CONSTRUCTIVE YOUTH PARTNERSHIP IN THE NIGERIAN PROJECT: A SUSTAINABLE MODEL
BEING A LECTURE BY MR. SUNDAY DARE, HONOURABLE MINISTER OF YOUTH AND SPORTS DEVELOPMENT AT THE 13TH ANNUAL LECTURE OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF LADOKE AKINTOLA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OGBOMOSHO
Protocol
Preamble
I am particularly delighted to be called here on my first outing in Ogbomosho as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to speak at One of Nigeria’s foremost institutions, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH.
Ogbomosho for me is home and will always be. But more significantly to be asked to speak about two issues that dominate our lives today- the Youth and Sustainable Development. There can be no better place to interrogate these issues than in the serene academic setting such as provided by the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology.
Nigeria for too long has perched on the cusp of change. It is time it turns the curve to achieve fundamental change. With the power, prevalence and penetration of digital technology and the boundless technological opportunities it offers, Nigeria indeed gets a chance at transformational change.
Beyond resource endowment, Africa has a bulging youth population that must be the focus of massive investments and a resource to be harnessed.
The massive potential of the Nigerian youth bulge is globally recognized. With a growth rate of 3.5 % per annum this segment represents the fastest growing in the world and will effectively dominate the society completely within the next two decades providing the human resource for critical aspects of the Nigerian state.
The risks are also recognized and becoming increasingly discernable. This administration recognizes this.
It is therefore an avowed priority of Mr President and the present administration to provide the capabilities for the Nigerian youth to thrive and excel, especially in a world that is increasingly integrated and also threatened by factors like Artificial Intelligence.
It flows therefrom that building a constructive youth partnership in the Nigerian project must take cognizance of these developments and trends. It goes beyond changing the narrative. It must first deal with the fundamentals of our socio - economic construct and the political will to push through policies that are far reaching. The narrative can begin to change if we infuse sustainability models into every policy, initiative or project.
We will return momentarily to the other ingredients of building a sustainable model in partnership with the Nigerian youth for the Nigerian project.
Conversation around the role of youth in national building has been with us for a while. The popular adage ‘build the youth, build the nation,’ which in reality is the motto of Man O’War lends credence to this assumption, which characterised the atmosphere of the early days of post-independence Nigeria right up to the late seventies. At that time, it was fashionable to be a young person as issues of volunteerism and patriotism, expressed through community service, and many other self-rewarding overtures (most with little or no economic benefit) defined the era and drove the demography. In fact, it was almost criminal not to belong to a voluntary youth organization.
It was a partnership that worked, each person contributing from their little space: government, private sector, civil society and the most important actors being the youth themselves. Somehow along the way, we squandered this opportunity. People became disillusioned and distanced themselves from selfless contributions to nation building. Instead, they make demands on the Nigerian nation.
Several decades now, having turned full circle, there is beginning again a renewed call for the active involvement of youth in rebuilding the Nigerian Project, albeit in a different manner. In the past, physical energy and analogue systems ruled the day. Today, we are in a new era – the digital era; and it will require a different strategy – perhaps digital strategy. Rebuilding the Nigerian Project is not an option; we simply have to find smarter ways of doing that, using more effective and efficient methods. For me, the answer lays in technology and our greatest resource – youth.
INTERROGATION
The operative words in our interrogation today are constructive, Youth, partnership, Nigerian project and sustainability.
The term Constructive connotes ‘having or intended to have a useful or beneficial purpose1.’ While Youth according to the National Youth Policy is defined as persons between the ages of 15 and 29. However, for me, youth is more than a chronological categorization; it is more a social construct that speaks to a phase of transition to adulthood.
Partnership is cooperation to advance mutual interests. Project: is a collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.
Contextualized to the topic therefore, the Nigerian Project would presuppose the existence of a project or enterprise that is carefully planned, through individual or collaborative effort involving research or design, to have to achieve a particular aim, including being useful or beneficial to all parties.
From these definitions, a few takeaways come out strongly. The Nigerian Project will require partnership. And we all know that in any partnership, there is always a STAKE. The task therefore is for us to identify what the stake is for each of our partners; and who these partners are? We have identified one side as the youth, but who are the others? Several questions however arise from this: what is the aim? Is there a plan? If there is a plan what is the life span of the plan? Is there a sustainable model? Is there an enterprise? Are there resources and are those charged with the task of executing qualified for the job at hand? If any or all of these answers is yes, then it takes us to the assumption that there is a Nigerian Project. And if so, then the next question would be ‘what is the Nigerian project? Who is planning or running the enterprise or project? Who is nurturing the enterprise for sustainability?
IS THERE A NIGERIAN PROJECT?
The notion of a Nigerian Project is not new. Development planning in Nigeria can be classified under three eras. These are the Era of Fixed- Term Planning (1962-85), the Era of Rolling Plan (1990-1998), and the New Democratic Dispensation (1999 till date). The Era of Fixed Medium-Term Plan (1962-1985) witnessed four successful plans in Nigeria. These are the First National Development Plan (1962-1968), the Second National Development Plan (1970-1974), the Third National Development Plan (1975-1980) and the Fourth National Development Plan (1981-1985)4.
With the return to democratic governance in Nigeria, the new administration started development planning in 1999 with the initiation of a four-year medium-term plan document, the National Economic Direction (1999-2003). The plan had the primary object of pursuing a strong, virile and broad- based economy with adequate capacity to absorb externally generated shocks.
While being a new plan document, the objectives and policy direction was not significantly different from that to which the country has followed since the introduction of SAP. NEEDS, GREEN REVOLUTION- the list is endless All described as Nigeria’s plans for prosperity. These plans are normally four-year medium-term plans. Often times, a period too short to achieve any desirable outcomes.
Expectedly, these plans could not really deliver on their objectives. These failures cannot be entirely attributed to policy failures and ineffectiveness of the employment oriented programmes that were mainstreamed in the successive development plans but to the generality of the entire development plans. They failed to get a majority buy in from the public. They lacked a long-term sustainable design. Perhaps we could say the components of the Nigerian Project were not effectively communicated to the public, especially young people for ownership.
The Nigerian project demands a huge dose of patriotism and sacrifice. Not just from the leaders but also from the followers.
Perhaps the tragedy still plaguing us all is this lack of clarity about what the Nigerian Project is.
We all agree that we want Nigeria to be great. However, we differ on how to go about it because a potpourri of factors is contending for preference: religion, ethnicity and tribal affiliations, social status (rich versus the poor); political affiliations. There have been several documentations and debates on how these factors frustrate the driving of the Nigerian dreams. As such, I will work with the assumption that they have formed a baseline for our discussion today and go straight to the crux of the topic.
WHAT CAN YOUNG PEOPLE DO?
Young people can do a lot in and for the Nigerian Project; and in fact, thy ought to be engaged, mobilized and empowered to do that. The first thing youth need to do for the Nigerian Project is to UNDERSTAND and OWN it. All around the world, young people are contributing positively to the development of their communities, demonstrating daily that youth is not a problem to be solved but a resource to be harnessed. Nigeria parades a hugely resourceful and talented youth population. In the coming years the country will rely increasingly upon its youth population to develop smart products and solutions to conquer the challenges and problems of climate change, economic slowdown, unemployment and poverty. Equally by infusing technology into vocational training, a large swath of the youth population can be drawn into vocational business activities.
There are many ways and many things we can do. I will only present a few of my proposals:
In my opinion, sowing the seed of the Nigeria dream will not be at the University level. It must start from childhood because it is at this point that children develop a mental image of who or what they want to become in life. The picture or image they need added to theirs is that of a country which can propel them to achieving that dream.
I pause here to raise a few privatize questions? Is the Nigerian Project a mirage? Is it achievable? Have we started on that journey?
Rebrand the Country.
We must rebrand Nigeria and communicate it in the right way. In rebranding, we must create a deliberate image of the Nigeria we want our young people to invest in; and then take deliberate steps to make that Nigeria work. For instance, if we want a Nigeria that supports innovative ideas, we must put structures in place that helps innovative ideas to flourish irrespective of the person’s gender, political leaning, religion or ethnic affiliation. There must be a transparent system that gives everyone equal opportunities.
That way, young people with ideas will begin to have hope in the Nigerian project, will flourish and invest in birthing creative or innovative ideas that will catapult the country on the path of massive national development.
There is need to reposition the mental reasoning of our youth and economically empower them to satisfy the demands of the modern world. Rebranding Nigeria is one of the veritable tools to achieve this objective. Unless rebranding directs the power and energy of the youth towards academic and productive goals, the country will keep on experiencing social vices, moral and academic degradation.
The role of ICT in re-branding Nigeria is a peculiar one because ICT is a veritable tool for fast and effective mass communication. The impact of ICT in the world today is far reaching and pervades all boundaries and cultural differences. For effective re-branding all components of ICT and at all levels must be deployed in enlightening, training, and encouraging people towards re-branding.
A SUSTAINABLE MODEL
We have blamed the surge in violent crimes – kidnapping, armed robbery, political thuggery, etc., on poverty and unemployment. It is largely true. Perhaps, there could be another reason – the need for young people to find expression. If it were for reasons of poverty and unemployment, some of them would have probably retired from crime now, having raised sufficient finance to start their enterprises.
So, my recommendations are – can we have a country that gives everyone a chance to express themselves; can a young photographer have the pathway and platforms to develop a career in photography that helps them to conquer the photo world? I believe the key to the sustainability of the model would depend of a number of factors:
a. Ownership of the Nigerian Project by Young People by promoting and nurturing Youth-led Social Businesses: We must develop strategies to transfer ownership of the Nigerian Project to youth. One of the ways we can do this is through the Concept of Social Businesses. The underlying value to communicate is CARE. Youth must see that Nigeria is a country that CARES for them and for the things that matter to them. And that there is a system of harnessing and redistributing the opportunities for this CARE.
Social and economic entrepreneurship holds special promise for helping to sustain the rebuilding of the Nigerian Project. They have the potential to play significant roles in developing technologies that can help mobilize and engage young people in the rebuilding efforts.
b. De-emphasize the things that divide us (religion, ethnicity, place of origin, etc.) on official documents and transactions: Majority of our youth are millennia. They live most of their lives on the internet, which has broken down boundaries and miniaturized the world into one huge space. Communities are no longer physical entities defined by geographical boundaries but are more social or professional groupings in the virtual world, joined together by interests that transcend religious, ethnic, or even political divides. This means that our youth, who are more citizens of the digital world than they physical world, will connect and interact with themselves irrespective of their physical divides. This effectively gives us a huge opportunity to de-emphasize, and hopefully one day eliminate such divisive identifiers like tribe, religion, LGA, etc. on our official government documents like forms.
While these data are important variables for statistical purposes, they do little to promote the unity of the country, and more importantly, the Nigerian Project. In fact, many at times, when you meet people and introduce yourself as Sunday Emmanuel, the first thing they ask you is, “where are you from?”, the name Sunday Emmanuel having already places you in the religious box marked ‘Christian.’ On the other hand, if you mention your name as Ugo Ajayi Salau, the next question will be ‘Are you a Muslim or Christian?’ what sort of name combination is that? Are you Yoruba or Igbo, all because the three strongest identifiers have found expression in your name!
c. Institute a reward system that honours and promotes Nigerian values that speak to the Nigerian Project: we must keep the young people inspired and focused towards the Nigerian Project. One way to do this is by sustaining a reward system with privileges attached to National Honours (like express access at airports, subsidized hotel lodgings for a period, certain volumes of made-in-Nigeria goods for some period, etc. A virtual Hall of Fame for holders of certain national medals, streets named after such individuals, their plagues telling the story behind such naming. For instance, ‘Abiola Park: this motor park is named after Kareem Abiola, the Taxi driver who returned 18m to his passenger after it was forgotten in his cab.’
When Mr. President appointed me as Minister, he gave me a clear mandate: keep Nigerian youth productively busy!
The next level belongs to the Nigerian youth. Mr. President’s has a new DEEL (D for digital literacy. E for Entrepreneurship. E for Employability. L for Leadership) for the youth; to train and equip Nigerian youth with the skills they need to compete and for national development. The digital revolution offers an unparalleled opportunity to drive a new wave of international economic growth for countries that have hitherto not fully enjoyed the benefits of the global economy.
For instance, at the present rate of increase in the global technology industry, Accenture and Oxford predicts that by 2020, the technology industry will add about 1.3 trillion USD to the world’s economy. To fully grasp the implication of this new added growth to the global economy, 1.3 trillion USD is the present-day GDP of South Korea – one of the most digitally advanced nations in the world. This study further anticipates economies such as India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey, South Africa who have begun the process of modernizing their economies to be in the fore front of economic greatness.
Nigeria is committed to raising a new tribe of 500,000 tech savvy youth countrywide in the next 2 years who will expand the frontiers of innovation not just in combating climate change, but in agriculture, medicine, education and biosciences. The Ministry recently launched the Digital Youth Nigeria project, (DY.NG) that will equip our youth with relevant digital skills set and knowledge that will enable them produce digital products, build smart apps and invent tools that will help reverse or slow down the pace of global warming and sustained social economic growth. A collaborative approach between the public and private sector will drive this project.
The Nigeria youth are blazing the trail in very inspiring ways. There is the 25-year old Nigeria-British born Silas Adekunle, reputed to have built the first gaming robots in the world. With a first-class degree in Robotics from the University of the West of England, he made the Financial Times list of the Top 100 minority ethnic leaders in Technology for 2018. The 2017 deal with Apple Inc. makes him one of the highest paid engineers in the world.
Meet Alonge Adebayo, Nigerian pharmacist, who graduated from Yale in 2016. He won a grand prize money of 100,000 Euros in the Tech Start Up competition among 119 countries. He invented a lifesaving fake drug scanner-Al-hyperspectral platform for Authenticating Drugs- after a near death experience at a younger age. He recently emerged winner of the 2019 BNP Paribas Group Deep Tech Award, known as the Hello Tomorrow deeptech contest.
And just like the Noble Peace Prize winner, Professor Muhammad Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank and pioneered microfinance and microcredit for entrepreneurs, a Nigerian youth inspired fintech start up online bank called KUDA, reputed to be the first digital online bank in Nigeria. KUDA has raised about $1.6 million and is meeting the needs of millions of youth who want friendly online banking services.
The National Social Investment Program (SIP) by the President Buhari led administration is a pro-poor scheme that provides easy access to financial resources and targets poor youth and women in Nigeria. There is also the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, GEEP, which provides collateral and interest free financial support to businesses at the bottom of the financial pyramid according to the office of the NSIP.
There is N-Power with close to a million beneficiaries.
Nigeria’s document of purpose and plan for the Nigeria Youth is the National Youth Policy. The revised edition of this policy 2019- 2023 has 11 thematic areas focusing on sports, education, science and tech, agriculture, environment, drug abuse, health etc. This is a policy infused with a sustainable plan with linkages among over 10 MDAS. The policy is predicated on education, engagement, empowerment and employment. This is an important component of the Nigerian project.
Conclusion:
If by any stretch I have left you still searching for the Nigerian project, it is because that project is still being constructed in the real sense of the word. The Nigerian project started with our political independence and later translated into national development plans for infrastructural and institutional rationalizations. We did not stay long on this path. We strayed as a country. National ethos was sacrificed on the altar of nepotism, lack of patriotism and rolling petrol wealth. Critical segments of our society were isolated. The Nigerian project was ill fated before it took full flight.
History offers us another opportunity to rebuild from the ruins of the past. From oil, history again offers us another resource - the Youth. By 2030, Nigeria’s greatest resource will no longer be oil but it’s Youth. If you doubt go ask the Asians.
Nigeria must begin to make huge investments in her youth. That should be the true Nigerian project. Bankable investments in education, technology, agriculture and developmental infrastructure that are sustainable. Investments in our youth now, will be a wise investment. That to my mind is the Nigerian Project. And it is sustainable.
Thank you for listening.
