By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Princess Sarah Sosan, has warned youths in the state to shun all forms of violence and vices.
Sosan, who spoke at the Youth Empowerment Conference 2009, held at Ojo Local Government Hall stated emphatically that violence and vices could affect youth negatively.
“We must eschew violence and shun vices that could negatively affect our future and indeed, the future of our great country, Nigeria. You should not be found doing acts inimical to the peace and tranquility of your environment,” she counseled.
The deputy governor also called on youths to be ready to demand for their rights to education, social services, enabling environment to thrive and a well secured society to live in legitimately without allowing themselves to be used as pawns in political chess games.
“There is no gainsaying that politics has since moved from asking for crumbs from elected political office holders to the era of being in a position to ask such officers to give an account of their stewardship and be able to assess and determine their leaders in subsequent elections.
“There is need for the youths to remain in a vantage position of taking over leadership having equipped him/her with both academic and non-academic skills,” she said.
The theme of the conference is The Role of Youths in Nation Building. According to Sosan, the theme would help discover, grow and nurture the dreams of the youths, who are the future of tomorrow.
Sosan was optimistic that the conference would stimulate the innate abilities inherent in the young ones, thereby recognizing their God-given talents for a better tomorrow. “It is my belief that after this conference, these change agents will look inward and discover who they really are and work towards being self-reliant.”
The deputy governor assured that the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola would continued to empower youths in the state through the provision of enabling environment to thrive in their chosen field.
“It is the expectation of our administration that the local government and local council development areas’ chairmen will serve as a bridge between the youths and the grassroots on the one hand, and the state government and the youths, on the other.
“While the government at the centre will continue to create avenues for social development in every local government area, policies that will positively affect the lives of the entire citizenry, particularly the youths will be put in place, to ensure that the dividends of democracy gets to all and sundry,” Sosan stated.
In his own speech, Chairman, Ojo Local Government, Hon.Yinka Durosinmi, described youth unemployment as a major social problem in the nation, saying that Fashola had been able to impact on the lives of the youths through empowering them in the various vocational training centres across the state.
In a lecture delivered at the occasion, Pastor Femi Emmanuel said any nation that failed to empower the youths had compromised its future, stressing that this was because the youths have the energy, passion, time and brain to move the nation forward.
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