Nigerian leaders have been charged to take concrete steps to address bad governance, economic hardship, insecurity, unemployment and structural barriers, identified as factors responsible for the increase in Nigerian youths seeking greener pastures abroad.
The President and founder of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) ‘We Aspire Mentorship Initiative’, Dr Ifeoluwa Osundare, stated this during a mentorship training for secondary school students in Akure, Ondo state capital.
She said many Nigerians are leaving because of employment opportunities and rising insecurity in the land but maintained that turning the nation’s economy around positively will encourage more enterprising Nigerians to stay at home to develop the country.
She, however, said the greatest problem confronting Nigerian youths is not money but failure to mentor the young ones, identifying mentoring as the new goldmine for youth empowerment and employment generation.
She advised the youths to stop looking for money and riches but should look for mentorship, urging them to “look for people that believe in you; people that invest in your dreams and goals, people that would bring the best and not the stress out of you in life and this would help you make informed decisions and choices towards your destination in life.
“Effective youth mentoring has numerous benefits. It provides valuable support and ensures a smooth transition into adulthood. It also provides youth leadership with interpersonal and problem-solving skills.
“Youth mentoring also provides the added relief and fun experience that children need to help them develop into caring and responsible adults.”
Osundare who urged the youths to shelve the idea of relocating abroad to seek greener pastures advised them to unite and identify the challenges facing the nation, proffer solutions to them, and build a better Nigeria that will be conducive for all and sundry, rather than running away from their motherland.
She stressed that government should rise up to the occasion with immediate effect with a view to identifying as a matter of topmost priority the remote and immediate causes of able youths leaving the shores of the country, blaming this on the current economic situation in the country.
She advised young Nigerians to believe in themselves by building their careers and shun desperate and needless migration to seek greener pastures overseas, saying it is not always greener on the other side, but the ugly situation in the country led Nigerians to run away from their mother’s land
“We can build a society that can be proud of, it is not just about going to Europe, it’s about creating value in them and creating value in their environment. Our main dream is to open a research foundation in Nigeria where the same thing people are looking for abroad is in their environment.
“We aspire started during my service year in Akure, I served at the Federal Medical Centre(FMC), Owo and I found out that young people come into the hospital with sickle cell and it just broke my heart seeing people in pain. So, I sat myself down and ask what I could do to help my society.
“We aspire mentorship initiative is an NGO that is dedicated to innovating and inventing pragmatic solutions to educational and vocational challenges in Nigeria and beyond. We are so passionate about young people all over the world and we started doing this project in 2015.
“We go to secondary schools, talk to young people, challenge them about their dreams, letting them know that the dreams are valid. We know that the environment has a lot to do with what we become in life but we are still encouraging them that even in this environment, they can still make it,” she said.
She said although, there is nothing wrong with legal migration, but maintained that greener pastures could be found in Nigeria.
“Sometimes, the best of us come out of the hardest of places and that is why you see us Nigerians everywhere we go in the world, we thrive, but also we can also modify our environment by modifying our inner thought.
“So, this is why we are here for young people to set a platform for them, anywhere, anything they need we can stand as a helping hand to them, we can stand as a shoulder for them to climb up to see the world,” she added.
An Associate Professor of Law and Head, Department of Private and Business Law, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ifeoluwayimika Bamidele, admonished Nigerian youths to believe in Nigeria and stop regarding foreign countries as their paradise.
“For illegal migration, it is cancer that has eaten deep into the society and that is because people’s are not guided aspirations are not guided and that is why sessions, like we inspire initiative, is good to be able to show people the way. If you know the right way, you may not need to through the wrong way.
“If your dreams are guided if you have a mentor if you have a teacher. If you have somebody who tells you that they know how to go about it, people want to do the right thing but sometimes, they get the wrong information or guidance, or they sometimes totally give up on themselves.
“What can I do? How can I go about it? I don’t even know what to do! And then, somebody taps you and says I know the road through Libya, I know the road through Niger, follow me, I will take you and you go through that and later you discover that it is the wrong way.
“We are letting these young ones know that the journeys they are going through are what we have also gone through as professionals in different spheres of our lives and if they also have leadership, mentorship and accountability partnership, they will be able to acquire great things and fulfil their goals,” Bamidele added.
Other panellists including Kemi Busari, Timothy Adeleye, Bolanle Olufunmiloye, Joke Aladesanmi, and Martin Falana among others also cautioned the students against bad influence.
The beneficiaries, Oluwalade Pamilerin and Amos Peace of St Louis Grammar School, Akure, while thanking the organizers of the mentorship programme promised to focus on their goals and make them into accomplishments.
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