Ini Billie, Uyo
Nigerian youths in synergy with Policy Alert, a Civil Society Organisation, have called on the Federal Government to review the Energy Transition Plan (ETP).
They also advocated for the mainstreaming of youth perspectives in the implementation of the ETP to meet the 2060, carbon neutrality target year.
The group, Youth Voices 2060 during the weekend in Uyo launched a national campaign to mainstream young people and their priorities in Nigeria’s energy transition in collaboration with Policy Alert, Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) and BudgIT Foundation.
Speaking during the event, Edidiong Dickson, Programme Officer for Energy, Extractives, and Climate Justice, Policy Alert, stated that some domestic policy frameworks on de-carbonisation, including the Energy Transition Plan (ETP) exclude the youths in their formulation, and do not contain any explicit references to youth priorities.
Dickson who said Nigeria has the world’s biggest youth cohort relative to its population size, noted that making the youths beneficiaries of the ETP would transform the nation’s energy system in clean and sustainable ways.
“With over 70 per cent of its population below the age of 30, Nigeria has the world’s biggest youth cohort relative to its population size. The country also has one of the largest energy deficits globally.
“In the context of the global energy transition, this contradiction offers a demographic opportunity to transform the country’s energy system in clean and sustainable ways that can benefit both young people and society in general,” he stated.
Other speakers at the event include the Executive Director of International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI), Olumide Olaniyan; Climate and Clean Energy expert with Zoba Advisory, Chizoba Nzeakor; Doctoral Researcher in Clean Energy, Emmanuel Anene; Programme Officer at Diamond Development Initiatives, David Arinze; Co-founder of Ecocykle, Lauritta Boniface; and Founder of Youth Voyage of Nigeria, Richard Umar.
Youth Voices 2060 is a loose network of young people and youth-focused organizations contributing skills, energy, and innovations towards Nigeria’s fossil fuel phase-out and the transition to a clean energy future.