The General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, General Superintendent William Kumuyi, as well as local and international youth influencers, industry leaders and academics have proposed ways to solve the challenges affecting youths in Nigeria and across the world.
They spoke at the Global Youth Convocation convened by Pastor Kumuyi.
The five-day event, with the theme: Impact 2022, ended yesterday with speakers identifying five main issues that negatively affect young people. The resource persons also listed eight recommendations to resolve the challenges.
The speakers proffered the solutions following the presentations on the social, economic, spiritual and other aspects of youth life by Kumuyi; former First Bank of Nigeria Chairman Ibukun Awosika; founder of Flutterwave and co-founder of Andela, Iyinola Aboyeji and gospel music artiste Dunsin Oyekan,
Others speakers at the convocation are: the Council Chairman of Chrisland University, Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju; Vice Chancellor of the Niger Delta University, Prof. Samuel Esuomiekumo; eminent lawyer, Prof. Taiwo Kupolati (SAN), among other international youth influencers, industry leaders, and other resource persons.
The convocation listed the recommendations in a communiqué issued by the organisers at the end of the event.
It acknowledged government initiatives that are devoted to youths, such as Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOU-WIN), Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), the SURE-P Technical Vocational Education, Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), as well as N-Power, Government Economic Empowerment Program (GEEP), and the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT).
The convocation bemoaned several negative trends affecting young people.
These, it said, include neglect of youths mostly through non-implementation of government policies and “rapidly increasing instances of deviant culture among youths, decline in positive social role models”.
It decried the “accelerated loss of moral values and decline in ethical standards in society, global economic crisis and high rates of youth unemployment, and social media distorted worldviews, leading to high moral decadence, anti-social and criminal acts, and dysfunctional societies,” among others.
The convocation recommended that:
“Repositioning the youths is pivotal to the growth and development of our nation and the world at large;
“Fundamental issues affecting teenagers, campus students and young adults be prioritised by government and other stakeholders…”
The convocation also proposed that periodic events, like Impact 2022, should be encouraged as platforms for re-engaging the youths, re-focusing their latent talents and energies, to give them a voice.
“A comprehensive youth policy be developed to address issues specific to the various categories of youths;
“Transformation agenda must characterise this and similar global youth-focused initiatives to address the ills in the world of youths;
“The void in the social life of youths must be addressed by entrenching civic, moral and ethical values in the educational curriculum; governments of nations should prioritise the identified youth-specific targets in the Agenda 2030 while the global community should specifically focus on youths in future global agenda;
“Government at all levels should mainstream youth development initiatives, fund and implement more youth-focused intervention programmes; Youths should be equipped with appropriate secular education, soft and life skills to prepare them for positive engagement in formulating and implementing policies meant for their social category