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Awosika stressed that any nation that is not empowering its youths and consciously investing in its next generation is not a serious country.
She gave this charge at the inaugural festival to celebrate the 55th birthday of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola in Lagos tagged: BRF GABFEST 2018 which had, ‘The youth in Nigeria: Mapping the future’ as its theme.
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Awosika, who was the keynote speaker, said the image sold about the present generation depresses the hope of the next generation, saying, “we must understand our future is not secured if the future of the next generation is not properly placed.”
Hence, she called on government to create an enabling environment starting with proper education that incorporates vocational and entrepreneurial skills.
She said government needs to be deliberate in considering the Nigerian youth when signing bilateral trades with western governments including capacity for skills.
She said: “When people are underutilized there is agitation, hence the need for government to restructure our system to be more equitable and empowering with skills. We need to retrain our people for new generational jobs.”
In his remarks, Commissioner for Finance, Cross River State, Asuquo Ekpenyong, said more participation is needed in the process of how leaders are elected in the country stating that youths with capacity must be supported to vie for political leadership positions.
He said most of the activism of the Nigerian youths are done online, which needs to be translated to into reality.
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