DAWN, stakeholders call for self-sustaining economy

The Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission (DAWN), the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ibadan, and other stakeholders have emphasised the importance of building a self-sustaining economy to drive job creation and infrastructure development across Nigeria.

They made this known during a joint public lecture titled “Contemporary Yoruba Elites and the Bystander Effect” held at the University of Ibadan.

Participants at the event noted that revisiting traditional systems and values could help boost socio-economic growth, which has declined in recent years.

In his presentation, Professor Olutayo Adesina of the Department of History, University of Ibadan, said it was time for Nigeria to begin developing an economy capable of creating opportunities for young people.

He explained that the country owes its youth a more prosperous future that everyone must work to achieve.

“The resources available to us are immense. On the continent of Africa, we have the hardest-working, most resilient, intelligent, and ambitious youth population. They are extremely bright and globally competitive.

“At this stage of our development, we need to start building a self-sustaining economy that can provide employment for our children. Let us generate knowledge of progress and development.

“It is incumbent on all of us to wake up, empower our youths, and redirect their minds towards driving sustainable development, thereby reducing poverty in this country.

“Let Yorubaland lead and encourage other regions to wake up. We should no longer allow those who attain high office through forged documents to dictate the direction of our youth. Let us stand together to steer this and support the younger generation with our strength and spirit.

“After all, Israel has transformed the desert into farmland, generated electricity from its expressways, and China has advanced; its youth study abroad and return home.

“However, our own circumstances continue to raise further questions. What do our higher educational institutions teach? What do we do with the knowledge produced? We have the knowledge, resilience, and the can-do spirit. All we need now is to innovate and ignite new ideas that will take us beyond the ordinary.

“To motivate effort and foster extraordinary capacities, we must boost finances and enhance our productive processes. We need to act now.”

Adesina added that Nigeria is at a critical point in its history and that leaders must focus on governance rather than showmanship.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the DAWN Commission, Dr. Seye Oyeleye, said the Yoruba Historical Conversation, which has been ongoing for nearly a decade, was designed to “connect our past to the present in order for us to have a future.”

“When we talk about Yoruba Historical Conversation, what we are trying to do is to remind the present generation of our history, teach and lecture them; let them even interrogate our history. That will then give them the conviction that the Yoruba were once proud people, and going forward, they will be able to lift their shoulders that they are from a proud race.

“In the past, government removed history from schools. Thankfully, they have returned it. But we have been filling that gap over time, saying that as much as possible, though the government made a mistake in removing history, as a regional commission, we took it upon ourselves to teach the young ones of our history.

‘If you don’t know your history, indeed you cannot have a future. One of the most important subjects when you go abroad in the countries that we called saner climes is that they teach and cherish their history.

‘This is what we do when we bring notable historians and academicians, who have graced the platform of Yoruba Historical Conversation to come and tell us about who we are, who we once were, and where we ought to be as a people.”

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