As Nigeria commemorates the 2025 Children's Day celebrations, Awoyomi Damilola, team lead of the Strom Foundation, has highlighted that tailored empowerment programs for children are essential to addressing Africa's staggering $3.3 trillion annual skills gap.

Speaking during a program at the Government Junior Secondary Apo Resettlement, Damilola emphasized that nurturing young minds from an early age is crucial for the continent's future development.

"With a skills gap costing Africa an estimated $3.3 trillion annually, the continent currently ranks lowest in global education indicators, according to the United Nations," Damilola stated.

The Strom Foundation team lead further stressed the importance of skills acquisition in fostering academic excellence as a tool for long-term growth and development in Nigeria and across Africa.

"Africa's young minds are its future. If we dream of a better tomorrow, we must begin by building better minds today," he declared.

According to the statement released by the foundation, their initiatives aim "to motivate African children to dream big and pursue excellence and to support academic performance by providing essential learning resources and also to connect brilliant young minds with long-term mentorship."

The foundation's focus on children's educational empowerment comes at a critical time when Africa faces significant challenges in preparing its youth for future workforce demands, despite having one of the world's youngest populations.

Educational experts have consistently pointed out that addressing the skills gap requires not only improving access to education but also enhancing the quality and relevance of skills being taught to African children from an early age.