The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila has called for huge investment in youth education, particularly technology, in order to become the desired leaders of tomorrow.
Mr. Gbajabiamila, while speaking at the National Children’s Dialogue to mark the 2021 Universal Children’s Day in Abuja on Saturday, explained that technology had transformed the world into a global village through delivering services and innovations at an unprecedented speed.
He however told the session that to deliver on this obligation, all hands must be on deck to secure the future of the youth and tackle the myriads of security challenges bedevilling the country.
“Technology has changed our world. We no longer exist in communal or national silos but as part of a broad fabric of humanity in a global village where opportunities and challenges abound. In this new world where a child with a computer and internet connection in Lagos can compete for jobs in Texas or Bombay, our job as leaders is to ensure that every Nigerian child is educated and empowered to compete in and succeed in this global marketplace of ideas and talent,” the Speaker said.
Legislative interventions
Mr. Gbajabiamila informed the audience of the resolve of the House to continue to make legislative interventions that would help the executive to overcome the security challenges.
“The 9th House of Representatives has situated national security interventions at the top of our priorities in recognition of this. We have in the past year initiated legislative action to reform our national security infrastructure, improve funding for national security intervention and ensure effective oversight of resources allocated to protecting our country and defending our people from dangers within and external.
We will continue in this regard because, as I said before, success in every other area depends on our success in this regard,” he added
Leaders of tomorrow
The Speaker said deliberate efforts must be made to prepare the children and youth of Nigeria to become the leaders of tomorrow we desire them to be.
He said such efforts must include involving them in governance and expanding the democratic space to accommodate many young people saying that with direct primaries, a youth with leadership qualities had equal chances of becoming a candidate for an elective office just like any other person.
He noted that this was one of the surest ways of securing the future of Nigeria, by giving people with multiple ideas the opportunity to be at the very top of governance.
“That debate on direct primaries, which I championed, is about the future of our country. Our position in the 9th House of Representatives is that everyone must have equal opportunities to participate in governance and the democratic process.
Our young people must have a seat at the high table and we must create the enabling environment for them to be in leadership such that a young man with bold ideas can come out to vie for any position, be it legislator, governor, or any other office. That can only be achieved through direct primaries, which will give a fair chance to the youth of this country to be involved in governance,” Gbajabiamila explained.
Aim of Dialogue
The founder of the Children of Africa Leadership and Values Development Initiative CALDEV, Mr. Bamidele Salami, organizers of the event explained that the purpose of the project was to build “exemplary” children with all the qualities that would lead Nigeria to become a truly great country.
Mr. Salami said the aim was to get the children involved in discussing how to build a Nigeria where every child will be safe, secure and prosperous as well as to ensure unity in the country.
“We are set to achieve one thing, that thing is to build a better leadership consciousness in our children.
We believed very strongly that the destiny of any nation rests almost entirely on the quality of its leadership.
We have set for ourselves a target in the CALDEV to build leaders who will be very impactful, leaders who are visionary, leaders who will be exemplary, leaders who will be able to walk the talk,” Salami said.
Children and participants from various schools and bodies featured in the dialogue and a series of other events lined up for the day.
Nneka Ukachukwu
