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By Brown Chimezie
The seveth Tunji Ajibola annual Young People’s Colloquium will hold on July 2, 2023 at Virtual Session & RCCG Restoration Area Egbe, off Ikotun Road , Egbe, Lagos.
The event, which coincides with the 46th birthday of the convener, Tunji Ajibola, will have experts and seasoned facilitators from different walks of life.
The facilitators will handle various practical teaching sessions on various aspects of youth development and nation building. According to Ajibola, the theme of the lecture is he impact of family , friends and society in the pursuit of individual life dreams and aspirations.
He said,” since about seven years that we have started this yearly colloquium , we have impacted more than 5000 young people .Young People who were hirthetho dropped out were facilitated to return to school .Some youths who we mentored have graduated with degrees, while others took to business or trade .We have prevented some from going into crimes. We made intervention for some that had issues with authorities and their parents . I picked on the youth because I always remember that some right thinking adults guided me, while I was in my formative stage . If not for those regular mentoring by these adults , youth exhuberance could have led me into something else . If we neglect youth development as a society we would be playing with our future . “It is our collective responsibility to lead the next generation aright for the greater good of our country.
“ To crime prevention and other social vices , we need to catch them young, otherwise the evil agent will outsmart us to recruit our young people for their agenda.Youthful stage of life is critical stage of life, if one misses it , he or she may not likely recover. Hence my reasons for being passionate about the youth development. My message to the youth is that drugs and cultism are not what they should go into because they are gateway to death. Cultism is a deception from the pit of hell . Some Youth got into it innocently. The recruiters always cash on their naiveness. I want to tell the youth that cultism and drug are nothing , but scam.They should run away from them .
“They are scam set to ruin the lives and future of our young ones . Young People should be committed to the noble cause of building a future where peace and Justice shall reign.The pursuit of a noble cause will give them everything that drugs or cultism can’t offer. “ As a youth development activist; law tutor, consultant,and the principal partner at Learned Partners Professional Services and a teacher of law in notable institutions, I want to pass knowledge to our youths because knowledge is power.
“The sub-theme of the colloquium lecture is ‘Curbing the Menace of Youthful Crimes and Restiveness.’
“The speakers will talk on the effect of our old communal living in curbing crime and how it can be resuscitated. Raising of young people into responsible adult citizens, our roles as a family, parents and government.
“Participants at the event will gain insight into what is expected of every citizen in order to have a peaceful and orderly society.”
The convener noted that the essence of the yearly event was to bring young people together under one roof and engage in practical learning sessions on subject matter that has to do with their personal development, skills and entrepreneurship lessons, nation building and promoting peace.
He stressed that the overall aim of this yearly event is “for the nurturing of young people in the formative years into responsible adult citizens, to the greater good of our society and realization of aspirations of the individual participants.”
“I chose young people because I am passionate about them. It may interest you to know that I have been doing young people’s development programmes since I was an undergraduate. Then, I remembered that, during my formative years, there were many adults who impacted my life positively in one way or the other.
“So, I am convinced beyond reasonable doubts that young people deserve all the attention.
“I could count more than 50 of my mentees who used to facilitate this yearly event with me. They used to be regular attendees and volunteers during that time, now they have advanced in their adult lives, becoming top management staff in corporate organizations, some turned into entrepreneurs, while some of them are also running non-governmental organizations.
“Some that have dropped out of the school later returned to school, while many others have taken to some profitable ventures.
“There are some who confided in me that they left unruly behaviours because of the talk they heard from me. There are many of them that our teaching prevented from going into crime. It is important for parents to know now that parenting or rearing of young people for greater good is becoming more tedious in this present time.”
Ajibola explained that parents have to be in charge of the noble work of training their children for the greater good of the society, “They should not allow economic pressure or their jobs to deprive them of the duties of being there for their wards during their formative years,” he said, adding, “Parents are the first key stakeholders for producing responsible adult citizens for the society.
Government must ensure that youth development centres and other learning initiatives are manifestly efficient. Education of young people must be properly funded.Keeping youth at home because of indefinite strike deserves immediate attention by government.
“As a country, we have a youthful population. According to recent statistics, 80 per cent of our total population is made up of young people. Therefore, we have a great job in our hands to train them to be responsible adult citizens.
“Young people have all the strength, vitality and budding innovation. We have to capture them young and then harness these great virtues by leading them right, before they are lured into crimes.
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