The Junior Chambers International (JCI) has lauded the proposed National Youth Confab of the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. National President of the group, Sandra Efemuaye, while addressing newsmen, on the sidelines of the JCI National Convention, held over the weekend, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital stated that the international youth organization is ready to support the planned conference. Efemuaye while noting that the proposed confab might not probably resolve all issues fuelling youth confrontation with the government or stagnating their growth, however explained that the proposed conference would rather be a platform that will provide the youths the opportunity to air their expectations and for Governor to hear them out and see how they could better be integrated and supported to build a more virile and prosperous nation.
The theme of this year’s convention which attracted over 1000 delegates is “Inspiring the Future: Resilient Leadership in Challenging Economic Times.”
She declared that the planned national youth conference is an encouraging step towards carrying along young people in the task of nation-building.
“The Youth Confab is a wonderful development, it is a welcome development for us in JCI that has been interacting with the youth globally for over a century and in Nigeria for over 50 years.
“We are already exchanging correspondences with the Ministry of Youths Development to see how we can all collaborate to make life better for our youths.
“I am particularly commending the President for this initiative. It is a right step towards the right direction because statistics have shown that over 45 percent of the country’s population is made up of the youth and the youth are the future of any nation.
“So if the youth are given better attention, better skills and adequately supported, we won’t just have a better nation but a better society as well.
“The confab may not provide all the solutions to our problems but we would have started making appreciable steps towards fruitful engagement to further make the country great while carrying the youth along”, she said.
She described JCI as a global youth organization that has been in existence globally for over 100 years and 50 years in Nigeria and its membership for youth aged between 18 and 40.
The International President of JCI, Mr Kaven Kumaravel, said the time is now to place emphasis on human duties, to make people live responsibly and equally take responsibility for their actions.
Kumaravel said he was in Nigeria to push forthe organization’s campaign on human duties.
The Ogun State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr Olaolu Olabimtan, who was one of the keynote speakers, encouraged the youth to stay positive and resilient despite the challenges battling the country.
He said, “My message to the youth is to stay back and help in resolving the issue. After all, we only have Nigeria.The youth should be ready to stand despite the bad times. They should stay positive and resilient. For every bad time there is an opportunity for growth and new innovation.
“They should rather think through, survey for the opportunity and move up the ladder. There is money and progress to be made in the country.
I will rather advocate that our youth should stay positive and resilient. They should embrace the right values and take charge of their life and we will all better for it.”
The proposed national youth confab which was announced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on October 1 is among various measures proposed by the administration to encourage the involvement of the younger generations in the task of nation building.