Northern Youth Forum appoints Bowen VC as ‘Garkuwan Matasan Arewa’

Northern Youth Progressive Forum Northern has appointed Bowen Vice-Chancellor, Professor Joshua Ogunwole as the ‘Garkuwan Matasan Arewa’.

The appointment, a traditional title which is the shield of the northern youths has taken effect immediately.

Speaking at the official presentation of the title at the university’s Council Chamber, the President of the forum, Abdul Malik Attahiru stated that the forum considered Professor Ogunwole for the title, because of his consistent support for youth development in Nigeria.

According to him, Professor Ogunwole has been in the vanguard of promoting the economic and political emancipation of youths and their unity in the last30 years of his interactions with the youth as a lecturer in the north.

He added that his continued interest in youth development even in the South West informed the congress to recommend him for the title at a meeting held in Kaduna as a way to encourage him. He noted that Professor Ogunwole has written his name in gold.

Comrade Attahiru, a Barrister by profession, called for the integration of all youths in the country so as to have a common forum for concerted efforts to protect the unity of Nigeria as a way to safeguard this country’s posterity.

He said: “Northern Youth Progressive Forum is the national body for all the northern Nigerian youths, covering all the 19 states in the north, including Abuja, with an objective to fortify peace and unity in the country. We are building bridges across religions, especially in the north. We believe that everybody cannot be Christian and everybody cannot be Muslim either. In view of this, we have engaged in a series of meetings with our traditional and religious leaders to intimate them with the importance of religious tolerance and accommodation of other tribes in the north.

“The forum has engaged itself in the promotion of western education as a tool to promote peace and development. We have had opportunities to talk to some states governors in the north to invest more in western education.

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“It is also part of our agenda to change the fortune of the northern youths to be job creators and not job seekers, through entrepreneurship education campaigns. We also condemn all forms of socials vices and drug abuse, by campaigning against it.

“The future of this country lies in the hands of the youth. And if we want to better Nigeria, all hands must be on deck to sanitise the system. This is why all the youth, from the North, and the southern part of this county should come together and brainstorm on ways to sustain our diversity.”

While accepting the title, Professor Ogunwole, thanked the Forum for the honour as he pledged to continue to give his moral and kind supports for the progress of Nigerian youths, irrespective of tribes and religion.

According to him, youths have the potential to transform our society. He said Nigeria is endowed with foresighted youths leaders who can cause change to happen in this nation.

“With the little interactions I have had with them, I believe in them and their abilities to perform and succeed at any levels of leadership. We have seen students that caused a change to happen in the nations. If any nation underrates youth or students, such a nation is just putting itself in a path of oblivion. For these reasons, Bowen University invests in the lives of its students to make them relevant in their world,” he said.