Day Maktoub Reinvigorated Nigerian Youths

The Maktoub Youth Forum 2021 held recently in Abuja has redefined the role expected of youths in national development as well as their part in the forthcoming elections in 2023, Olawale Ajimotokan reports

The annual Maktoub Youth Forum attracted youths numbering over 200 from diverse background into Abuja. So much enthusiasm oozed inside the NAF Conference Centre, Kado, Abuja, as the youths were reminded by the guest speakers of their role as vanguard in nation building.
The speakers, some of who were within the youth age bracket, explored different topics along the theme of the forum: “Re-Inventing Youths”.

Some of the speakers were the Founder/CEO, Kabiya Care Foundation, Jamilu Yahaya-Kwande; Dr. Adaeze Oreh; Police Commissioner Frank Mba; CEO, Karmod Nigeria Limited, Hakeem Shagaya; the Market Intelligence Officer/Vice President, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Aisha Kyari; and Fatima Abacha.

Expectedly, the forum explored the subject of substance abuse which has done more harm than good to youths all over the world. The NDLEA Chairman, Buba Marwa, who was represented, decried the prevalence of drug use among youth.

Marwa, who was represented by a Superintendent of NDLEA, Gbenga Owonubi, said over 40 per cent of Nigerian youths, between 18 and 35 years were deeply involved in the abuse of drugs.
His topic of discussion, titled: “Drug Abuse and Youths”, raised alarm about involvement of youths in drug consumption, saying it had assumed a frightening dimension, with the attendant consequences on human and material resources.

Marwa urged youths against use of depressant, narcotics and prohibited drugs “because the abuse of drugs can lead to public health issues, mental problem, damage to unborn babies, sleeplessness, depression, suicide and expulsion from school, among others.”

He also appealed to youths to be wary of the smoking of Shisha because it is highly addictive and bears large quantities of harmful particles that put its smokers at the risk of variety of cancers. “It is a toxic substance that causes cancer. People erroneously believe it is a flavour they can inhale. But if you quaff three packs Sisha for one hour, it is like taking one hundred sticks of cigarette and you know what that can do to your lungs,” he said.

In his vibrant topic tagged: “Get Involved to Build a Better Nation”, Shagaya challenged Nigerian youths to be patriotic and forge strategic alliances among themselves.
The business man also urged young people to inculcate the spirit of political activism in addition to getting involved in local politics.

“We must learn to collaborate because it is through that we can have bigger voices and motive of what we want to achieve. We must get involved in both public and private politics because you don’t know how you will be affected by such,” he said.

Shagaya described unionisation as one of the ways to effect changes and proffer solution to social issues.

“We must learn to collaborate because it is through that we can have bigger voices and motive of what we want to achieve. Unionisation is one of the ways to effect changes and solution,” Shagaya said.

He tasked youths to be politically active at the local level and not think that their idea might let them down if they dabble into local politics.

In his remarks, Seyi Tinubu, who was also represented, affirmed that one of the positives presented by the COVID-19 pandemic was the opportunity for young people to innovate as evident in the rise of e-commerce platforms and supply chain backed by technology.

Tinubu, whose paper was delivered by Lateefat Abdulmajid, noted that in spite of the catastrophe and devastation fraught by COVID-19 on the global economy, many businesses in various sectors flourished out of creativity, innovation and adaptability. He urged youths to imbibe creative ethos when faced with challenges and uncertainty that are impacting on businesses. Tinubu shared experience on how he collaborated with a non-profit organisation, FoodClique, from its food bank to distribute 977,000 meals to over 30,000 homes to mitigate the effect of the lockdown on the poor.

“What did we do? We set up mechanism to seek support- mostly in kind, get volunteers to man the food banks as well as local community.
“We are already seeing increased spend on social and digital marketing whilst new entrepreneurs and business lines are being created. Businesses can now also easily diversify, test products, explore new markets and innovate with little risk of resistance simply because the world has come to accept this new way of life. This period of instantaneous innovation helped the world to build confidence among businesses, to introduce change boldly and fearlessly,” Tinubu remarked.

He added that the pandemic resuscitated the spirit of community in the world and Nigeria where communities stood up to assist one another and a world that has moved up from becoming too individualistic to one that has a sense of community.

On his part, Mba appealed to consciousness of the youths for trust to be established with the police in protection of community. He stressed the police require absolute trust to function, stating when there is no trust in any relationship, it will certainly collapse. However, he conceded to the youths that the citizens do not trust the police because of police oppression, brutality, bribery and corruption and impunity.

He also decried the undue stereotyping and prejudice, negative media depiction, false alarm, poor governance and unfair comparison of the police as causes of mistrust.
He said modern policing derives its legitimacy from the people, adding trust is a deliberate offer that has to be nurtured by both sides.

He called on the youths and the police to build and regain trust as “trust” is not an item that could be brought from the shelf. “Both sides, after the ENDSARS protest must work together to fix the challenge of trust deficit and build mutually rewarding relationship,” Mba said. The senior police officer said the Nigeria police was underfunded in comparison to the police in other jurisdictions.

He said the Nigerian police highest budget of N458 billion per year is like scratching the surface when put besides the New York Police Department’s annual budget of N2.5 trillion, London Metropolitan Police, N1.8 trillion and South African police N2.3 trillion.
“We are like a people going on our bare hand. When next you see a police, say a silent prayer for him in your heart,” Mba pleaded.

The convener of the youth forum, Ms Mariam Mohammed said it was premised on organising interactive forum on current and topical issues that directly impact on Nigerian youths, addressing their present reality, hopes and dreams for a prosperous future.
Ms Mohammed, who spoke on Managing Social Media Pressure, warned youths to be wary of social media tension, saying 80 per cent of so called celebrities on social media were living invented life.

“What we show you is our best life on social media. Some of the people you see on social media live fake life. They go and borrow money to buy cloth. When you look at people’s life, you get upset and jealous because of what someone is showing you. And the tendency is you start comparing other people’s life with yours,” she said.

Rather than follow the crowd on social media, Ms Mohammed, who is also the publisher of Maktoub magazine, tasked youth to get involved in politics and elect one of their own into political office, warning that “trolling the federal government on the social media without getting involved means you are not involved”.

Ms Mohammmed, also a Public Relations consultant, promised to set up a What’s App group to mobilise Nigerian youth for the 2023 elections.