Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on Nigerian leaders to ensure that youths are included in leadership and national development, stressing that they should be regarded as leaders of today, not just tomorrow.
Obasanjo made the call in Abeokuta on Saturday during the grand reunion and maiden lecture series of the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS), United Kingdom Alumni Association, Nigerian chapter.
Speaking on the theme, “The Challenges of Youth in a Fractured World,” the former president, represented by the Deputy Director of the Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute, Prof. Samuel Daramola, said leaders owe the youth truthful, transparent, transformational, and selfless leadership.
He described youth as a stage of vitality, idealism, hope, and adventure, noting that while the current generation of leaders once experienced such energy and dreams, today’s youth face tougher challenges in a divided and unstable world.
“Some of us were youths immediately after the Second World War. Most of you were youths at the height of the Cold War. The world was not perfect, but there was order and respect for international law,” he said.
Obasanjo observed that global stability and shared prosperity among powerful nations had given developing countries some breathing space in the past, but today’s youth face herculean challenges that must not be left for them to tackle alone.
He urged leaders to invest in the future rather than deplete resources meant for generations to come and emphasised that young people must be integrated into all aspects of family, private, and public life.
“Youth are not leaders of tomorrow, they are leaders today. Let them be part and parcel of leadership today in preparation for tomorrow,” he said.
The association’s president, Maj.-Gen. Oluwaseun Oshinowo (Rtd), said the Nigerian chapter was inaugurated eight years ago and continues to engage in discussions aimed at moving the nation forward.
“Our main aim is to tell the world that we are here and available for whatever they want us to do when it comes to strategic-level discussion and debate,” he said.
In his goodwill message, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama, represented by Mrs Abosede Awolola from the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, described the event as a forum for reflection and renewal among alumni of one of the world’s finest strategic institutions.
Maitama noted that the administration of President Bola Tinubu remains committed to a citizen-focused and economically driven foreign policy.
Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, represented by his Special Adviser on Security, Olusola Subair, said the breakdown of family values continues to threaten national development and urged stakeholders to help reshape the minds of youths toward productivity.
