Nigeria is experiencing another boom, like that of the oil boom of the 1970’s but different. Its population is increasing exponentially with a 3.2 percent growth rate. 45 percent of the population is made up of children under 15 years, 62 percent of the population are 24 or younger. This non-linear, mainly youthful population growth has put a pressure on the Nigeria’s resources, public services and infrastructure and hence the country is not able to take adequate care of the population or does so with thinly stretched resources. Education continues to be the least funded in humanitarian appeals and Nigeria is not different. A primarily youthful population should be a beacon of hope for any country since they will propel development among all the sectors, ushering in a period of prosperity, technological advancement and independence.

Ironically, Nigeria has the highest out of school children in the World, 10.5 million the entire population of Czech Republic a country that ranks well in many measures of well-being. Nearly 75 percent of tertiary institution applicants in Nigeria fail to be admitted every year .1 in 3 students are unhappy with the course that they picked, 92 percent of tertiary institution students do not get any form of career related guidance from their schools. Less than 10 percent of graduates studied the 10 most employable graduate courses while 67 percent of graduates who sought career counselling were more likely to find a job on time and be employed full time.

The most obvious reason is the discordance between the capacity for educational institutions and the rapidly growing student population but a second and equally important reason for opting out of school or failure to gain admission in tertiary institution are lack of motivation, role models, career and tertiary institution admission guidance and counselling. It is difficult to get a child to stay in school or continue to study if no one discusses with him or her how his or her strength, passion, subject of interest, GRIT can help to determine his choice of career or his prospects of living a satisfied life, the stories of successful Africans who have charted the way of unheard of or socially less acceptable careers such as artificial intelligence, agriculture, history etc. .

Though Nigeria has a national association of career counsellors, career counsellors are scarce for the same reasons elaborated and most school children have no access to any form of career guidance which include career information, entrepreneurship, leadership and volunteerism and are informed by myths, in other schools, teachers function as career masters/mistresses. The importance of these factors can not be overemphasized as it prepares students for challenges of the 21^st century through career, academic, social and personal development.

Established in 2017, The Ganglion Initiative is an organization established to create a generation of youths equipped to respond to the dynamic challenges of Africa. The future of Africa is poised to face numerous challenges ranging from governance to climate change. However, institutions on the continent are numerically inadequate and not evolving to respond to educate youths to tackle these prospective challenges.  As previously said, the youth population in Africa is currently the highest of any continent in the world (over 200 million) and is projected to increase by 42% in 2030. This staggering population of youths has prompted the question of their role as: “a ticking time bomb” or “an opportunity”. The Ganglion Initiative was founded by youths who deeply understand the role youths play in Africa’s future and how education can help shape that role. It is an initiative by youths for youths

The Ganglion Initiative aims to harness this population of youths and turn them into opportunities for a thriving continent. Beginning with Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, the initiative will launch innovative programs such as Synapse geared towards providing the youths, especially Secondary School and Pre-University students with the skills and information needed to create a beautiful African future.