YOUTHS NEED TUTELAGE BEFORE TAKING POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

Reporter : CHRISTIAN NWANGENE

Speakers at a Symposium on Business and Politics have canvassed a strong and strategic political agenda that will enable young people take up leadership position to put the country on the path of economic prosperity.

This was the focus of the conference, with the theme: “Mainstreaming Young Credible Individuals in Business and Politics: A Panacea for Innovation and Progress” held in Enugu.

The event brought together political leaders, Civil Society groups, youth leaders, media heads and business class.

Analysts in the conference observed that young people in Nigeria have not really acquired requisite training, discipline and capacity that are key to make a leeway into the political process of the country.

According to the speakers, lack of political culture, and action plan by young persons on how to capture political leadership have continued to hold them to ransom.

In a keynote speech, the new Director, Radio Nigeria Training School, Lagos, Mr. Ike Okere, observed that those that fought for the lndependence of Nigeria from the colonial government were majorly young people.

Mr. Okere expressed regret that despite the growth of youth activism in the country, only one percent of Nigerian youths won elective position in 1999 general election.

Mr. Okere, who is the immediate past Zonal Director, Radio Nigeria Enugu National Station, charged Nigerian youths to achieve economic Independence first before venturing into politics and should set agenda for themselves if they must get it right.

Though Mr. Okere agreed that the affirmation that youths are the future of tomorrow is true, he emphasized that without deliberate systematic, sustained, strategic and consciousness, efforts to achieve that goal would be mere delusion.

“A lot of young people who have found themselves in this mainstream politics have not been credible representatives of the young, they have been worst than the old people, because no strategic plans, no growth.

“Positive affairmations without the discipline of the process to reach that goal is mere delusion,” Mr. Okere stated.

The President of the National Association of Private Schools, Enugu Chapter, Mr. Ernest Ike-Ugwu, said forums like that should be used to proffer practical solutions to today’s problems, noting that challenges offer opportunity to be innovative.

The Convener of the summit and Founder, Lead Network, Mr. Chukwuma Ephraim Okenwa, argued that the current political system being operated in the country was fundamentally faulty.

Mr. Okenwa, canvassed a delibrate and coordinated efforts by government to institutionalized mentorship of young people on what it takes lead.

“The truth of the matter is that, many people today became governors, became legislators, nobody schooled them in governance and it’s a challenge because one of the things we see in advance nations is that they institutionalised governance.

“So if somebody wants to be a governor in the next eight years, the person could go to Harvard School of Governance to learn how to govern people.

“The narrative is as sad as parenting, people engage in such a sensitive thing that failed the society without anybody practically coaching them on what it actually means to be a parent and responsibility and that is why several cases of abuse abounds.

“So I believe that even if we get that wrong in parenting, for something that one man’s decision could affect families, affect lives, affects generations, I believe that we cannot do without tutelage; we cannot do without mentoring,” Mr. Okenwa insisted.

He emphasized that the symposium was put together to canvass support for mainstreaming of Nigerian youths into appointive and elective positions.

“We want to create that consciousness in the young people that they are not too young to take up responsibility in key sectors beyond sports and entertainment, but also include business and of course politics and governance where young persons have been largely excluded because they are seen as not fit and not mature enough to take up that responsibility.

“We want to begin to create that consciousness that yes! it’s possible for young persons to get involved, not just for appointive positions, especially to elected officials, but they can play big.

“So we want to create that consciousness in our young persons that see, you too can become a business mogul that’s the whole idea behind the summit,” Mr. Okenwa explained.

A member of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Mr. Chima Obieze, said that young people had all that was needed to go for political positions and take power, but stated that the political climate in the country had not encouraged that to happen.

“It seems there is a sense in which older men think that they are the only ones that have the monopoly of what it takes to lead, and then young people who have tried and found no headway, they lost,” he lamented.

The speakers agree that Nigerian youths have the innovation, strength and energy, but pointed out that they have not galvanized their resources enough to take the reigns of leadership and uplift the country.

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