UN Peace Ambassador: Why We’re Targeting Insurgency and Poverty in Nigeria

Ambassador Jonathan Ojadah, Global President of the United Nations International Peace and Governance Council, has said his organisation’s primary focus is to tackle insurgency and drive youth empowerment across Nigeria.

Speaking in Lagos on Friday, Ojadah explained that empowering young people through skills acquisition and entrepreneurship is key to curbing poverty, reducing youthful exuberance, and mitigating insecurity.

“Our focus has been Plateau, Benue, and Kogi. As you may know, there have been high numbers of insurgency and banditry in those states,” he said.

“What we do is to ensure that we facilitate funding for peace missions through our peace initiatives with the state government and enlightening members of the public on conflict resolution mechanisms. Also, giving humanitarian aid to the communities that have been affected by banditry and insurgency. So far so good, we have our footprints in these three states and we also hope to extend the project to other regions in the country.”

According to him, the initiative prioritises human capital development through vocational empowerment and skills acquisition centres. The council, he noted, is working with state governments to secure land for such centres while partners equip them to run robust entrepreneurship and empowerment programmes for young Nigerians.

“Once the youth are equipped with good vocational skills, it gives them that entrepreneurial spirit. By the time we work with government agencies like SMEDAN, to help enforce some policies that assist these youths in developing their small and medium-scale enterprise ventures, there will be huge improvement,” Ojadah said.

He further stressed that one of the greatest challenges facing Nigerian youth is poor orientation and lack of guidance toward community development.

“That’s where the role of education comes in; we need to enlighten these youths more. We need to keep coming up with skill sensitisation projects, enlightening these youths on what they can do for themselves for meaningful existence,” he explained.

Ojadah highlighted Lagos as an example, saying: “In Ajah community, you will see that a lot of young teenagers and youths are out there on the streets doing nothing. So if we can have more skilled entrepreneurship development or vocational skills development centres, it will be able to accommodate these children.

“And not just these teenagers being on the streets or being trained, they need to be equipped with adequate materials or start-up packs. Governments need to encourage them in their various capacities to ensure that they are well-developed to become entrepreneurs for their future.”

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