The West African Youth Council has recognised the co-founders of Higherlife Properties Consult Limited, Kayode Ishola and Victor Ohwo, as West Africa Youth Ambassadors for their contributions towards youth development and empowerment in Nigeria.
At the award ceremony, held in Ibadan on Tuesday, the Nigeria representative of the West African Youth Council, Olaleru Folorunsho, lamented the downturn in the education sector and the vices that have beset the youth of the country as a result, including cultism, internet fraud and a mass exodus of youth out of the country.
He added that mass poverty cannot be solved by the government alone. He emphasised the place of the private sector in job creation, noting that Higherlife Properties Consult Limited, through its investment in real estate, has provided massive employment and empowerment opportunities for the youth across the country.
He said the award was in recognition of the contribution of the co-founders, now to be called Ambassador Ishola and Ambassador Ohwo, towards youth empowerment.
In his acceptance remarks, Ishola advised youth to “love God, fear God, and be diligent in all that they do. We recently marked a decade of doing business in real estate and it is God that has been helping us. Today we have 10 estates in various locations.”
On his part, Ohwo advised youth to “work hard, be diligent, and be serious in the jobs that they are doing. I encourage them to concentrate.” He said that when youths are gainfully occupied in this manner, crime rate will reduce.
The co-founders also received the Nelson Mandela Leadership Award for Excellence and Integrity from the youth council.
The fall in educational standards in the country and poor funding for the education sector have been said to be part of the factors militating against youth development. These, among other issues, have led to a rise in vices among youth including internet fraud and cultism among others.
Therefore, an intervention towards youth empowerment is an effort to rescue the future of the nation which is its youth.
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