Creating Opportunities and Lobbying (COAL)
"2018 saw the emergence of The COAL Project, and the project since then has been of positive exponential impact on youth communities.
The COAL Project, as it was, was meant to be the driving force of my speakership tenure at the Nigerian Youth Parliament. The COAL Project was envisioned and advanced ain a bid to catalyze the development of our country Nigeria, primarily through the effective functionality of the Nigerian Youth Parliament and all the partnering youth communities and organizations. The COAL Project is premised on creating and sustaining not just a platform, but a system to create opportunities in all facets to be exploited by every Nigerian youth. A foundation for nation-building by way of harnessing the potentials of our youth, and instilling in them the virtues for an exemplary leadership lifestyle.
Though I did not make it to the speakership of the NYP, I appreciate the incumbent leadership of the NYP for recognizing the potentials of The COAL Project, adopting some of its focal points, and integrating them into its agenda.
The COAL Project now poses itself as a model to all national leaders, and youth communities around the globe, to adopt and implement the relevant and "fit for purpose" propositions respectively, as instigators of global & leadership development and sustainability."
NAW 2020
The COAL Project has 5 pillars
Environment
Environment
Social Welfare
Social Welfare
Leisure & Partnership
Leisure & Partnership
Education
Education is the pivot upon which every society revolves, and the driving force of its people. In Nigeria, we cannot overemphasize the importance of education. Present in every community is a formal or informal educational institution, but we still have systematic inefficiencies in our educational system. As a young person born and raised in Sokoto State in the northern region, I can attest to the fact that of all states in the federation; the state had the highest number of children out of school. But in the recent years, statistics have shown that the state has witnessed the highest rate of increase in the number of children enrolled in schools.
I believe that adopting a more comprehensive education system will immensely improve the national educational standards. The tertiary education system will cease to churn out half-baked graduates but will groom competent degree holders of stellar repute in their respective disciplines, capable of representing the nation in the international and global space.
Improving the transition between education stages
In transiting from one educational stage to another, the absence of productive engagements has rendered the youth passive and redundant. This has seen to their involvement in social vices, culminating into monumental mayhems for the society. There is the exigency to create a seamless transition experience by deploying policies for the inevitable positive impact on the orientation of the youth. With secondary school leavers as our primary focus, we can synergize towards a better status quo.
We need to create avenues for internship opportunities for these school leavers to gain practical insights into the world of work and the functioning of the economy, as they prepare for higher education. We also realize the need to institute an entrepreneurial scheme to expose these students to vocational aptitudes, financial intelligence and independence, leadership training, and a myriad of other personal and capacity development schemes. These programs will suffice to improve the transition between education stages.
Education Maintenance Allowance
University students, with particular reference to those in their final year, need funds for their projects, theses, and other associated costs related to graduation. Given the in-egalitarian nature of our society, a lot of students cannot afford their tuition, let alone frivolous spending. I believe it is pertinent that we make financial support available to the students, to abate fundraising-related stress, depression, or psychological dissonancies.
The Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) is already a beneficiary of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), but the ITF needs to be more involved in the administration of more educational schemes. Education maintenance allowance should through the ITF and other institutions, be made available by the government. We need an expansion of the funding scope of the ITF towards education and a more centralized fund administration for education interventions.
As part of enhancing the education system, we need government intervention to incentivize students with improvement in IT integration for the learning ecosystem, and the provision of gadgets such as tablets and mobile computers. Following the initiatives of the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation (NHEF), the students need increased access and exposure to scholarship opportunities, competitions, and awards.
Employment & Empowerment
Health insurance for students
Young people have a high level of engagement, which makes them the most vulnerable to health risks. In the case of any eventuality, these young people cannot afford adequate treatment, leaving the inapt traditional treatment methods as their last resort.
The existing health insurance schemes in our higher institutions are void of transparency and accountability. The students require a more transparent, centralized, and unified insurance management system to provide health insurance and full disclosure of benefits and privileges of the insurance cover.
Students in tertiary institutions need health insurance covers to guarantee their access to quality healthcare at minimal cost and mitigate the risks of health contingencies in the course of their study.
The government should critique the policies guiding the provision of health insurance by corporate bodies, and set professional standards and ethical conduct governing the administration of health insurance. Consideration should be placed on such factors as cost, accessibility, variety, and effectiveness of health insurance covers, as part of revising the partnerships between higher institutions and health management organizations.
A lot of youth have massive potential and will work pro bono for a while, to gain practical experience in the private and public sectors of the economy. I am a product of such a system. I undertook a 3-month internship program at the Nigerian Defence College, Abuja; and I gained a wealth of knowledge and experience that have proved invaluable to my personal and professional development.
After considering this, it is important for youth leaders with the support of their organizations to ensure that we bridge the gap between the ideal youth and their potential workplaces.
Work experience at the National Assembly and other government agencies
The 4th Assembly of the Youth Parliament will work with the leadership of the National Assembly, to make provisions that each member of the Nigerian Youth Parliament is allowed to intern with a member of the Nigerian Senate, and other youths are attached to members of the House of Representatives for a specific period. Applications for these internships will be facilitated by a central portal.
Government agencies should ensure that no less than 50 youth are introduced to the system as interns at the parastatals every quarter, to work and learn on-the-job in their respective capacities.
The essence of this is to avail the youth a wealth of experiential learning and the avenue to harness their decision-making acumen on prescribed roles, proper leadership training and exposure, and excellent work ethic. This will suffice to competently prepare the youth for engagements in the national leadership space, and brace them for the challenges of the status quo.
Funding for young technicians and engineers
In first-world nations, technology is the force that drives sustainable economic growth and development. Hence, massive investments in innovative technological advancements are being made by these countries. Young people assiduously engage in experiments, designs, and projects, in prospects of technological breakthroughs.
There is the necessity for the Nigerian government, with the support of the private sector, to develop an initiative with the principal aim of grooming young people with exceptional ideas, capable of catalyzing positive developmental courses.
Young people from across the nation have developed impressive projects to this effect. Bashar Aliyu of Sokoto state designed exotic cars, Muzzamil Umma of Birnin Kebbi with the cars made from scrap materials, Uduji Chiemelie of Anambra built a toy helicopter, Ahmed Aliyu of Bida, Niger State, had constructed a car with wood and motorcycle engines, to mention a few. It is no news that our youth have a wealth of talent to discover and develop novel technological advancements. To achieve this, we have to provide suitable platforms and an environment to hone the talents and competencies of these young people.
Environment
The recent trends in climate change have made it imperative for us to protect and preserve our environment. In the event of any climate mishap, the situation will be debilitating to our country, Nigeria, a nation with abundant natural and mineral resources.
I believe we need to take certain measures to minimize the adverse consequences of climate change on our environment to enhance our quality of living and prospects for a sustainable greener future.
Some measures that will advance this course are:
Recycling
In most rural and urban areas in Nigeria, the debris and stench from refuse dumps and residential settlements leave the environment in a deplorable state. Poorly managed waste causes the spread of severe, inimical diseases in the environment.
Recently, the Sokoto State Government initiated a reward system for a preset cleanliness benchmark in the state. A reward of N3 million was available to incentivize the people to synergize towards a cleaner and healthier environment with recyclable items. The reward system was effective in ensuring cleanliness and recycling throughout the state, as it was presented to the cleanest streets in the state.
By the foregoing, the government can initiate a reward system to incentivize people to work towards a cleaner environment. There is a need for effective regulations to improve the waste management system of every community to ensure effective and efficient waste recycling.
Focus on Renewable Energy
For Nigeria to improve its power supply, we have to adopt the utility of renewable and affordable sources of alternative energy. We have at our disposal renewable sources like solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy, biomass energy, tidal energy, and geothermal energy.
Governments at the federal and state levels need to synergize and focus on developing and maintaining these renewable energy sources. In encouraging the utilization of renewable energy, the government can install sources of alternative energy at strategic locations for public grid supply and sensitizing the public on best practices for household and commercial energy efficiency.
Youth bodies should invest and focus more on creating massive awareness concerning the immense benefits of espousing the utilization of renewable energy, and the advantages of household investments in renewable energy. Youth leaders should endeavor to lobby private companies and institutions to adopt the usage of and make substantial investments in renewable energy.
Sustainable Living
Young people need to learn about the ecosystem, and how commonplace activity contributes to the health of the environment. Schools, as agents of socialization, should have advanced curriculums to guarantee the impartation of knowledge about the environment, and how to conserve natural resources for a healthy coexistence.
Climate Change
The prevalent climate change poses a huge threat to the sustainability of places, species, and people. To amply reduce the adverse effects of climate change, we must take all necessary steps to combat the indicators of global warming.
The government and relevant stakeholders need to advance policies aimed at mitigating carbon emission and consequent pollution. We should also consider relevant measures to promote afforestation and reduce deforestation. These will ensure that people are constantly adapting to the dynamics of the ecosystem.
Social Welfare
Alcohol and drug abuse
Drug abuse is a prevalent condition in Nigeria today. Many of our youth have been incarcerated due to the abuse of drugs and harmful substances. The illegal handling of drugs by these young people has given rise to crime and health discrepancies in our social space and have wreaked havocs ranging from psychological disorders to the eventual death of these young people - a depletion in the working population. The problem is on an exponential trend per day, and we urgently need to contain the situation.
A framework for community prevention intervention is the proposed solution model to abating the menace in our society. This model is premised on three components - community mobilization, prevention education, and environmental strategies.
Community mobilization is intended to increase community engagement by planning, implementing, and sustaining the impact of community awareness campaigns on the inimical effects of drug abuse. Prevention education involves introducing "think smart" curriculums in higher institutions to decrease the intent and abuse of drugs. Environmental strategies are designed to enable parents, retailers, and schools to ensure restricted access, and with the help of the government take actions intended to reduce the availability of drugs.
Youth groups should focus and work towards the establishment of state-of-the-art drug rehabilitation centers and develop the proposed solution model to the phenomenon.
Leisure & Partnership
A foolproof means of achieving success in any organization is partnership. Nigerian youth bodies should prioritize partnership with developmental agencies and other youth parliaments worldwide for maximum service delivery.
These partnerships will create opportunities for members of the youth bodies and every Nigerian youth. The following are recognized and credible youth organizations that are potential partners of the NYP.
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Young African Leaders Initiative
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West African Youth Parliament
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Revolutionary Youth Union
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African Youth Parliament
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World Assembly of Youth
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United Kingdom Youth Parliament
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Plant-for-the-Planet
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European Youth Parliament
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AIESEC
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Commonwealth Youth Parliament
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British Columbia Youth Parliament
Going by the popular maxim, "all work without play makes Jack a dull boy", I believe we should encourage youth engagement in leisure and sporting activities, to develop a fitter and healthier youth populace.
Leisure and cultural activities need to be affordable and more accessible, with regular discounts and membership benefits doled out to young people. We have seen such developments in Lagos and Abuja, but we need to extend these advancements to other parts of the country.