African Regional Ambassador stated that according to statistics from the United Nations indicate that youths will take over global economy in a few decades, hence the need to prepare Nigeria youths to implement the lessons garnered from the fellowship.
Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) network, a United States Government initiative for African youth, has advised youths to prioritise economic emancipation as they prepare for future political leadership roles.
Prof. Abah Ikwue, African Regional Ambassador, YALI, gave the advice in Owerri, while addressing newsmen Wednesday, August 9, 2023. Ikwue who was reacting to the 2023 Mandela Washington Fellowship which held from July 31 to Aug. 3, said that youths were at the heart of global economy.
According to him, statistics from the United Nations indicate that youths will take over global economy in a few decades, hence the need to prepare Nigeria youths to implement the lessons garnered from the fellowship.
He advised YALI members to look inward with the aim of capturing economic leadership before shifting focus to political leadership.
“Youths must rise above poverty and hunger and command respect before dabbling into politics because it will be very difficult for youths to take over political leadership without economic stability”, he said.
The Africa Regional Ambassador, who is also a lecturer in the Department of English and Literature Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, commended the Federal Government for creating the enabling environment for economic emancipation of youths.
He urged the youths to domesticate the knowledge from the fellowship for economic stability as they prepare to become future leaders of the country.
“Overtime, the Federal Government has doled out startups to Nigerians through the Nigeria Incentive-bases Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the Bank of Industry.
“Nigerian youths have utilised these opportunities and further ventured into areas of interest such as music and business management and they have been largely successful”, he said.
He, therefore, urged participants of the fellowship to grow their economic base by domesticating knowledge from the fellowship so as to be better prepared for political leadership.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that YALI was launched in 2010 to support young African leaders to spur economic growth strengthen democratic governance and enhance peace and security across sub Saharan Africa.