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| African youth in the face of HIV and AIDS: Youth involvement matters |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
There is also decline in the values of hard work industry and discipline. Almost on daily basis students are inventing new means of cheating in examination, a situation that is rampant at all levels. Corruption is seen as a norm. The whole idea of getting rich quick, a value which negates hard work, industry and honesty also explains the rising cases of drug trafficking, burglary, rape and fraudulent acts and the rave of the moment –yahoo-yahoo, all growing into a definite system of youth sub-culture. With more than half a million African youth expected to die from AIDS by the year 2007, about 50% of African young person having no employment. A warning signal that must not be ignored by the nation if we are to have a truly brighter future.
The global community must focus on the more than five hundred million young people in the world, who are routinely disregarded when strategies on issues affecting them are drafted, policies made and budget allocated.
Young people need to be given a chance of speaking for themselves and taking responsibility of the issues affecting them. We must be made to be aware of our potentials, rights, and responsibilities. Inconsistencies in the adult world also account for a lot of the confusion, which the youth experiences, Take the case of a boy who sees indolence, bribery and corruption, cheating, sexual license and injustice, all moulding him everyday. Yet his parent, teachers, pastors and other adults are trying to make a saint out of him.
Because of the intractable economic crises in the world ,especially on the continent of Africa, the youth nowadays feel that society does not care about them and they too no longer care for it, consequently a large number of youths have taken to anti-social behaviors as mentioned above.
To be a social force for change in the face of challenges and failure of the nation’s leadership to offer meaningful opportunities for us to contribute to our world and future, we must get out of our trapped enclave of poverty, violence, diseases and increasing mortality rate.
We need to be empowered with the means of sustainable livelihood to become creative nation builders. This is because as mentioned earlier that the youths are society’s potential of growth and development. We are parents, workers and leaders of tomorrow. Meeting the development needs of today’s youth requires more than solving problem. It also requires investing in the potentials of young people and helping young people to prevent and solve our problems ourselves. Youth should be equipped by providing them opportunities to acquire appropriate technical skills, abilities and competence required to cope with the burden of tomorrow. To achieve this, we, as young people must take into cognisance the following;
l Type of association [friends etc]
l Clarified values
l Decisions make
l Assertiveness
l High self esteem
l Self motivation.
Youth in the world over should be more meaningfully brought into decision-making processes in their institution, community and organisation especially in matters that affect them directly. Thus the needs for participation and leadership development. We must break the wall of political /community participation by organizing ourselves even without the needed support. We must ensure that our voices are heard, our needs met and our rights protected. Tough being young could be tough, it is sure that the surest way to a better society is through the hope en kindled in young people’s eye. The society must understand, celebrate, respect and make good use of our potentials, energy and talents through our involvement in community development and politics. However, we must make ourselves a force to be reckon with, we must bring out innovative and creative activities that could help our generation cope better with the mountainous challenges facing us. One clear message though is; an investment in the future of young people is fundamental to achieving MDGs and other developmental treaties. It is the only sure way of having a saved future for all.
As young people, we have the right to make decisions, but we don’t have the right over the consequences of our actions. The choice is ours, either to build or mar our life/our future. The change start with us, we can only be the change we seek. We can either be a social force for change or social force for our own doom. Finally, in the word of Fredrick Douglas “our destiny is largely in our hands, if we seek we shall find”. Let us as youths reassemble our disposition, reschedule our consciousness and redirect our consciousness. Remember ,we are not just African youth ,but citizens of the world-Global Citizens.
Fatoki Taiye Timmy
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fatoki taiye timmy
Fatoki Taiye Timmy is a graduate of the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. Where He was a Student union leader, advocating for a better welfare for the Nigerian students, and seeking a brighter future for the nation’s young people, especially with regards to information on how students welfare are carried out. Fatoki Taiye Timmy is a follower of young people, he has led them in various capacities including being the chairman of the Best supporters Club [De-whoops] in any Nigerian University. Since leaving the university, and serving the nation through the one year compulsory youth service scheme [NYSC], he has been involved in outreaches, trainings and program implementation in adolescent reproductive and sexual health, STIs/HIV and AIDS and integrated youth development, including entrepreneurial /skills development for youth. These have earned him skills and experiences in health and youth development project design, implementation and design.
He has been working with youth-led and youth focused organizations focusing on sexuality health, child rights [especially the girl and the differently able child] and youth development in Nigeria, using rights based approaches through advocacy, sensitization, training and policy participation and related integrated approaches. As a result of his campaign at the national level for a better deal for the Nigerian youth/child-focusing on health, youth in community development [through participation and involvement], leadership development, volunteering, civic education and the rights of the Nigerian child, he was selected to take part in capacity building for youths involved in human/child rights issues in Nigeria [2003] representing the interest of the Nigerian child, reviewing the human rights of the Nigerian child for the better , sponsored by OSIWA west Africa.
Fatoki Taiye Timmy is a two times national Essay and Arts awards winner. He was also part of the final drafting of the Nigerian Youth Policy agenda in 2004, which is a document policy that takes full responsibility for the development of the Nigerian youth. In the same year Fatoki Taiye Timmy was chosen as a supervisor of the Nigerian National Youth Exchange between the southwest and north central states of Nigeria.An experienced child/youth Rights Advocate; a former senator of the National Association of Nigerian students –NANS [Africa’s largest association], and a two time national Essay and Art Award winner, Fatoki Taiye Timmy is a member of various youth coalitions and network at the national, regional and global level. Based on his experience and good knowledge of the issues affecting the African child, He has presented papers on the challenges face by children in the third world countries and the influence of global politics at both national [at various youth fora and higher institutions of learning] and international scene, most notably at the Voices of Africa-Voices of Resistance international conference at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and the G8 ALTERNATIVES summit held at the University of Aberdeen, also in the United Kingdom in the year 2005.He has also worked with some state’s children’s parliament to provide a better avenue for their advocacy on improving the child’s rights through better state legislation and adherence to policy formulated. With memorandum presented in two states house of assembly [Osun and Nasarawa state, Nigeria] in protection of the Nigerian child with references to various international treaties signed by the country that guarantees such rights, one state [Nasarawa state] has since signed it into a bill, while it’s in progress in Osun state.
Fatoki Taiye Timmy was a Project Supervisor for an International Youth exchange between Nigeria and the United Kingdom [Global Xchange], supported by the British Council, Voluntary Service Overseas and Life Vanguards.
Fatoki Taiye Timmy is a Program officer [Integrated youth development] Life Vanguards and the Editor Youth Alive magazine respectively. A foundation member of the of the Nigerian youth Social forum, of which one of our aims is to make sure that all Nigerian youths/child have the basic leadership training needed to become an effective leader through total youth development and participation. He is an Alumnus of the Africa Leadership forum Otta.FAtoki taiye Timmy is also Development analyst for the African Regional Initiative.
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Comments
Scary Easy Home Concepts | Sep 11th, 2014
Good post though...
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