than 60 countries have gathered to address the challenge of finding decent jobs for young people.

He had met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.

Osinbajo said that hearing young people talk about the opportunity was always heartwarming to him.

“Just yesterday, at the State House Banquet Hall, we hosted young businessmen and women from various parts of Nigeria who have won awards and many of them had outstanding ideas.

“Again, we, just yesterday, closed a programme in Edo State, a training we organised for young people in animation; training to use animation in film, TV and advertising.

“This is a group of about 1500 young people who are about to get into the industry using animation; young people are already in recognition that these times are challenging and are meeting those challenges with a great deal of energy; a great deal of creativity and optimism.

“I am glad to see that of many of you young people here have the same positive outlook and you are looking at the future with a great deal of confidence.

“One thing that we do especially here in Nigeria and one thing we are working on, is ensuring that young people are involved in the process of policy formulation.

“So, I have, under my office, an entertainment and technology advisory group where I have a lot of young people who are talking to me and other government officials about what sort of policy we should have in entertainment and technology, to make it easier for them to do business. This has proved to be very useful.’’

According to the vice president, there are a lot of companies that are involved in Fintech, mobile payment system, and all manner of payments, but they are not banks and they are doing incredibly well.

“They make a lot of turnover in their businesses and the CBN regulates them,” he said.

Osinbajo said that with the help of the young men and women who worked with him as advisory group, they were able to design new strategies for the CBN to be able to license that category of financial technology companies to make it easier for them to do their business.

“And that is really what we have to keep doing because the environment is so dynamic.

“Things are changing so quickly that even some of our policies are getting outdated and we need to move along with some other changes that we are seeing, especially some of the disruptive ideas that we are seeing all across the country; I am sure it is same around the world,’’ he said.

Ryder, earlier in his remarks, had thanked Nigeria for making his visit a memorable one.

He said that he had interacted with a cross-section of Nigerians including labour unions, adding that the relationship between Nigeria and ILO was cordial.

Ryder said that the decision to host the event in Abuja, Nigeria, was a good one and urged the participants to return to their respective countries as ambassadors of Nigeria.