NIGERIA- Friday, 11th of August, youths from tertiary institutions from the southwestern region of Nigeria gathered in a conference at the Lagos state University to mark the 2017 edition of the International Youth Day.
With Technology, Business and Communication in relation to peace building as a central thought, the Star Network Conference (SNC) saw to the hosting of some of Nigeria’s smartest brains who made up the panel session of the occasion.
In the welcome address of the convener, the need for youths to move from dreamers to doers was brought to fore. Zubair Jafar Alabi, the Executive Director of Intellect9ja noted that Nigerian youths must rise to the challenge of time and shift focus from wailing and incessant lamentations to the transformation of ideas into feasible projects. Adding that, there is more opportunity out there to key into.
“Underdeveloped or third world country is what we’re called. Wailing and listing out our shortcomings is too banal to our hearing. Billion dollar opportunities are there for us as challenges that need solving, but we see them as limitations. To get out of this, our energy should be shifted to what we will be doing about it.
“We do not lack talents, neither is there dearth of opportunities. Rather what we lack is direction, and synergy between the necessary stakeholders.”
Also speaking at the event, Senator Aminu Lukman in his keynote speech urged youths to buckle up and stand undeterred in the actualization of their dreams. He noted that it is their responsibility to join hands together in moving the nation forward.
Discussing about Technology and its contribution towards establishing peace, CodeSparkNG Project Lead, Ismail Sogbade hosted a panel comprising of Yusuf Aweda of TeraHertz Technology, Abiola Usman of Ajo Africa and Mrs Johnson Yetunde who discussed exhaustively on the numerous opportunities that abounds in the Tech world. The panel urged delegates to leverage on technology as it is the only thing that will stand the test of time.
Also, during the Communication session, the role of old and new media was underscored by the panel in the design and operation of fair and transparent governance. The panel was comprised of Award winning Essayist Kunle Adebajo, Shakirullah Taiwo, a senior associate at Pulse NG, Yusuf Marouph and Mrs Salmah Adetutu of NTA (who had a briefing with the audience) emphasized on the need for upgrade and stretching to achieve a bigger vision. And because the age of print media is fast fading, youths were implored to step up to the trend of time.
The conference ended with the Business session where Executive Director Zubair Alabi hosted himself having Mrs Johnson Yetunde and Mr Lanre Oke as Guest panelists. The major challenges faced by youths, especially in getting support from large corporate bodies to assist in the realization of their businesses was highlight and possible way out was pinpointed.
The event moderator –Kola-Ogunlade Wuraola alongside the event manager –Yusuf Olanrewaju, while closing the program hammered on the necessity as it demands to avoid excuses in developing oneself. The Campus Ambassador lady noted that there isn’t any excuse for failure.
Reporter: Ridwan A Olayiwola
