‘Growth, development depend on proper guidance of Nigerian youths’

The Nigerian Navy has declared that for Nigeria to witness real growth and development, youths must be properly guided and rightly aligned.

Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral David Adeniran, stated this yesterday at the Nigeria Navy War College, Calabar, Cross River State.

The event was the maiden edition of its Public Speaking Competition for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members serving in the Command, with the theme, “The NYSC as a Tool for National Development: My Perspective and Contribution.”

He said, “Nigeria is blessed with about 70 percent of its population being 30 above and below 30 years. The nation could witness tremendous growth and development, if this population is guided or rightly aligned. As part of the 70 per cent, you have to be guided.

“To achieve this, the command decided that we need to enhance your confidence and give you the understanding and requirement of national development to inculcate patriotism and the spirit of sacrifice in you for the benefit of our nation.”

The FOC explained that one of the things that gave birth to the NYSC scheme in 1973 was the need to involve youths in building leadership skills and develop human capacity.

He said the Public Speaking exercise was in cognisance of the support for the NYSC scheme and Federal Government’s National Youth Policy.

Adeniran frowned on the lack of confidence among some corps members, who backed out of the programme, living only 18 participants in the exercise.

He said, “Public Speaking is intended to orient you in the right direction towards national development. This conduct shows extreme lack of confidence, which tends to defeat one of the objective of the exercise.”

The participants were drawn from the NNS Jubilee, Akwa Ibom, NNS Pathfinder, Port Harcourt and NNS Victory in Cross River State.