Rewriting Youth Dev Narrative In Rivers

In the five years of Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike’s administration as the Governor of Rivers State, the government has continued to evolve very sound and focused policy initiatives capable of rewriting the negative story about youth development in the state and putting the Rivers youth on the right track for social, economic and educational development.
There used to be the erroneous perception held about a typical Rivers youth, in the not too recent past, especially with regards to crime, violence, cultism and gangsterism. However, the Wike-led government has continued to take proactive steps towards returning the lost glories of the Rivers youth through massive job creation, promoting free education, payment for West African Examination Council (WAEC) and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations for Rivers indigenes; as well as sponsorship of sports programmes and skills acquisition, etc.
In the Governor’s careful plan to ensure a vibrant and productive army of youths, he has remained committed to choosing established youth leaders and role models as commissioners for the state’s Ministry of Youth Development.
Only recently, Gov. Wike appointed Hon. Ohia Prince Obi as commissioner for the Ministry, with a clear mandate to drive the administration’s plan for youth development. Obi’s appointment into the ministry was greeted by youth leaders and groups in the state with great acceptance and enthusiasm, going by his pedigree in this area.
The current government’s approach to youth development showcases it as one that believes that youths are valued possessions any nation or region can boast of; without them, there can be no future because they are undeniably the centre of reconstruction and development in any society.
With a clear-cut vision to empower Rivers youth to become self reliant and socially responsible indigenes of the state and a mission to prepare the youths for present and future challenges to achieve socio-cultural and economic well-being for selfless service, responsible citizenship and effective leadership, the Ministry of Youth Development in the state, has formulated and commenced programmes/activities that are aimed at positively impacting the lives of youths in the domain.
There are clear signs that Obi’s appointment as commissioner in the ministry is geared towards restrategizing on new ways to rewrite the ugly narrative often associated with youths in the state to achieve the development of their minds. This explains the reason for the appointment of the ministry’s new helmsman with the conviction that the vision and mission of the ministry would be achieved and accomplished.
Speaking on the ministry’s agenda for the youth, the commissioner said that a lot were in the kitty for youths who would be willing to join the new order of peace, decency and pragmatic reengineering of youths under the Wike-led government in the state. He said the state government had lined up youth-development programmes and policies to ensure that the pride of the Rivers youth is restored.
The Commissioner, upon assumption of duty, gave assurances of government’s preparedness to harness potentials of youths in the area with particular emphasis on rewriting the ugly narrative often associated with a few of the youths who have unfortunately chosen the dissident path, which ought not define the larger number of responsible and productive crop of youths in the area.
Obi explained that the ministry would re-orientate the minds of youths through carefully designed programmes aimed at rebranding the youths and renewing their minds to enable them explore new frontiers in various fields of endeavour and help them discard the erroneous belief of acquiring quick wealth.
According to the Commissioner, the programmes lined up for the development of the minds of the youths would be in phases and would definitely showcase the best in them.
“The state government is poised to rejig this ministry and make it popular”, he said, adding that as the ministry saddled with the responsibility of building and guiding the youths, the youth ministry is critical in national development as the state of the youths is said to be a reflection of the society.
He also disclosed that the ministry has successfully carried out a 3-day in-house training and retraining programme tagged ” Repositioning the Ministry of Youth for global visibility” for staff of the ministry, which saw members of staff being trained in the core areas of youth enhancement to arm and equip them with requisite information, tools and abilities to be ambassadors of the new mantra, “rewriting the narrative”.
Staff members were trained in relevant areas like; focusing on the positives that, in turn, would produce personal and professional success, “Understanding the core mandate of ministry of youth development” without which it would be impossible to carry out the functions of youth development as is peculiar with the environment. There was also the topic; communicating and marketing the Ministry of Youth Development. By this, staff were taught techniques on how to positively project and promote activities of the Ministry as well as “Developing managerial effectiveness” which dealt vigorously with methods to apply in order to achieve maximum supportive supervision in any given tasks.
The Commissioner stated that staff training was paramount to the Ministry and gave assurances that more trainings and specialized trainings as well, would be done regularly to keep the staff updated and abreast with globally accepted standards in dealing with the dynamic challenges associated with youths in the state; bearing in mind that youth development involves not only the training of the body of the youth but also the tutoring of their minds for proper integration into the society for productive development.
While reeling out the development blueprint for the Ministry, Obi disclosed that efforts were underway to reintroduce the presence of Youth Officers in the 23 local government areas to ensure that youths in the various LGAs are not left out in the development agenda in the state.
Youth officers in the LGAs are strategically positioned there to interface with registered and recognised youth bodies in the area as well as carry out basic responsibilities like youth trainings and mentoring programmes aimed at improving the lot of youths in the grassroots. These local government youth officers will also be in a better position to interpret government programmes and policies as they affect the youths in the area.
One of the beneficiaries of the previous mentorship programmes organised by the ministry to build the capacity of youths in the state, Mr. Ikemenjima Dabasaki, who happened to be engaged with a multinational organization presently, gave assurances of his preparedness to partner with the state government in areas that would be of immense benefit to the youths.
Dabasaki said that he was proud to be one of the beneficiaries of the laudable programmes that the Ministry organised some time ago and that contributed a great deal in shaping his personality.
He also gave assurances of his willingness to give back to the ministry as occasion may demand.
Owhonda is of the Rivers State Ministry of Information and Communications.

Joy Owhonda