The last time I checked, 12th
of August every year remained International Youth Day. This signifies that two
weeks ago, the world over commemorated the 2018 edition of the remarkable global
event.
The International Youth Day is
annually held on August 12 to celebrate the achievements of the world’s youth
and to encourage their participation in enhancing global society. It also aims
to promote ways to engage them in becoming more actively involved in making
positive contributions in their respective communities.
The idea for International Youth Day was
proposed in 1991 by young people who were gathered in Vienna, Austria for the
first session of the United Nations (UN) World Youth Forum. The forum
recommended that an International Youth Day should be declared, especially for
fund-raising and promotional purposes to support the UN Youth Fund in
partnership with various youth organizations.
In 1998, a resolution proclaiming August 12 as
International Youth Day was adopted during the World Conference of Ministers
Responsible for Youth Affairs. That recommendation was later endorsed in 1999
by the UN General Assembly.
The International Youth Day was
first observed in the year 2000. One of the highlights of the event was the presentation
of the UN’s World Youth Awards to the eight Latin American and Caribbean youth
and youth-related organizations in Panama City. It’s, therefore, needless to
state that this year’s commemoration represents the nineteenth edition of the
worthwhile celebration.
It is generally noted that the
youth is the main productive class of any nation, and Nigeria is not an
exception. In the same vein, anyone in a youthful stage sees himself as one of
the major parts of the engine room of any society he belongs. This perception
is not unconnected with the teachings of nature, which is obviously ubiquitous.
It suffices
to say that any existing society that cannot boast of meaningful youths is not
unlike a tree that is being deprived of its major root. This is the reason any
country that has lost its youths to social vices lives like a blind man as well
as invariably sleeps with one eye open.
Though
the definition of the youth regarding the age bracket varies from one school of
thought to another, in a nutshell, it could be defined as a group of young
people who are in their adulthood stage. Thus, a youth is simply an adult or a
fully grown person that is young.
Considering the above definition, you would
agree to the fact that the youth is indeed the engine room of any existing
society. To this end, it is pathetic and devastating, to assert the least, seeing
a society comprising irrational youths, or a group of young people that do not
know their left from their right.
It’s not anymore news that, presently, about
eighty percent (80%) of the overall youths in most countries in the world,
particularly developing nations, have intensely derailed thereby constituting
series of inconsequential cacophonies as well as societal menace in all nooks
and crannies. An average member of such
a misled group keeps believing – albeit ignorantly – that he/she is being
manipulated by a certain set of individuals, without knowing that his future
lies in his bare hand.
In Nigeria, for instance, during
the post-colonial era or thereabouts, virtually all the political positions in
the country were fully occupied by the youth who were mostly in their twenties
ranging from Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello,
Chief Tafawa Balewa, Generals Murtala Mohammed, Theophilus Danjuma, Ibrahim
Babagida, Sani Abacha, Shehu Musa Yar’adua, Aguiyi Ironsi, Chukwuemeka
Odumegu-Ojukwu, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Mohammadu Buhari, among many others too
numerous to mention.
But today, the reverse is totally
the case. You would hardly see a youth in his thirties becoming a commissioner
in his or her home state, let alone occupying a ministerial position.
Unequivocally, the ongoing profound apathy coupled with complete loss of vision
among most of the new generation youths who occupy about one-third of the
country’s population, calls for an outcry.
In the spirit of the 2018
International Youth Day and as the 2019 general elections draw nearer, I’m
soliciting for awareness-raising campaigns to ensure that all our youths are
fully sensitized in order to revive the ongoing alarming rate of moral
decadence, docility, laxity, and mediocrity found among them.
Against this backdrop, I call on
the governments, non-governmental bodies, religious institutions, the civil
society, the mass media, and what have you, to join hands in this enticing
crusade so that in no distant time, Nigeria can boast of a society filled with
only resourceful and conscience-driven youths.
Our youths must be meant to realize that it is arguably high time power
is taken from this set of ‘old’ people currently occupying the seat of power in
various jurisdictions across the country, particularly the Eastern Heartland.
We can contribute our respective quotas by
initiating or sponsoring both social and academic activities such as youth
seminars cum conferences on education and empowerment, concerts promoting the
youth both at home and in the Diaspora as well as various sporting events,
parades and mobile exhibitions that will showcase young people’s accomplishments
with a view to thoroughly sensitizing the mindset of the said group on their
civic responsibilities, rights and privileges.
At this juncture, as the next
electioneering era is fast approaching, it isn’t needful to reiterate that the
overall Imo youths, that of Nigeria in general, are bound to arise at such a
critical time like this.
We can’t continue to
procrastinate because a stitch in time, they say, saves nigh. Hence, the time
to act is now. Think about it!
Comrade FDN Nwaozor
National Coordinator, Right Thinkers Movement
______________________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
+2348028608056
Twitter: @mediambassador
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