2021 world youth skills day: welcome address of ogun youth chairman.
BEING THE WELCOME ADDRESS OF THE OGUN STATE CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL OF NIGERIA, COM. ABDUL-JABAR AYELAAGBE AT THE 2021 WORLD YOUTH SKILL DAY CELEBRATION ORGANIZED BY THE OGUN STATE GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN COLLABORATION WITH NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL OF NIGERIA, OGUN STATE CHAPTER TODAY 15TH JULY, 2021 AT OGUN TECH HUB, KOBAPE ROAD, ABEOKUTA, OGUN STATE.
PROTOCOLS,
It is with great pleasure that I, on behalf of the State youth leadership, welcome all the eminent stakeholders to the grand finale of our week-long celebration of World Youth Skill Day. The first of such a week-long grand celebration by the State government since 2014 when the United Nations proclaimed the day.
2. United Nations set this day aside to focus on the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship. The theme for this year's celebration "Reimagining Youth Skills Post-Pandemic" is solution-centric as we are just coming out of COVID 19 pandemic that ravaged the world with education and training systems yet to return to pre-crisis conditions. Thus, it aims to celebrate the resilience and creativity of youth throughout the crisis and focus attention on how technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems have adapted to the pandemic, participate in the recovery, and imagine priorities they should adopt for the post-COVID-19 world.
3. The importance of skill acquisition can no longer be overemphasized in today's World. Quite unfortunate that our policymakers advertently or inadvertently destroyed our technical education and edified university education in a manner that made others feel unsuccessful. They discriminated against polytechnic and/or technical education that is reputed to be more prone to expediency. Together, we created a society that celebrates academic qualifications more than the greatest invention of all ages as against what's obtainable in other climes of the World that prioritize skill acquisition and technical education which have to continue to drive their development. We were told the rationale behind the adoption of 6-3-3-4 was to allow the junior secondary school leavers to shift to technical education and choose a vocation for themselves if they so desire. What could have killed that lofty dream? The killing of that dream has left us where we are today. We only speak grammars that could not put food on our table or hold certificates that could not create jobs. The little jobs available are no longer sufficient to cater for innumerable applicants our tertiary institutions churn out yearly.
4. The way to go for us and the priorities to set and adopt for the post-COVID-19 world is skill acquisition, skill acquisition, and skill acquisition. It is interesting to note that whatever Nigerian youth determined to do, we do it best. No wonder, we beat academic records and set new ones across the shores. We are record breakers with an insatiable quest for knowledge. If the same zeal is directed to choice skill, then the greatness and development of our country are more than near.
5. The challenges of unemployment and underemployment that are dealing heavy blow on our youth daily and the need for us to be self-sufficient and be job creators instead of job seekers to have meaningful lives and contribute our quota to our State and National development informed the State Youth Council leadership decided to launch the Ogun Youth Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship program for all our youth to, at least, have one skill to pay our bills. In this scheme, young people are being trained and given free to start practicing after graduation. This we have done at virtually all the 20 local government areas of the state with verifiable records. The focused areas of these Skill acquisition programs are Tailoring, Hair Dressing, Soap Making, Graphic Design, phone repairs, Shoe and Bag Making, Makeups, etc As of today, the total number of young people who have benefitted from the program at State, local, or affiliate organizations level are, by the records in thousands. The program slogan is ONE YOUTH ONE SKILL, LET MY SKILL PAY MY BILLS. The second Batch at Abeokuta North local government commenced last week. Application forms are still at the Youth council office in the local government.
6. The zeal to develop our youth skills to pay their bills has also led us to initiate Ogun Youth Football Cup where talents will be discovered and integrated into State, National, and international teams. The memorandum of understanding of this will be signed today at Ogun State Youth House, MKO International Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta, in the afternoon.
7. On behalf of the State youth leadership and entire youth of our dear State, we sincerely appreciate the office of Special Adviser to the Governor on Technical Education ably led by our own Professor J.O Odemuyiwa for making it possible to celebrate this day in grand style with the training of hundreds of the youth of our dear State in different vocation ranging from Woodwork, A/C Installation and Maintenance, Phone Repair, Solar Installation, among others from Thursday, July 8 through Wednesday, July 14, 2021, at designated centers across the State. We can not thank you enough. The Special Adviser has also promised to make this a continuous exercise. Thank you so much for your interest in the capacity building of the youth of this State. Our history will be grateful to you.
8. This address will be incomplete without an excellent appreciation to His Excellency, our youth-loving Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, MFR for prioritizing the plight of Ogun youth and for making our voice and input count in government and administration of the state. We must also appreciate His Excellency for always appreciating and projecting the patriotic spirit of the youth of Ogun State. The Governor has also done another one for the youth organizations in the State which I will keep in the cooler for another day. We thank him and pray God continues to strengthen him and the energetic Commissioner of Youth and Sports, Dr. Oluwadare Kehinde who is our motivator and inspirator. We are proud of your sterling contributions to youth development. Your choice for the ministry at this time is never a mistake. We appreciate the Special Adviser to Governor on Youth Empowerment, Mr. Lekan Olude; The Special Assistant to the Governor on Youth and Sports, Com. Olamide Lawal and Special Assistant to the Governor on Youth Empowerment, Com. Biola Odetola, we thank them for their services to the youth constituency of this State as we pray for more grace of God in their lives.
9. While I urge our youth to continue to imbibe and exhibit the spirit of Omoluabi that our State is known for, I promise on behalf of the State youth leadership that we will continue to serve diligently for the vertical and horizontal development of the youth constituency in particular and our dear State in general. As I welcome you to this important celebration, Please, don't forget our slogan, One Youth One skill, let my skill pay my bills.
10. Igbega ipinle Ogun, ajumose gbogbo wa ni
11. Build the Youth! Build the Nation!!!
12. You're most humbly welcome.