By Iyemah David
A platform hosted by the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), the Nigeria Meaningful Adolescent and Youth Engagement (Naija MAYE), has advised the winner of the presidential election to prioritise the health and development needs of young people.
The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) gave the advice on Monday in Abuja during the launch of its “Youth Health and Development Agenda.”
The agenda is a collection of advocacy points critical to the health and development needs of young people.
The advocacy point has seven key areas of development: health, education, economic empowerment, climate change, human rights, transparency and inclusion.
The Chairman of the group, Mr Olympus Ade-Banjo, said their demand in the agenda was for the winner to ensure the health budget of 15 per cent of the national budget, and recognise adolescents and youth as part of the vulnerable population for social health insurance.
Ade-Banjo said that the winner should also reduce the age of access to HIV testing to 14, expand basic education from nine to 12 years and also pass the Students Bill of Rights.
Others include overhauling tertiary education curriculum, creating meaningful occupational counselling structures, and providing micro-finance facilities to young owners of Small- and Midium-size Enterprises (SMEs).
The incoming president should also institutionalise a robust labour register at all levels of governance, and ensure full implementation of the anti-torture and police reform act.
