Stakeholders at the University of Ibadan’s (UI) Research Foundation Day have stressed the need for national policy on adolescent health to address the challenges facing youth.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders’ forum on adolescents and youths’ health policies in Africa was organized by the UI-Research Foundation in Ibadan on Monday.
The event had the theme: Stakeholders Forum on Adolescents and Youths Health Policies in Africa: Fostering International Partnerships to Contribute to Adolescents and Youth Health in Nigeria.
In his address, the Director, UI Research Foundation, Prof. Ayoade Oduola, said adolescents and youths were the first assets and the future of Nigeria.
According to him, they represent 48 per cent of the population, and the University of Ibadan has been unique for the past 75 years in producing leaders for Nigeria in various fields, including academics, industries, businesses, and so on.
“But now is the time when we want to build the gaps, build town and gown participation, and the country’s future are the ones we need to provide the best platform to build their training, competencies, and understanding of what life is,” Oduola said.
He noted that a lack of awareness deprived people of knowledge about the various interventions from the government, such as the school feeding programme which was the largest in Africa.
The don said the forum, which had leaders from all sectors—ministers, academia, captains of industries, and the leadership of universities—was geared towards developing a framework based on the nation’s assets.
“We cannot import ideas from England because our resources have to be tailored towards meeting the needs of our people,” Oduola said.
Keynote Speaker, Eduaŕdo Celades, Chief of Health Officer, UNICEF, said the organization believed in using primary healthcare to deliver a youth-friendly package for adolescents.
Celades said these would involve working with religious and community leaders to address issues concerning adolescents and improve their voices and powers.
He identified the issues as insecurity, malnutrition, and mental health issues and stressed the need for stakeholders, including UNICEF, to address them.
Also, the Chairman of the Occasion, Hon. Chevalier Uduimo Itsueli, represented by
The former Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr. Jide Idris, stated that there were numerous challenges facing adolescents.
He said poverty, insecurity, the economic downturn, a huge population, and mental health issues, among others, were national challenges that must be addressed.
He said the huge population must be properly managed, and a lot of things must be put in place to sensitize people on how Nigeria can create policies for adolescent health.
“If we do it rightly, the nation is bound to gain; if we don’t, the period of adolescence is a period of stress, and we need to teach them what to do. Nothing can be done without the policy.
“If the policy is in place, we will know how to implement it to make things better for them,” he said.
Earlier in his address, the Vice-Chancellor, UI, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, said the 2023 Research Foundation Day of the University of Ibadan was designed as a stakeholders’ forum to discuss a research initiative on adolescents and youth’s health.
“Suffice it to say that these groups are considered to be important in the demography of any given population, considering their centrality to future socio-economic and political development.
“Yet, they are often neglected by the government and policymakers. It thus becomes pertinent that if we want to secure the future of our nation, attention must be paid to the wellbeing of adolescents and youth,” Adebowale said.
