Kukah Tasks Youths On Leadership, Resilience

THE Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Dioceses, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah has urged Nigerian youths to distinguish themselves in any field of endevour they find themselves, stressing that no country in the world employs more than five per cent of its citizens.

Speaking at the Opening of the Third National Mission Congress of Nigeria (NAMICON III) yesterday in Abuja, Kukah called on Nigerians to exercise leadership in their chosen fields and urged youths to be problem solvers rather than being the problem.

He said: “Leadership is based on some certain beliefs which are sometimes based also on certain sets of values. Those that are based on deep convictions are put down in writing and so on. I must stress here that office holding sometimes is purely by accident. You can be in an office based on appointment and there are those who use office to exercise leadership which includes many factors.”

He added: “There is no country that employs five per cent of it its citizens or even 10 per cent. Many states in Nigeria with population of about six to seven million employs between 30, 000 to 60,000 civil servants despite being ghost workers.

“So, it is evidently clear that no government can employ its entire people. What all of us need to do is to work hard wherever we find ourselves as none was born a government child. We all came by the grace of God and His purpose and success for each of us lie in our cooperation to achieve our set goals.

“So, the assumption that if you are not holding an office then you cannot exercise leadership is wrong. If you are a good mother, your children will follow you. If you are a good father, your children will obey you and if you are a senior prefect, other children will learn from your example.”