Council Advocates Youth Engagement In Agriculture

The Chairman, International Youth Council (IYC), Mr Onu Okorie, has called on youths to engage in agriculture and other innovations to reduce the rate of unemployment.

Okorie made the appeal on Thursday during a news conference on the forthcoming International Youth conference tagged `Youth Civic engagement’ schedule for Aug. 12, in Abuja.
“Agriculture should be the starting point with every family, traditional institutions, every youth, as well as the public and private sectors.
“Youths should be encouraged to own and cultivate on farms to permanently eradicate hunger and poverty across the world,’’ he said.

Okorie said one of the focuses of the youth conference was the empowerment, job creation, diversification of countries’ source of income to include technological development and commercialisation of research to develop agriculture.

He also called on government to embark on the re-orientation of the public on the need to save guard the environment through aggressive tree planting campaigns to mitigate the effects of climate change.
“The IYC will not rest on its oars until jobs are created for the youths across the world, hunger is eradicated and global peace is achieved.

“We will ensure that government, philanthropists as well as corporate organisations, are making concerted efforts towards making the world a better place.’’
Okorie said the forthcoming conference was aimed at ensuring sustainable job creation, fight crime and corruption as well as sustain peace globally.
He, however, called on world leaders to keep politics aside and collectively fight terrorism, ensure peace and discourage youth violence.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IYC is the platform that brings together youth leaders and members of various youth organisations and NGOs across the country.

The council was formed in commemoration of UN’s International Youth Day on Aug. 12.