Minister of youth and sports development, Sunday Dare has been urged to set up a national mentoring scheme where technocrats can offer mentorship to younger businessmen and women in a corporate, development and diplomatic space to position them as agents of change.
The chairman, 100 Centre for Corporate Governance, Lagos, Shuaibu Idris made the call at a panel discussion organised by the Nigerian Emerging Leaders Forum, (NELF) as part of the activities marking the 2022 international youth day.
Idris said Nigerian youths are not incapacitated, adding that “we have vibrant and intellectual youths whose energy and potential can be harnessed towards economic development.”
He said, “As youths we may have some challenges and that’s why we are advocating for mentoring opportunities to the young people to learn and not only learn in the book but learning in the practice as well.”
He said more room should be given to the young people in the political space and corporate governance to be practically involved in the affairs of the country.
“By this inclusion, the young people would have the opportunity to learn and tap knowledge and experience from the older brain before their exit from active governance, but that has been a challenge in the present Nigeria, the older ones don’t want to create space for the young people and this has caused a major setback in the nation’s development.
“I think I would suggest with extremely large mouth that the honourable minister of youth and sport development should as a matter of national urgency set up a national mentoring scheme, this should be in such a way that universities alumni, association members of universities offer themselves as mentors to existing students of the universities,” Idris stated
Also, the organising secretary of forum Abdulkareem Yakubu said the panel’s discussion between the older and the younger generation was to explore the minds of the younger generation and that of the old brain to see how we can have a synergy between the old and the young people in an attempt to create intergenerational transition plan.
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