Kunle ADELABU, Seun AJAYI & Boluowatife HASSAN
Hundreds of youths of Ikorodu division in Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, on Monday, October 1, 2018, gathered at a historic summit to brainstorm on mobilizing themselves for social, economic and political participation.
The summit, which was held at the Ikorodu Town hall and aimed at galvanizing the youths to participate meaningfully in the socio-economic and political activities in the division, was themed, ‘Youths Inclusiveness In Community Development and Governance’.
It was the first time youths in the division would be coming together to chart a common cause for the development of the division.
The summit was organized by the Ikorodu Division Youth Movement
Comrade Samson Bisiriyu, the Convener /Chairman of the Planning Committee, in his address, regretted that a division with great potentials is not maximising for development.
“Ikorodu Division, since time immemorial, have been known for her peacefulness and recognized all over the world to have produced record breakers, successful career men and women, entrepreneur of global reputation, political icons and captain of industries.
“However, the division is highly underdeveloped as insecurity rules, social vices such as cultism, ritual killings, alarming numbers of street urchins are well known to mention a few, but thank God that today, some of these vices have reduced but we are still backward politically, socially, economically and in human capital in the league of Lagos State Division”.
He added that the summit was held to sensitize the youths on how to assist in resolving the challenges facing the division.
“In a bid to address these challenges, there is an urgent need for youths of this great division to take roles of responsibility and come together for physical interaction towards a safe and healthy thinking in a bid to move our division forward both socio-economically and politically”.
Bisiriyu stated that the aims of the summit were to create an opportunity for the physical youths interaction for at least 500 youths within the division and discuss matters relating to them and community development.
He also added creating an avenue for career networking for the youths; raising youth enthusiasm and participation in 2019 general elections and encouraging more youths inclusion in community development and governance as parts of the objectives of the summit.
Prof. ‘Kunle Ade Wahab, former Head of the Due Process Unit in the Presidency and the Chairman, Ikorodu Development Human Resources Board who chaired the occasion, expressed his joy to be in the gathering and stressed the importance of education to the youths if they are to contribute meaningfully.
“Education is important, you must do everything within your power to grab the minimum kind of education you can get. Once you have education, there is no barrier that can hold you back unless you allow it”.
He shared his struggles to get an education and further challenged participants to achieve landmarks in their chosen fields.
Mr Babatunde Gbadamosi, the ADP Governorship candidate speaking at the summit also enjoined youth to focus more on education especially science and technology if they are to make any meaningful impact on the society
One of the guest speakers, Mrs. Adebola McPrince, the founder, Builder & Makers Foundation, speaking on the sub-topic, “Promoting Youth Inclusiveness In Community Development and Governance (Problems and Prospects)”, admonished the youths in attendance to be a positive influence on the society.
She also enjoined them to channel their energies towards activities that are productive and beneficial to themselves and the society at large.
Mrs Bolatito Babasola Esq, an inspirational and motivational speaker, while delivering a paper on “Community Development and Its Effect On Economic Growth: Role of Youths”, challenged the youths to always be part of those that find solutions to community problems.
She also challenged participants to participate actively in the developmental activities within their communities.
Also, Dr. Abiodun Fatai-Abatan, a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, spoke on the topic, “Tapping Limited Resources Towards Attaining Individual Growth”; while Mr Oke Godwin Olaoluwa, an Economist, delivered a paper on “, Professionalism and Capacity Building”.
Other speakers were the Guinness World Record holder in Reading Aloud Attempt, Amb. Bayode Treasure-Adewunmi who spoke on ‘Self Discovery’, and Princess Aderoju Ladega who spoke on ‘Community Services’.
Also, the trio of Mr Jimi Aina, the Board Secretary, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Amb. Patricia Okosodo and Comrade Godbless Otubure spoke on ‘Youths Inclusiveness in Governance’, ‘Entrepreneur and Empowerment’ and ‘Economic Empowerment And Its Positive Effect On Youths’ respectively.
