Youths from the southeastern part of the country have been urged to forgive their leaders for failing to provide them the enabling environment to fulfill their dreams.
Some of the leaders made this appeal at a symposium in Owerri, organized by Osigwe Anyiam Osigwe foundation on Tuesday.
A senatorial aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Imo State, Hon. Chris Asoluka, who spoke on behalf of the zone’s leaders, said the youths should not see the failure of their leaders as an excuse not to succeed.
According to him, “The take away of my talk was the apology for our leaders having failed to provide the environment that will easily bring out the best in the youths thus disposing them to criminality.
“It was unfortunate that they were pushed into that. But I also said it should not be an excuse because you would not because something did not work and you decided not to do anything and you tied yourself to what we call the blame game.
“Blame game will never put food on your table. Yes you know your past but the story is to create a perfect future. The issue of youth empowerment, I thought the youth would say, yes it has been abused.
“Instead of youth empowerment, I say it is time we shift away from the entitlement mindset because people have this entitlement feelings that somebody must solve my problems.
“The importance of industrialisation and economic transformation on the continental level is reflected in both the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and Africa’s agenda 2063. The Africa we want and at the national level are in both the NIPR document and the mission of the Oil and Gas Free zone Authority.
“As a defining concept, industrialization and economic transformation are critical for translating the national GDP, growth performance into longer term, inclusive, job-rich, and sustainable development. This is particularly important in light of the recent economic slow-down, triggered by low commodity prices and fall in demand from Europe and China.”
He added, “Africa’s growth is expected to strengthen again next year, and is likely to be based mainly on commodities exports, extractive industries and services. Job-rich growth in manufacturing is not yet a major part of Africa’s story. Its economies continue to be particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices and other external shocks.”
On his part, coordinator of the programme, Mr. Peter Egbule, said the event was organized to assist the youths particularly from the southeast region to identify their potentials as well as work on it.
“The theme of this summit which is understanding and exploring youth-alienation values, ethics, education and orientation, focuses on a broad range of human development issues.
“The youths will have practical set of thinking as well as behavior that ensures sustained human development at all levels and in all spheres,” he said.
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