How Nigeria can build thriving communities for young people

Young people and youths are important population group in every community, and it is equally important they are seen and treated as such socio-economically and otherwise.

Recently, in a virtual stakeholders’ engagement session put together by Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), with the theme ‘Building thriving communities for young people’, organisations and professionals that play key roles in empowering young people and youths spoke on this and other related issues.

Delivering the keynote address, the Chairman of Channels Media Group, John Momoh, stressed that the youth are not just the future of a nation, but also an embodiment of a nation’s hope and a catalyst for change.

He noted that a focus on youths, with reference to strengthening their abilities to grow as entrepreneurs, will add value to their place as a route for sustainable national development.

On the other hand, he laminated that youth unemployment in Nigeria is as high as 70 per cent, and that means serious social, economic and political implications for the country.

“Our educational system also needs reviews towards job creating curriculum, such that graduates can create jobs rather than seek jobs. Our social system would also have to be strengthened for the rekindling of values and virtues,” he said.

Momoh admonished young people and youths to realise that innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship, the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.

In her address, the Executive Director of JAN, Foluso Gbadamosi, said Junior Achievement Worldwide was nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, which is a testament to the amazing work they are doing young people and youths not only in Nigeria but in other parts of the world.

She noted that they are in schools across states in the country where they have reached thousands of young people, teach them about the importance of financial literacy and equipped them with financial literacy skills.

She added that while some of their programmes were delivered in a hybrid model, some were fully virtual, which give the students the opportunity to use digital tools.

“We do not only believe in the boundless potential of young people,” she said, “We believe that young people have the mindset and skill set to build thriving communities as we remain committed to the United Nations SDGs 1, 4, 5, 8 and 17.”

The board chairman of JAN, who is also the managing partner of Verraki Partners, Olaniyi Yusuf, stressed that JAN and its partners were into the business of building young leaders that will make Nigeria a better place.

“It took us 15 years to impact 1 million Nigerian youths, but the new mission for JA Nigeria is to impact another 1 million Nigerian youths within five years,” he said. “And we can achieve this through our partners and technology.”

In the course of the event, a video depicting JAN’s leadership, empowerment, achievement, and development (LEAD) Camp at 20 was showcased. According to Gbadamosi, the LEAD Camp was a programme through which they teach senior secondary school girls the importance of gender equality and what it takes to achieve it.

There were two panel sessions moderated and participated by bank, non-governmental organisation (NGO), academics and other notable personalities.

The first panel, titled ‘Entrepreneurship and work readiness’, was moderated by the CEO and general partner of Future Africa, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji. The other panel members were Nonso Nduanya, Parthian Partners; Richmond Okafor, an adjunct faculty member of the Lagos Business School; and Ayodeji of First Bank Nigeria.

The second, panel titled ‘Promoting gender equality and girl-child education: the LEAD Camp approach’, was moderated by Lola Oyeka, the Country Head of Public Affairs of Citi Bank in Nigeria and Ghana. The other panel members were Ogochukwu Ekezie, chief brand and marketing officer of Union Bank; Abiodun Owo, senior programmes executive of the ACT Foundation; and Oluwaseyi Kehinde-Peters, founder of Pan-African Women Entrepreneur Network.

While giving the closing remarks, Adeola Olumeyan, the assistant general counsel of Channels Television, thanked the partners and board members of JAN for the support the organisation has enjoyed over the years.

She stressed that if Nigeria was going to be transformed, it is the youths and young people that had the energy to transform it. “Anywhere you have young people aged 5 – 27, JAN is there, ready to teach them,” she concluded.

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The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”

He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.

“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.

According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”

“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.

The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”

“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.

“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.

“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.

Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.

“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.

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Latest terrorist video: Presidency has admitted Buhari’s failure ― PDP

Latest terrorist video: Presidency has admitted Buhari’s failure ― PDP