Youth empowerment: for Better Inclusion.

So much have been said about empowerment of women and youths by different governments, private organizations and also individuals here and there. A lot of attention are being given to women and youths empowerment in different quarters and nations. But today, l will like to focus on the empowerment of the youths for better inclusion in the scheme of things.

Empowering the youth/young people, will be by encouraging them to take charge of their lives. This can be done by addressing their situation and taking action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciousness and mindset through their beliefs, values and attitudes.

 Denis Erezi arenowned multimedia Journalist, once said that “the youths are the foundation of positive and negative picture of any society. This is true because with their energies, ingenuity, character and orientation, they can define the pace of development and security of a nation and through their creative talents and labour power, a nation makes giant strides in economic development and socio-political achievements”.

In all societies of the world, the youths are the foundation on which national integration and development is established. The youths are the backbone and the building blocks of any nation. It is said that the stronger the youth, the more developed a nation is. Therefore, the role of the youth in the nation-building process cannot be overemphasized as countries that develop and utilize their youth in the right directions seem to be more developed. The youths are full of energy and the brightness of their minds act as torch-bearer for any nation and if given the opportunity, the youths will be eager to take up any challenge.

Many scholars and politicians alike have also described the youths of a nation as the ‘trustees of posterity’. It is in light of this that many nations have made several efforts in stimulating integrated approach that will put in place youth development structures with very high tendency, to be a catalyst for their national growth. Truth be told, for the countries which fail to realize the importance of the youths, they will lag behind in every aspects of life.

Any nation that denies its youth the necessary enabling environment to enthusiastically participate in nation-building merely does so at its own perils.  It is not enough to see the youths as valued citizens of the nations, they need to be brought into the national platform and be connected to national issues and programs. They should be allowed to participate actively and contribute to decision making at various levels. The youths need to be actively engaged in more sustained positive relationships with adults, other youths, and national development programs. They should be allowed to collaborate and participate in activities that will lead to skill enhancement, empowerment and confidence-building as these will help prepare them for active interest and involvement in nation-building.

Even in our parishes, it is important to note that young people play a crucial role in the prospect for development and should therefore be included in all national development plans and programs that will bring about the development of our parishes.  If you ask me, the Catholic/ Christian youths of Nigeria (CYON), as the case may be should be involved in the running of the parishes; they should be represented the parish council and contribute towards the development of these parishes.

Another way of empowering the youths is through skills acquisition, these skills can help eradicate poverty from their families. We need to provide them with tools that will help them to collaborate, brainstorm and find perfect solutions to problems, which will in turn better the society.  Part of these tools could be through education and capacity building towards entrepreneurship, amongst others. These will guide them to identify their individual talents and ensure that they are used for good. More importantly, they should also be motivated through:

• Reading skills competitions which some organizations in some states are organizing. Youths should learn how to read and write fluently above the regular standards. Another skill which they can acquire is: –
• Communication skills: youth should be empowered with this skill in order to boost their confidence and also to have healthy cordial relationship with their peers.
•  ICT is also an important skill, they can learn coding, graphic designing, animation and other numerous related skills.

It is very important that we start early say, as early as from age 13 to engage them as interns in establishments both private and government or enroll them in vocational schools during summer holidays to help them acquire entrepreneurial /intellectual skills. While in the parishes, societies in the church can collaborate or partner with established enterprise organizations/institutions to organize short trainings for the youths in their parishes on entrepreneurship. These will include catering/baking, bead making, dress making, shoe making, fashion designing, juice production and farming, etc. They can go the extra- mile to identify and approach some highly financially placed people in their parishes to support them with seed money to kick start the business after the training or match them with mentors who can mentor them and guide them on which way to go in turning their business ideas into viable businesses. (This corroborates the adage that says “teach a child how to fish so that he can learn and feed from there).

Societies in the Parishes can also be more charitable by tasking themselves so as to train one or two indigent students in their parishes in secondary schools or higher institutions. Nothing can be too much for charity. I therefore, implore us to start thinking in this direction as a way of promoting the growth of the parishioners thereby creating togetherness amongst parishioners.