Salesians Launch Career Program in Nigeria to Help Youth Identify Professional Goals

Jos, 03 December, 2023 / 9:00 PM

The U.S.-based development arm of the Religious Institute of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), Salesian Missions, has launched a new program to enable young Nigerians to navigate life by identifying their potential career paths.

In a report, Salesian Missions officials say that the initiative seeks to educate and support young people aged between 18 and 30 years to make life choices in line with their professional goals.

“The goal is to help these youth identify potential career paths and explore ways to align their personal and professional goals,” the SDB members say in the Wednesday, November 29 report.

They add, “We want each participant to discover their purpose in life, increase their potential, and channel their passion in the direction that most satisfies them.”

Salesian officials say that the participants are encouraged to reflect on their passions, interests, values, and strengths.

The initiative is part of the social development and educational programs for poor and marginalized youth that Salesian missionaries provide in the West African nation.

The Salesian missionaries acknowledge education as the primary goal of their initiatives. They say that despite the youth living in conditions that make educational attainment possible, they still need extra support.

Youth centers, feeding programs, health clinics, and other programs, they say, “help to ensure that youth are healthy and have their basic needs met so they can focus on school.”

UNICEF identifies Nigeria , as Africa’s most populous nation with prospects of it being responsible for most of the world’s total population increase by 2050.

While the West African nation has the second strongest economy in Africa, it also has extreme rates of poverty with 100 million people living on less than $1 a day.

According to UNICEF, “About 64% of households in Nigeria consider themselves to be poor while 32% of households say their economic situation had worsened over a period of one year.”

“Poverty still remains one of the most critical challenges facing the country and population growth rates have meant a steady increase in the number of people living in conditions of poverty,” UNICEF reports further.