It was indeed a moment to cherish yeaterday night when the Minister of Information announced the creation of the Ministry of Youth Development which will take effect on January 1, 2007.

It was a long tortous road to the creation of the ministry. The youth development portfolio has been bundled with so any other portfolios including sports, women affairs, Intergovernmental affairs and a host of others, which had a negative impact on youth development in the sense that youth development in Nigeria was not always on the front burner.

However, Mr. President in June and July 2006 summoned 2 Presidential Meeting on Youth development where the delegates demanded and advocated that a youth development ministry be created.

The president gave his consent but unfortunaately no ention of it was made in the 2007 budget currently before the House of Assembly. Alarmed, youth activists made a whole lot of noise on this and it seems to be heading nowhere until the announcement of the creation of the ministry was made yesterday.

However, some ministries were axed and the total number of federal Ministries fell from 27 to 19.

The creation of a youth development inistry however is a starting poing in the effort to develop young people in Nigeria. We are therefore calling on young people, policy makers, politicians and well meaning Nigerians to ensure that the creation of this ministry transforms into youth developmment at the grassroots.