Insecurity: Stakeholders Harp on Youth Empowerment at Peace Achievers Conference

As Nigeria grapples with perennial security challenges amidst rising hunger, leadership experts and stakeholders from different backgrounds have called on government at all levels, as well as privileged individuals , to give urgent attention to economic empowerment of youths in order to build lasting peace and security across the country.

The stakeholders made the call at the 14th edition of the annual Peace Achievers International Conference and Awards Night held on Saturday with the theme, “Building Bridges for Sustainable Peace and Security: Integrating Sectors for Harmonious Future”, at the Abuja Continental Hotel in the FCT.

The 2024 conference brought together heads of organisations, seasoned entrepreneurs, members of the diplomatic community, traditional rulers and the academia from across Nigeria and beyond to deliberate and chart a common front towards building sustainable peace for a prosperous nation.

According to the stakeholders, for the country to effectively curb the challenges of insecurity,sectional conflicts and youths restiveness, there is need to productively engage young Nigerians who constitute a chunk of its workforce.

Amb. Kingsley Amafibe, Project Coordinator of Peace Ambassador Agency, organisers of the conference, said there was urgent need to create economic opportunities for Nigerian youth to get them productively occupied.

“In fact, we are sitting on a time bomb and our leaders should take this very seriously, because our major problem is youth unemployment, as our youths are graduating from school every day without job, and even those who want to create the jobs as private individuals do not have access to finance.

“I think everyone of our leaders knows what to do, because they all have a blueprint before they come into power, but very often when they get into power they forget these things.

“They travel abroad and see how these things are done, but they come back to Nigeria and still subject people to poverty.

“For the past 14 years, we have been able to impact and reach out to communities with our peace campaign and have over 1,000 children under our scholarship,” he said.

Amafibe however urged Nigerian youths to take responsibility for themselves to build that future of their dreams through hard work and discipline, adding that the failure of successive governments to build a better society should not be an excuse for youths to remain unproductive.

He said, “I take myself as an example and I like to share my story because I came to Abuja without nothing, but today I have been able to put things together.

“The problem with many young people is that they tend to divert their attention to any trending opportunity without focusing their energy in one craft and say this is what I want to pursue,” he said.

Mr Felix Achibiri, Executive Chairman, DFC Holdings Ltd,who spoke on Peace Building and through Sectoral Partnership, said youth economic empowerment was a catalyst for sustainable peace.

He, however, noted that government alone cannot create jobs, adding that there was need for private organisations to take youth empowerment as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility

“There is a clear nexus between job security and building a harmonious and peaceful environment or society, and there is also a need for the corporate sector to invest in community social responsibility.

According to him, the government on this part has a greater role to play by making sure that an enabling environment is created for the private sector to thrive.

“There is urgent need to embrace technology to unlock value because today, African digital economy is projected to hit about 185 billion dollars,so what are we doing as a nation to take advantage of this?

“There is need to develop the ICT sector and set up incubation and acceleration centers in our primary schools and secondary schools, to unlock value and prepare our youth for the great ahead,” he said.

Mr Michael Bartlett-Vanderpuye, President and Group Chairman M&C Group Global, said there was need for African youths to challenge themselves and take their future in their hands.

“We have a dependent culture and it is across Africa where somebody is a university graduate but he is waiting for his father’s uncle’s friend who is in government to connect him to work.

“In Europe and in the U.S., most of the time, by 16 years they are already selling, working at Walmart, and they are teaching them to be independent, not to be dependent.

“In Africa, some of 40-year old men are still living in their father’s houses, and the father inherited it from the grandfather,so we have to cut that dependent culture to create avenues for wealth creation,” he said.

Dr Victor Enebeli, Director of Studies, Justice Mary Odili Judicial Institute, said Nigeria’s leadership challenges were local and therefore need workable solutions that are unique to them.

According to him, What Nigeria needs is a peace summit that involves the grassroots by involving the 774 local governments.

“They will tell us what their problems are and what the solutions are , and at this point, we are not importing solutions anymore as we have the solutions here in Nigeria with us.”

Highpoint of the day was the presentation of the Peace Achievers Awards to charitable individuals and organisations who have used their resources to positively affect society and the presentation of the ‘100 Most Notable Business Executive & Leadership Magazine and ‘The Rise of African Fashion Designers & Lifestyle’ by Amb.Kingsley Amafibe.