By EricJames Ochigbo
Minister of Youth Development, Mr Ayodele Olawande, has urged youths in the country to take advantage of government policies and programmes to build desirable future for themselves.
Olawande made the call on Thursday at the inauguration of a book entitled: “No More Future: Why Waiting Is Over, What to Build Instead” authored by a young Nigerian, Mr Christopher Olusa, at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
He said that the era of waiting for government to fix things before building; waiting for the right connections before starting and waiting for permission to become what one already had the capacity to be was over.
Represented by Mr Dotun Omoleye, the minister identified what is inside the young people as Nigeria’s greatest asset rather than what exists under the soil.
“Nigeria does not have a shortage of potential but sometimes lacks the collective courage in young people to stop waiting and start constructing,” he said.
He said that through the Renewed Hope Agenda, President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA) to equip youths with relevant skills.
The minister described the book as a call for that courage, expressing the belief that the current of young people would be ready to take the courage.
The minister said that seven million young Nigerians had been trained, with five million new jobs created.
He also said that a total of 239,726 young Nigerians had been equipped with digital and practical skills through NiYA and that over 1.2 million certificates had been issued to young people showing up to build.
“Through NiYA StartUp, 200 young business owners have each received one million naira, and a further 200 young Nigerians working in the informal sector have received N500,000 grant each.
“Just this month, we are pairing 20 early-stage entrepreneurs with intensive investment-readiness training, mentorship and non-dilutive funding of up to five million naira each.
“Government is repositioning NYSC from a routine rite of passage into a genuine platform for skills acquisition, entrepreneurship and productive engagement after service.
“To young people in this room and to the many more who will read this book: the Renewed Hope Agenda has opened a door that did not exist for the generation before you.
“What you do with that open door is the story that has not yet been written.
“Christopher has given you a framework. The Ministry of Youth Development will continue to give you platforms, capital and training but the actual building of your future remains yours to do,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman, House Committee on NELFund, Rep. Ifeoluwa Ehindero (APC-Ondo), described the title of the book as a challenge to the mindsets on what had held many people back.
The lawmaker said that rather than waiting, young Nigerians should deliberately build the future they wished to have.
“For too long, many young people have been encouraged to wait for government, for opportunities, for employment, for someone to discover them, or for circumstances to become perfect
“The reality is that nations are transformed when their citizens move from expectation to action, from dependency to enterprise, and from complaining about the future to building it,” he said.
The reviewer of the book, Prof. Jerry Ugokwe, said that many had treated the future as a destination or something that would happen or be given.
According to Ugbokwe, the book has destroyed the illusion that presents the future as what one waits for to something to build.
“We live in a generation of extraordinary contraception, as this generation has more access to information but still struggles with direction.
“One of the most compelling strengths of this book is its intellectual honesty. It does not romanticise the Nigerian condition, nor does it weaponise victimhood. Instead, it balances realism with responsibility.
“The systemic issues are acknowledged, educational gaps, economic volatility, institutional delays but the reader is not allowed to hide behind them.
“The message is clear: you may not control the system, but you are responsible for your response to it,” he said.
Addressing newsmen, the author of the book said that the book was a product of research as well as collection of personal and societal experiences.
Olusa said that young people had been thought to wait, with the societal structure ensuring young people were kept waiting for a brighter future.
“Life is a process, if we sit down and expect something we did not work for, we will get disappointed at the end of the day. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
EOO/WAS
Edited by ‘Wale Sadeeq