… Restate commitment towards youth empowerment across Nigeria
No fewer than 20,000 Entrepreneurs across Nigeria and other African countries are expected to participate in the 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Festival scheduled to take place in Nigeria.
Founder/Chairman of Lead Generation Initiative, Hon. Shina Peller disclosed this in Abuja during the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Africa’s Young Entrepreneur (AYE), reiterated commitment towards promotion of youth empowerment across the country with a view to enable them take active responsibilities as leaders in politics and other fields of endeavors.
According to MacroTrends, Nigeria’s population is projected to reach approximately 234.6 million as of July 2025, with about 70% under the age of 30, highlighting the critical need to harness this youthful demographic through education, empowerment, entrepreneurship, political inclusivity, and grassroots civic engagement for sustainable national development.
The former member of the 9th House of Representatives, Hon. Peller who expressed excitement over the achievements recorded by LGI so far, said: “it is our full responsibility to bring hope and opportunities to generations coming behind.
“I can tell you after being a successful businessman this was the drive behind me getting involved in politics int his first place.
“I know God has blessed Nigeria with so much resources and this country has what it takes for it to be one of the best countries in the world, from our natural resources to our human capital resources. But it’s very unfortunate that these resources have failed to translate to results.
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“I believe that we have one of the best countries in the world, our country practically has the best weather from the 1st of January to 31st December, we have a lot of mineral resources, we have human capital resources but the question is how comes are all these resources bringing out results?
“And my faith teaches me that God does not build anything that fails. So, meaning Nigeria is not going to fail. But until we understand that we cannot keep fighting the same system to create change. For us to create change, we have to build a new system, a new generation of leaders…
“And it’s on this note is the reason why we decided to start Lead Generation Initiative as a platform to develop young Nigerians to take active responsibilities to be leaders in their immediate environment. During these training programmes we traveled to many States in Nigeria.
“We begin to train them on active citizenship. Active citizenship is during this class that many of them will realize their roles and rights as Citizens of this country.
“We begin to let them realize the importance of people participating in politics. A lot of young people today are not interested in politics but they don’t know that they are doing themselves bad not getting involved in politics.
“But they leave the space for those that are less informed to take decisions and make laws that affect their daily lives.”
Speaking on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) being signed with African Youth Entrepreneurship, he said: “Today, we gather not only to celebrate our collective strides but also to forge a future of possibilities in empowering a new generation of Nigerians, to get involved in creative enterprises, public sector leadership, and access to justice.
“On 21st January 2020, the Lead Generation Initiative was established as a non-partisan and non-profit organization committed to creating opportunities for young people to channel their creativity, energy, and aspirations to add value to their immediate communities.
“To fulfill our mission of cultivating a new generation of socio-politically conscious leaders driving positive change in Nigeria, we have conducted the Get Involved Leadership Training programs across various states.
“These sessions have empowered numerous participants, including 420 individuals from Oyo State’s 33 Local Government Areas, 394 from Osun State, 254 from Bauchi State, 326 from Niger State, 227 from Kwara State, and 138 from Gombe State. We prioritize engaging like-minded members who have attained higher education and are gainfully employed.
“We partnered with the WE2GEDA Initiative to engage and hold the regional summits in all the six geopolitical zones, from Kano to Yola, Anambra to Uyo, Minna to Lagos.
“After months of internal evaluation, the Board and Management of the Lead Generation Initiative is delighted to announce a new phase of commitment to engage young Nigerians to become active citizens in their communities.
“To achieve the strategic objectives of this new phase, we are partnering with some organizations. A.Y.E for empowering young Nigerians, and Call a Lawyer as we push for access to justice in Nigeria.
“We have also restructured the regional leadership, and just yesterday at the LGI General Assembly, we have appointed twelve regional coordinators. Our goal is to ensure inclusivity, strengthen our community presence, and engage our members’ community for proactive community leadership.
“These critical actions are all geared towards our shared future, even as we unveil the LGI 2025 Strategic Roadmap, with the LGI Regional Leadership Summits at the core of it. The summit is designed to take place across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
“Mindful of the challenges our country faces today, the regional summits will provide a platform and opportunities for young people to stand up, stand firm, and own up the development process of our communities and country.
“This press conference, therefore, is primarily to invite all the Nigerian youth, to take a stand for your country, join us as we pursue social change, to get involved and be the change you aspire. To be part of this movement, we invite you to visit our website at www.leadgennig.com, and register.
“We shall also be having entrepreneurship support initiatives in partnership with the Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs (A.Y.E), that will empower our members with startup supports to enable them become financially independent. This is among other internal opportunities that we will be providing for our members, like virtually training sessions.
“Our partnership with Call A Lawyer NG aims to empower young Nigerians by removing legal barriers that impede their civic participation, business growth, and personal development.
“Together, we will enhance access to legal representation, educate citizens on their rights, and advocate for a fair legal system,” Hon. Peller noted.
In his remarks, President of African Young Entrepreneurs (AYE), Summy Smart explained that the Organization is an ecosystem that has over 25,000 Entrepreneurs across Africa present in 20 countries in Africa.
According to him, “Some of the initiatives that we have that helps us build or make a more robust ecosystem is the entrepreneurship village, which we like to call it as the African Silicon Valley is currently being built in the city of Akure.
“And these are the issues that I’m sure TLI as well is trying to change the narrative where we hear other parts of the country are wondering there is human resources like you said, in every part of Nigeria, in every part of Africa, and on TV, we’ll finance it ourselves. Then only can we play with the global world or on the global stage.”
Mr. Smart who was represented by the Partners Relations Manager, Atuzie Favour Tuzzi also hinted on the forthcoming “Global Entrepreneurship Festival, it is the largest and biggest entrepreneurship festival.
“Entrepreneurship events actually across the world, there is nothing like a gathering of close to 20,000 entrepreneurs coming together to celebrate, promote, learn and interact in the entrepreneurship space. Like I said, we’re excited to do this. We’re also open to having LTI take part of.
“We run our assembly every Saturday. We have the summits coming up. We have the Global Entrepreneurship Festival coming up. What we’re going to make slots available for as much people as you want, both from the team and from all the other parts of Nigeria.”
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