By Stanley Ugagbe
Nigerian youths have been urged to be catalyst of positive influence in community development and nation building.
Dr. Fatai Abatan Abiodun made the remarks on October 1st at the 2nd Ikorodu Division Youth Summit held at the Ikorodu Townhall.
In his keynote address, Fatai who was the chairman of the occasion, expressed delight over the efforts of the organizers, noting “our youths are learning the ropes of constructive engagement.
While stating that “there are a few bad eggs among the youths,” the chairman said the young people in Ikorodu are on the path of taking over.
He continued that the young people in Ikorodu Division have moved from being leaders of tomorrow to being partners of today and the generations above should accord them the honour of engagement to find common ground.
Dr. Fatai called on the nation’s leaders to partner with the youths saying, “we need more hands to remain dominant by opening up more opportunities for our youth in the area of sustainable empowerment capacity and correctional facilities that make them a better and positive youth relevant to calling in community development processes”.
On his part, one of the guest speakers of the event, Kuye Lanre Kamorudeen charged youths to pursue education and career development with passion.
Mr. Lanre who doubles as the Public Relations Officer and Deputy Register of Lagos State Polytechnic urged the youths to receive any form of education and aim to bring opportunities to the society.
He sternly warned the youths to stop diverting their attention to social media and focus on their studies. Lanre also asked the youths to acquaint themselves with entrepreneurial skills, saying it will boost employment creation in the nation.
Another speaker, Dr. Surajudeen Mudasiru charged the attendees on the role of youths and commitment to community development. He explained that a society that does not want youth to take over will not thrive.
Surajedeen, an Associate Professor of Lagos State University who was represented by Mr. Jimoh Hamzat lamented that youths have lost focus of the purpose for which youth organizations were created over 30 years ago.
According to him, youths ought to be spearheading developmental projects across the nation. He called on the government and policy makers to include youths in their decision-making processes.
The University don averred that to be catalyst of positive influence in community development, the youths must take mentorship as part and parcel of their lives.
He added that leaders should provide platform for the youths to thrive.
Focusing on entrepreneurship, Director of Care Foundation, Pastor Bayo Oteju urged the youths to create jobs for themselves rather than looking for un-existing jobs.
Bayo acknowledged that all over the world, there are unemployment challenges and therefore charged the youths to take entrepreneurship seriously.
He enjoined the youths to create values to make ways for themselves. According to him, people only run after those who have values to offer.
The Pastor who lamented the ugly situation of the country, said Nigeria is not qualified to be called a zoo. Fielding questions from our correspondent, Mr. Bayo explained that animals in a zoo are well fed and well organized, but Nigeria is not yet at that level.
However, he suggested that the way forward is for Nigerians especially the youths be proactive and begin to “shake tables” using veritable platforms especially Twitter.
According to the organizers of the event, Ikorodu Division was borne with a vision to build a society that value the full engagement of its young people in civic, social economic and governmental administration in all levels.
