In or out of office, I’ll always prioritise youth development — Seun Fakorede, Oyo Commissioner for Youth and Sport

DANIEL ABEL speaks with Oyo State Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Seun Fakorede, on his motivation and reason for unveiling a new award ceremony to celebrate the 100 most influential young persons in the state. Excerpt:

In your capacity as a Commissioner for Youths and Sport in Oyo State, how have you impacted the lives of the youth in the state?

Well, talking about impact, as a commissioner for youth and sport in the state, basically, my work borders on the engagement of the youth and empowerment of the youth and sport development in the state and since 2019. I have been able to achieve a number of things during this administration, particularly, for the youth. I will start with sport development in the state, we will all see that during our time, in respect to the past administration, I don’t think there is any administration before now that has actually given major spotlight on sport infrastructure and development and a very good case in point is the Lekan Salami’s sport complex, for anyone that knows that facility before it was remolded, you can tell that a lot of work has gone into that place to make it at least an international standard facility. Not only that, one of our core drives is to ensure that we make development all-round and all-inclusive. As a result, we currently have nothing fewer than 11 sport infrastructure projects that we are running concurrently across all the zones. This is because we want to make sure that we take this development and this engagement to the grassroots. Furthermore, when you look at the just recently concluded Commonwealth Games, you see what our guys achieved and what they have been able to do all around. So, I believe that we actually have a lot to put in the bag. If I start mentioning the number of medals, the number of accolades and the number of trophies that we have in sports engagement and activities within this time, I’m sure we won’t be done today. Also, one thing we believe is in development of our youths and this ministry has been focused of elevating their current situation. We have facilitated several trainings for youths in the state on how to run non-oil export because we believe so much that there is more to our nation than just petroleum or oil, so there are non-oil exports that we can actually take advantage, hence we partnered with the Corporate Affairs Commission and the NNPC to run these trainings. There are also numbers of tech trainings that we are doing and fellowships with international organisations like the one that is ongoing right now in which we partnered with the United States government and the fellows that are going to go through that fellowship for a year are going to inaugurated tomorrow at the American Embassy.

What programmes has your office launched to aid youth in Oyo State develop in the area of entertainment, technology and sport?

There are a number of programmes that during my time here, I have been able to incorporate into the system, and these programmes and projects are unique ones that no other ministry has produced. Like our schooling system, where we are used to the old syllabus that needed to be changed overtime, I’m also incorporating new project that will benefit the youths. One of the things that I did since coming in as a commissioner is to rejig the system and reengineer it to serve youths better. We have had trainings; educating people on cyber security, training them on project management, project designs and all. Like I said, I can assure you that this administration is the first administration ever to actually perform those kind of training as well as a number of sport developmental training. Furthermore, there was a time where we had clinic for the coaches and training for the state coaches of different sport teams we have in the state. Currently there are 26 sport coaches and for all of them there is always periodic training and exercise. In the area of entertainment, I believe one of the things we can actually do to encourage that sector is to be part of their engagement and that is why today in Oyo state, it’s a good thing that most of these entertainers or people that are into the business of entertainment are always doing well in carrying the government along and I personally can say that I try as much as possible to attend a number of these shows to support them.

What motivated you to create the Oyo State Youth Awards and what do you intend to achieve with the ceremony?

The award event was actually a personal idea. I remember when we got hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a lot of things looked like they were falling apart during the lockdown. But as time goes on, we were easing out of that phase, and I see a number of youths who were affected by the pandemic. But to my amazement the way several youths in the state handled the pandemic and did not allow it to stop them from growing triggered my ambition to launch the award. Their drive to ensure the economic downturn did not kill their passion. It actually inspired the award and its theme “Stronger Together”. I believe celebrating youths has not always been something government takes seriously and an initiative like this will go a long way. We selected 100 of our young people in the state who are doing tremendously well and will celebrate them. It is interesting to know that we had over 14,000 nominations before they were pruned to 100. It took several months before they could manage to come up with this list. So really, the basis is just to celebrate our youths and to just tell them well-done, we see what you did and what we can only do as the government is to continue to create an enabling environment for them to thrive and we just want you to know that we are with you.

Is the award going to be an annual ceremony?

Yes. I mean, you know the government is a continuum and for every administration there are different work policy and rules of engagement. But what I can say is that, as long as I’m still here and in governance, we will definitely continue to celebrate outstanding youths. Moreover, even after my period in office, I’ll still continue to prioritise youth development. However, I cannot assure that the next person to fill my seat will continue with the project. I mean there are a number of times where administration come in and say, this policy of this last administration, we don’t believe it, we don’t want to continue with a particular line of action and they feel that they want to go in another direction. Remember that there was an administration that their definition of empowerment was buying grinding machines, gas cookers, motorcycles for the youth. However, we believe that we can do better, hence the creation of the award. So, I feel that this is actually a very laudable project that should be continued because it is celebrating the youth, it is not a selfish engagement.

How do you relax, what are your hobbies?

I love playing table tennis among other sporting activities. But when I’m not in a sporting mood I spent time with my friends and family, we rub minds and share ideas on how to improve.