‘Youth ought to develop potentials not just build credentials’

Speakers at the Re-definers leadership symposium have encouraged youth to develop their potentials because they can lead Nigeria to the promise land.

The symposium, which was organised by the youth group of the Place of Refuge parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Oshodi, Lagos, held on Sunday.

Speakers at the event included Femi Emmanuel, a pastor and the convener of Youth Arise for Change Conference;  Oluwaseun Owikoh, writer and song composer; and Holiness Ekpe, founder of Lions Den Academy, a leadership training institute.

Emmanuel said the youth would become influential if they worked on developing their potentials rather than building only credentials.

He charged them to aim at taking over the Nigerian economy the way they had controlled the entertainment industry.

“The youths have the potentials to lead Nigeria to the promise land. They only require a push,” he said.

“They should also not use the failure of past and present leaders as a reason to stop their personnel learning and development. Rather, they should strive towards financial and spiritual independence by building on their potentials and becoming useful members of the society.”

He identified three major problems of youth development as unpreparedness for leadership, greed and wrong values.

Emmanuel said the advent of technology had made personal development more possible now than in the past. “Change will always give something to you and you should consider what you would give in return,” Emmanuel said.

On her part, Owikoh said leaders should be part of the solution by positively affecting the economy and creating an effective work plan to encourage the youth to realise their full potentials.

“We need to look into our performance management and reward system. A lot of organisations don’t take coaching and mentoring seriously. Training is very important, whether the times are good or bad,” she said.

“And for this to be done, we have to reset the foundation, build values and instill moral consciousness and discipline among our youths, then create an enabling environment for self-actualisation through various skills acquisition programmes.”