By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Every Nigerian between the ages of 15 and 35 will soon have a digital profile capturing their skills, location and employment status, as the Federal Government commences a nationwide registration exercise under the newly launched National Youth Data Bank (NYDB).
The Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, disclosed this in Abuja on Sunday, 28 September, 2026, while launching the project, explaining that the initiative was designed to build a comprehensive database of the country’s youth population and link them with employment, skills and other opportunities.
He explained that the exercise would capture youths across both the formal and informal sectors, including those engaged in agriculture, sports, the creative industries and technology.
Olawande explained that reliable data on young Nigerians would enable government to better understand their needs, skills and locations, thereby improving the planning and implementation of youth development programmes.
He said the database would answer critical questions about the country’s youth population, including who they are, where they are, what they can do and what opportunities they require, while stressing that the initiative was a continuous government programme rather than an electoral exercise.
“We also want to get the formal and the informal youth to make sure that they are part of this. We want everybody. We even want to know the youth in agriculture. We want to know the youth in sport. We want to know all those in creative tech and all that, so that even when we say some people need jobs, we know, okay, these people need skills,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of POGMA Nigeria Limited, the technical partner to the project, Otunba Oluyinka Akerele, disclosed that registration points had been established in educational institutions and would be extended to local government areas and wards across the country.
He explained that the exercise would cover youths in secondary schools, polytechnics, universities and colleges of education, as well as those in informal employment and rural communities.
“For the Nigerian youth registration, we have created cluster points in schools, polytechnics, universities, College of Education. These are targets for the formal sectors,” he said.
Akerele disclosed that enumerators would be deployed across the country’s 774 local government areas to register youths, including those in hard-to-reach communities, urging young Nigerians to embrace the exercise so government could identify them and determine how best to connect them with available opportunities.
“All we appeal to our youth to do is to embrace the programme, go out en masse and be registered. It is only when you are registered that we know who you are, where you are, and how you can benefit from the supposed government dividend of democracy,” he said.
He explained that the registration age bracket of 15 to 35 aligned with the Nigerian Youth Policy, under which an individual is classified as a youth from the age of 15 until 35.
“You are addressed as a youth in Nigeria once you are 15, and once you are 35, you still remain a youth,” he said.
Akerele added that the database would be updated regularly to accommodate young Nigerians who attain the eligible age.
“For those that are not up to 15, that’s why you have an updating, just like you have with INEC. Once they are 15, our enumerators are there to capture them,” he said.
