Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode on Saturday urged youths to go all out and utilise their creative talents and entrepreneurial and social skills saying that it would not only impact on the economy, but also reduce unemployment.
Mrs. Ambode who spoke at the investiture of the Class of 2016 ‘Our Chosen Youth’ project, one of the initiatives of the La Roche Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 2013 by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, said youths who are the greatest human resource and change agents of the nation must take the initiative and make an impact on their society.
She commended the La Roche Foundation for recognizing exceptional youths who are already blazing the trail in the areas of community development, tourism, sports and other spheres of human engagement, saying it would spur others to follow suit.
Mrs. Ambode, who was represented by the CEO, Buttini Designs, Mrs. Bunmi Otusanya, said the current economic situation has in no small way impacted on the youth especially in the rate of unemployment, saying that efforts must continuously be made to get the youths to be productively engaged.
“I commend La Roche Leadership foundation for its proactiveness and forthright initiative towards liberating our youths from paper qualification enslavement. Gone were the days when the youths were referred to as the leaders of tomorrow, we must remember that tomorrow starts today and if not well planned and prepared for, we would suffer a great setback.
“Youths are the greatest human resource and change agents of our nation, your heroic contributions to making the change agenda a reality cannot in any way be undermined so you must be actively involved in the process of executing this change agenda, which is good governance,” Mrs. Ambode said.
She also urged them to take advantage of some of the initiatives set up by the government to nurture their skills, ideas and help actualise your dreams and aspirations, saying that the establishment of the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment and the Employment Trust Fund (EFT) by the present administration was geared towards that effect.
Earlier, Coordinator of the Foundation, Mrs. Mrs. Marina Osoba, said the event was a platform to honour 14 young people who have set up Non Governmental Organisations and initiatives intervening in issues as it relates to young people especially in the areas of education and training.
“It’s a way of honouring them and telling them well done. They cut across different parts of the industry, people in music, acting, comedian, people who work in education and youth development.
Speaking on the criteria for selecting the recipients of the award, Mrs. Osoba said, “First of all we examine the work they do for at least about two years, because it’s a bi-annual event. So for two years we watch them, access what they do, the target audience has to be children and young people, it has to be something that touches on education and leadership training. They have to be non-profit. They have to be actively involved in what they do that’s it basically, most of them are young people and they don’t really have a lot of money,”
Among those honoured include, Musician/C.E.O, Supersun Network, Bez Idakula, Founder, Project Build A Toilet Enterprise, Mr. Dhikrullah Gbolahan Agberemi, figurative artist, Mr. Olumide Oresegun, C.E.O, Fair Life Africa Foundation, Mrs. Ufuoma Ashogbon, Founder, PEA Foundation, Mr. Adedapo COnde, Actor and producer, Kemi Akindoju, CEO of Wave, Misan Rewane and Founder, Irilede Advocacy Network, Aishat Hussiain.