THE Christian Aid, the official relief and development agency of 41 Christian churches in the UK and Ireland, is partnering with Connected Development (CODE) to support six youth-focused organisations in the country as part of efforts to boost youth empowerment in Nigeria.

During the launch of the nationwide Youth Challenge fund, held on March 13, CODE announced that through funding from Christian Aid it would sub-grant £30,000 to selected organisations, to empower them in addressing some of the growing developmental challenges across communities in Nigeria.

The CODE, also said it would train the selected organisation in building capacity and driving their initiatives towards achieving sustainable results.

“The fund is in recognition of the immense capacity of young people to address some of the growing developmental challenges across communities in Nigeria, if given the opportunity and required resources,” Charles Usie, Christian Aid Nigeria’s Country Director said during the launch.

“We have therefore put this in place as part of our mandate to end poverty in Nigeria.”

Speaking on the essence of the project, Chief Executive Officer of CODE, Hamzat Lawal, submitted that the government must understand the growing importance and potential of young people and consider their contribution to nation building.

He called for increased financing, education and technical support for Nigerian youth noting that doing this would greatly impact on the future of the country.

Lawal also stressed that young people constitutes 60 percent of the Nigerian population whose potentials should be activated, adding that the country is in need of community change makers.

In selecting organisations to kick-start the project, Lawal said CODE in partnership with Youth Hub Africa and Christian Aid assessed over 120 applications before choosing with six organisations whose projects focus on impacting youths in the most remote areas in the country.