The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has approved the 1st November as the annual National Youth Day.

According to a statement released by the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, the President announced the new national holiday at the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.

Announcing that the day has been set aside for the celebration of Nigerian youths, Dare tweeted, “Today, President Buhari in Council approved November 1st every year as the National Youth Day to celebrate, draw attention to and find solutions to the issues that affect the Youth.

Mr. President as again demonstrated his commitment to supporting youth-focused policies. Thank You.”

President Buhari had previously approved the establishment of a three-year N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) following a memo presented by the minister.

In a statement released then by Mr Dare, he said, “The NYIF is to serve as a sort of Youth Bank that will fund and support the innovative ideas, skills, talents and enterprise of the Nigerian youth.”

The ministry also set up a focal group to help manage the utilisation of the newly-approved fund.

The focal group is an assemblage of youth leaders and groups from diverse fields, entrepreneurial experts and individuals with youth development and finance experience.

The group is entrusted with processing concerned parties’ views and inputs about the Fund and making the same available to the NYIF’s Technical Committee.