The Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has urged successful entrepreneurs, scholars, opinion moulders and other key stakeholders to offer support and mentorship to young people.
According ho him, this will help in raising a new generation of great leaders.
Governor AbdulRazaq says ”the future of our society rests on the quality of young people we are able to raise.”
He therefore advised all Nigerians to offer mentorship and whatever support they can mobilise to raise a new generation of great leaders, stressing that ”this is in realisation of the fact that the brighter the future of these young people, the brighter the future of Nigeria.”
Governor AbdulRazaq made these remarks at the Peace and Youths Development Summit/TheWriteUp 2021 Grand Finale held at Kwara State University Malete.
The event, organised on Wednesday by the Torchbearers Impact Network, coincided with the commemoration of the International Youths Day.
Represented by Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi, the Governor said; ”his administration is biased in favour of raising quality Kwara youths who would stand shoulder to shoulder with their contemporaries worldwide.”
According to him, ”this begins with offering quality basic education to give the Kwara child a fair opportunity to compete.”
“Our administration is leading the charge in this regard. We have not only recently given interest-free loan to young people to run their own businesses and be successful at it, we also provided them with mentorship from solid backgrounds,” the Governor stated.
New skills
He explained that huge investments in the innovation hub were targeted at giving new skills to young people and the target of his administration is to make Kwara the go-to place for young techies, innovators, and solution providers.
”When it is completed, it will be the largest of such facility anywhere in Nigeria,” Governor AbdulRazaq said.
The Governor also congratulated the young people on the International Youth Day, appealing to the youths to reflect on the present and the future and then make the best decisions for posterity.
“I believe strongly that the way to manage youth bulge and engender peace in our society is to create an atmosphere for young people to thrive. This is what we are trying to do in our state. From agriculture to innovation, sports and creative industry, we are steadily creating a veritable market for our young people to hone their skills, sell their ideas, and lead a fulfilling life,” he stressed.
He disclosed that this contest, which is titled TheWriteUp, will help to motivate our young people to further hone their literary skills.
Governor AbdulRazaq also commended the management and the entire KWASU community for providing the right environment for such initiative.
The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Yakubu Salihu urged the youths to harness their energies efficiently and positively to contribute to the development of the country by assuming leadership positions in all aspects of human endeavours.
Salihu said; “What we are witnessing now is a generational change. Youths have both positive and negative impacts on this country. But I believe youths are positively contributing to the development of this country in different fields. Youth should use their numerical strength to take up leadership positions, think positively and proffer solutions to current challenges facing the country.”
Shun violence
The State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Barrister Senior Ibrahim urged Nigerian youths to shun violence, cultism, banditry and kidnapping and other forms of societal ills, to enable them realise their full potentials in life.
KWASU Vice-Chancellor Professor Mustapha Akanbi (SAN) commended TIN for providing a platform for promoting arts and literature at a time that the art of writing has been bastardised by the advent of social media.
He called for more of such initiatives.
Winners
A 500-level law student of Adekunle Ajasin University (Ondo State), Miss Oluwadamilola Akintewe emerged the winner of the contest and went home with N200,000. The first runner-up, who got N100,000, is Enobong Enobong of University of Lagos; while Oyewopo Ibrahim of the Federal University of Technology Minna emerged third and got the sum of N50,000.
Founder of the Torchbearers Impact Network, TIN, Ibraheem Abdullateef said they set out to encourage young people to aspire to be the best they could, asserting that capacity building and skills acquisitions would open the doors of opportunities.
“What we set to achieve is to let youths know that it is time to prioritise academic excellence. Now, we have been able to identify young people across the nation who have passion and talents for writing and we will mobilise resources and support them in whatever way we can,” Abdullateef stated.
He said; “I also want to pass a message across that everyone out there is a torchbearer. You don’t need to be a member of Torchbearers Impact Network before they can be torchbearers themselves. As young people, we need to have it in mind that we are representing our communities, our schools, our states and the country wherever we are and we must try to make impact.
”On behalf of our team, I thank the Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Gbenga Hashim, KWASU authorities, the Hook Creative Agency, all the facilitators and everyone who has contributed to make this programme a success. We are truly grateful.”
