Elizabeth Ogunbamowo
The convener of United Actions for Change (UAC), Dr Muiz Banire, SAN has called on the government to establish postgraduate institutions which will help in developing the capacity of the youths in the country.
He made the call during the opening session of the 5th annual youth leadership training programme virtually conducted by the organization tagged, “Future of Nigerian youth in a new normal world.”
According to him, the government can help the youth of the country channel their energy towards a positive direction by creating non-academic postgraduate institutions. “The government has a lot to do by creating programmes for young people, particularly in terms of vocational training that will lead into self-employment and give them the necessary support and wherewithal for them to be independent. Relying on paper qualification is not the best for the system again. Beyond whatever a young person is given at the University now, he needs to go out there and become pragmatic about the implementation of those ideas. In the first instance, we have the problem of unemployment, more than 70% of the youths are jobless. The second challenge is that some are unemployable and for those in the latter category, their capacity has to be developed first.”
Speaking further, Banire said that the basis of the training programme is essentially to bridge the gap in the leadership capacity of the youths as it is no longer fashionable to have old people running the affairs of a state. He believes that the youths of Nigeria are the highest stakeholders in the country and when properly groomed, can take over power and run the country effectively. “Our conviction is that we need to develop these youths’ capacity to be able to take over but they now have a peculiar challenge: the new normal. A lot of things have changed due to the pandemic and they now have to catch up. That imposes additional burdens on them. How to navigate these areas is the essence of the training.”
He encouraged participants to unlearn vices and learn virtues so as to positively impact on others around them. “Push aside parochial considerations and try to convince people to do the right thing. We contribute largely to the failure of the electoral system.