10.5 Million and Counting: Nigeria’s Out-of-School Children at Risk of Extremist Recruitment
By Precious Nwonu
By Precious Nwonu
In this special LightRay! Media report on Agriculture and youth, we dive deep into the economic manpower of the largest African youth population domiciled in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s agricultural sector, the country’s largest, urgently needs reform to effectively address the pressing issues of food insecurity and youth unemployment. This vital sector contributes a significant 24% to Nigeria’s GDP, yet it’s facing numerous challenges, including an aging farming population, limited access to modern farming technologies, and underutilized arable land. To overcome these hurdles, experts recommend a comprehensive overhaul of agricultural education, investing in irrigation systems, storage facilities, and rural roads, as well as establishing accessible credit facilities and crop insurance programs. By implementing these reforms, Nigeria can unlock the sector’s full potential, provide opportunities for its youthful population, and ensure food security for its growing population.
The sexualisation of children is more rampant than ever before. In this report, by Ejiro Umukoro, a follow-up to her Pulitzer Centre Outbreak series, we trace back how the lockdown of 2020 recorded a spike in the surge of grooming and sexualisation of children.
While April 11 is marked every year as the day to protect the child, in 2023 however, child porn, sexual grooming and sexualisation of children continues to persist. This investigatve report uncovers the root causes, triggers, enabling factors and solutions to meeting the deadline for the prevention and stoppage of child abuses of all forms as mandated by the UNDP SDG goals on gender equality, peace, justice, and strong institutions.
The Food Crisis across the globe is real. With hike on fossil fuel, palliative are no longer the solution. The root of the food crisis is admitting the role that politics and bad governance continues to play in deliberately not bridging the gap between the rich and the poor.