Two weeks ago, during
the grand reception
celebrating his 60th
birthday anniversary, the
Archbishop of Lagos, Most
Rev Dr Alfred Adewale
Martins, announced before a
mammoth crowd his deci-
sion to commence a founda-
tion that would be devoted to
the development of technical
skills amongst the youths in
our society. Tagged Arch-
bishop Martins Youth Devel-
opment and Empowerment
Foundation, AMYDEF, this
move is a practical response
to the glaring need to em-
power our youths to contrib-
ute positively to the growth
and development of our
society.
Such a move by the Arch-
bishop deserve applauds and
should be replicated across
board. It is no longer news
that government is incapable
of meeting the needs of our
growing population in terms
of job creation and provision
of necessary infrastructures
that would make life more
meaningful. Yearly, millions
of our youths graduate from
universities and other ter-
tiary institutions with no
hope for gainful employ-
ment. Many of the courses
they study only empower
them to queue in wait for
non existing jobs. Little
emphasis is paid on entre-
preneurship and practical
skill development. Frustrat-
ed, a good number of them
sleep daily at the embassies
in quest for foreign visas in
search of better life. Some
resort to crimes and oth-
er shady means of making
quick money.
No country develops with-
out paying attention to its
human capital. China and In-
dia are today playing leading
roles globally as a result of
the concerted effort they are
making in empowering their
citizens with the necessary
skills to excel in all spheres of
life. They are examples of or-
ganized climes that go to the
extent of sponsoring thou-
sands of their youths yearly
to other countries to learn
new ways of doing things.
They make available soft
loans and technical training
opportunities for upcoming
industries and young entre-
preneurs to use in creating
jobs and adding value to the
society.
To say that Nigeria is
blessed with very intelligent
young men and women is to
say the obvious. The record is
there for all to see. Our stu-
dents are usually among the
best in universities across the
world. Four students from a
school in Lekki recently won
an award at far away Florida
for developing an App. Un-
fortunately, the best univer-
sity here in Nigeria is rated
at about 800 in the world.
This shows that something
is drastically wrong with our
curriculum which has been
described as promoting copy
and paste mentally rather
than personal initiatives.
We believe strongly that
the future of Nigeria lies in
enhancing skill development
amongst the youths. The days
of just having certificates that
cannot be defended in prac-
tical terms are over. In addi-
tion to certificates, we must
encourage our youths to
embrace practical skills that
would help them become
self-reliant. From carpentry,
web designs, ICT, building,
fashion, baking, automobile
engineering, etc. The list is
endless. We must begin to
embrace practical skill acqui-
sitions and empower those
with the knowledge so as to
grow our today and make
our tomorrow better.
