Make bye-laws that require students to join uniformed youth organisations, stakeholders urge FG

Stakeholders and members of uniformed youth organisations have urged the government to make bye-laws that requires pupils and students of primary and secondary schools to join the organisations.

This call was made on Saturday, 14th May at the just concluded Stakeholders’ Meeting and Launch of Report on ‘Towards A Peacful And Sustainable Society: Strengthening the Contributions of Uniformed Youth Organisations to Positive Youth Development in Nigeria’ organised by Building Nations Initiative (BNI) – a youth-led, youth work organisation in Nigeria as part of its Youth Systems Strengthening objective.

Speaking at the meeting, Amb. Agbeja Adebobola; District Commandant, The Girls’ Brigade Nigeria, Oyo State Council identified poor awareness as one of the problems facing the growth and developmental initiatives of uniformed youth organisations as there are members who have made impact.

Amb. Agbeja spoke strongly about the trans-generational impact of uniformed organisations in Nigeria as she joined The Girls’ Brigade at age 3 and now have her children also being members of these organisations. She highlighted discipline, self-respect, sense of belonging and patriotism as some of the key roles they play in transforming the youths and society.

Collaborating what Amb. Agbeja said, Emily Milton Smith, Chair and State Commissioner, Girl Guides, NSW, ACT&NT, Australia; who joined the organisation at age 7 emphasised that girls in Girl Guides have more impact and developed resilience than their colleagues who’re not.

Also addressing the problems bedeviling uniformed organisations, the Edo State Commander, Man’O War, Nigeria, Mr Eberechukwu Odunze has claimed that the government hasn’t paid enough attention to uniformed youth organisations despite their strong ethics and evidence of exemplary lifestyles of members.

While buttressing their roles in the society, he stated that “the organisation trains members to respond to emergency crises in the society as well as community profiling and policing due to rising insecurity in Nigeria.”

The commander therefore called for the introduction of volunteering into school’s curriculum.

In the same development, Barrister Dayo Akeredolu, Patron, 61st Ekiti Company, The Boys’ Brigade, Nigeria; urged the government and stakeholders to develop a scheme that can serve as leadership training via uniformed youth organisations towards empowering citizens to contribute to positive national development.

Meanwhile, in its study, BNI has identified provision of enabling environment for young people to thrive and develop positive identity; opportunities for social integration, active citizenship and service learning; and skills building opportunity towards enhancing emotional intelligence as some of the contributions of uniformed youth organisations in promoting positive youth development in Nigeria.

According to the President, BNI, John Oluwadero, the meeting was birthed following the study conducted in 2021 by the Research and Development Working Group of the BNI Global Community Network while the study was enforced by the prevalence of crime, violence and other social vices among teenagers and youths.

“The objective of the study is to understand the role that uniformed youth organisations play in enabling positive youth development for peace and sustainable development outcomes. It also seeks to identify areas where uniformed organisations can learn and improve what they do,” Oluwadero said.

Following the study results and discussion of findings, BNI recommends, “development of communications and promotional strategy to encourage young people to join uniformed youth organisations, expansion drive and provision of funding to ensure young people from all background and marginalized communities join uniformed youth groups, incorporation of 21st century skills development and life-long learning activities into the activities of uniformed organisations, and compilation of evidence base about the impacts of uniformed youth organisation.”

Members of Scout, The Boys’ Brigade Nigeria, and The Boys’ Brigade Nigeria and other invited guests were physically represented at the stakeholders’ meeting.