BEING A SPEECH PRESENTED BY COMRADE ABDULLAHI
ABDULMAJEED, PRESIDENT NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL OF NIGERIA AT THE 13TH
INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DIALOGUE OF THE WORLD ASSEMBLY OF YOUTHS (WAY) IN
MELAKA, MALAYSIA ON THE 14th OF SEPTEMBER, 2013
Across
the world civic activists, community builders and youth advocates are sounding
the call to realign and re-envision the roles of youth in society. The call
appears to be resonating now more than ever, not just at a louder volume but
also at a distinct frequency. May I stand before you today at the World
Assembly of Youths (WAY) International Youth Dialogue here in Melaka to align
myself and the over 70million Nigerian youths I represent as the President of
the National Youth Council of Nigeria and echo that call loudly to a global
audience of youth and youth development workers. As we make our declaration
after this landmark event, it’s imperative to collectively renew the clarion
call for total youth emancipation and liberation in all of our countries. The
new call MUST go far beyond appeals for youth to be given narrowly crafted
roles inside youth organizations and schools and far beyond calls for more
volunteering opportunities or organizing of some jamboree youth development
programmes. Young people must move out of their comfort zones, step outside the
clubhouses and football viewing centres into their communities and mainstream
of their societies and begin to make concerted efforts towards achieving more
significant types of action — organizing, advocacy, sustained service — that
yield more visible, more powerful results for their communities and societies. I
say it to you today that I am convinced based on evidential fact that now more
than ever before - Youth want to make a difference . . .
Contrary
to the popular portrayal of today’s young people especially in the continent of
Africa as self-absorbed and socially inert, inexperienced and lacking in
capacity, outcome of vast body of research reveals a portrait of a generation
not searching to distance itself from the community and society, but instead
actively looking for new and distinctive ways to connect to the people and
issues surrounding them while taking responsibility for their actions and the
society’s challenges. Young people do not want to play games or sit in spectators’
gallery of life’s activities, we are very willing to partner with all
stakeholders in ensuring that our societies are developed and harmonious enough
for us to achieve our shared prosperity. We are passionate about showcasing our
leadership skills in organizing and managing our affairs especially through
taking the lead in the design and implementation of our youth centric and youth
development programmes. However, we respond to community programs that
encourage us to partner with adults through mentorship, taking responsibility and
skills development.
As
much as we appreciate all efforts being put in place by our governments and
other stakeholders to design processes and activities in form of programmes and
initiatives aimed at increasing our capacity, skills and experience, we must differ
in concept and express our reservations to every youth development initiative
that adopts an approach which seeks to perceive youths as consumers of the
finished products (youth development programmes and training) and not as
co-producers and organizes of such efforts. We therefore demand that all
efforts for us must be by us and with us if they are truly for us. We want to
do it differently.
At
this juncture, It pleases me to inform you and indeed the entire youths of the
world that in pursuance of the above defined vested interest, a new style of
leadership is emerging among our nation’s youth in Nigeria, one that is
characterized by collaboration, inclusion, cross-sectoral partnership, vision,
and a commitment to change neighborhoods, communities, societies and, even our
country at large. The seed of such milestone feat was sown in the spirit and
passion exhibited by Nigerian youths in the process that culminated into the production
of the present crop of leaders of the National Youth Council of Nigeria headed
by my humble self in a congress that has been adjudged to be the most free, fair
and credible election in the history of the youth council or any youth
organization in Nigeria.
It
will interest you to know that over the past few years, a convergence of
interest in youth engagement and re-alignment emerged among those of us who
have youth development, civic engagement or community development as our
primary focus and we reasoned that the sharp decline and regression being
experienced in youth development activities in our country can only be
eliminated if the umbrella youth organization of our country has a strong and
virile leadership that can give clear direction and focus to the over 7o
million youths they lead. Our reasoning was closely followed by days, weeks, months
and years of painful and resilient toiling towards the actualization of that
objective.
Today,
the National youth council in Nigeria has a brand new leadership that is quite
formidable and consistent with the pragmatic leadership ethos of the global
youth leadership needed in the 21st century. And already there
appears to be an overall increase in visible, meaningful youth involvement
activities and awareness within such a short time. We are convinced that
leveraging on this development, combined with other emerging realities in our
political space and the uncommon drive and zeal for Nigerian youths to strive
for change, these trends may serve to raise expectations and increase
opportunities for our youth to actualize our age long dream of being truly
Involved!!!.
It is
our expectation that before the end of the year, the youth umbrella in Nigeria
would have completed its first phase of its reformation schema, which is
re-orientation, re-alignment, revitalization, and redirection of all member organizations,
states chapters and every other body central to the achievement of total youth
development in Nigeria.
Finally,
I urge all youth leaders present to commit to the re-alignment of the global
youth leadership status and localize the efforts in our individual countries by
ensuring that we have very strong and formidable youth leadership in place
while advancing the cause of youth enhancement through participation .The key
is the discovery and promotion of more and, especially, more meaningful
pathways to adult- hood for young people. The challenge is to advance and
reshape society’s understanding of meaningful youth roles so that more
relevant supports and opportunities are forthcoming. In general, we need to
encourage young people, especially those whose families and communities
currently lack power and resources, to become change agents in their own organizations
and societies.
Fortunately,
this event is coming at a point in time when the interests of youth, the needs
of our societies and the lessons of past efforts are converging to illuminate
the nature and source of pathways toward this goal of enhancing the status of
youths globally. I therefore charge you all to accept and personalize this
vision. The vision, simple but powerful, is youth action: young people making a
difference in their communities — often in partnership with adults — to
effect changes in things that are important to them and the community at large.
I hope these few words will contribute to the
efforts aimed at galvanizing momentum and motivating us as youth leaders to
re-dedicate ourselves to the imperative and daunting task of leading the cause
of youth renaissance in our societies and the world at large.
Thank you so much for listening to me!!!
God bless you all.
Abdullah Abdulmajeed,
President,
National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN)
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