This presentation was part of RCE Minna's Roundtable Discussion on Youth Leadership Development on 1st October 2017.

1. Nigeria;
Youths, Challenges and Solution
By
Isah Ibn Mohammed
RCE Minna
1st October, 2017

2. Let’s start with this!!!
• "No one is born a good citizen; No nation is
born a democracy. Rather, both are processes
that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young
people must be included from birth. A society
that cuts off from youths servers its lifeline" -
Kofi Annan.

3. At the Beginning
• In the year 1914, the Nigeria federation was
born; bringing the northern and southern
protectorates together to form one country,
through the instrumentality of an
amalgamation orchestrated by Sir Lord
Fredrick Lugard and sanctioned by Her
Majesty the Queen and the British parliament

4. • During this period, Nigeria had so much
promise. Active youth population, the
economy was steady if not growing too fast,
we had a beautiful reputation at the
international scene, added to this was a crop
of dedicated set of elites who were passionate
about Nigeria and their regions.
At Independence

5. HEAD OF STATES AND HEADS OF GOVERNMENT
SINCE INDEPEDENCE
Alh. Abubakar T.
Balewa Prime
Minister 1st Oct.
1960 – 15th Jan.
1966. Age: 48
Major General
Aguiyi-Ironsi, Head
of State, 16th Jan.
1966 – 29th July,
1966. Age:36
General Murtala
Mohammed, Head of
State, 29th July, 1975 –
13th Feb. 1976. Age:37
General Yakubu
Gowon Head of State,
29th July 1966 – 29th
July 1975. Age: 29
General Olusegun
Obasanjo, Head of
State, 13th Feb. 1976 –
1st Oct. 1979. Age:38
Alh. Shehu Shagari,
President, 1st Oct. 1979
– 31st Dec. 1983. Age:54
General Muhammadu
Buhari, Head of State,
31st Dec. 1983 – 27th
Aug. 1985. Age:41
MajorGeneral Ibrahim
Babangida, Head of
State, 27th Aug. 1985 –
26th Aug. 1993. Age: 44

6. Our Demography
• There are about 68 million Nigerian youths
and to put that in context, it is about twice the
population of Ghana; more than the
population of South Africa and bigger than the
entire population of the United Kingdom. If
the Nigerian youth population were to
constitute a nation, it would be the fourth
biggest in Africa and the 19th largest in the
world.

7. This is where we are today
1. Depressed Economy 2. High Poverty rate
3. High Unemployment rate
4. Endemic Corruption 5. Infrastructural decay
Crop of unpatriotic
elite and leaders

8. Let’s quickly look at our mates
• Indonesia 1945 from the Dutch
• India 1947 from the British
• South/North Korea 1948 from Japan
• Malaysia
Malaya, Colony of North Borneo 1957
Colony of Sarawak 1963
Singapore 1963
Cyprus 1960 All from the British

9. Youths doing great things today
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (May
14, 1984) is an American
computer programmer and
Internet entrepreneur. He is a
co-founder of Facebook, and
currently operates as its
chairman and chief executive
officer. His net worth is
estimated to be US$71.5
billion as of September 2017,
and he is ranked by Forbes as
the fifth richest person in the
world.

10. Adepeju Jaiyeoba
is an award winning entrepreneur, one of
2017 100 most inspiring women in
Nigeria, development consultant,
innovation expert, trained lawyer, public
speaker and maternal health enthusiast
passionate about innovation and creating
simple lifesaving solutions.
She is the founder of Brown Button
Foundation which trains birth attendants
and Mothers Delivery Kit which provides
ultra affordable sterile supplies for
women to use at childbirth while also
increasing access to quality healthcare
services.

11. Nasir Yammama
Founder Verdant Nigeria
He has Masters Degree in Creative
Technology from Middlesex University
London.
My career as an entrepreneur began
with a bang. I won a competition,
mentorship and business master class
with Sir Richard Branson in 2014.
Verdant aims at radically reengineering
and totally transforming the way we
practice agriculture using novel
technologies.

12. What can youths do?
• Youths must refuse to be cowed into believing that
they are irresponsible and incapable
• They must also show their responsibility by
championing good governance
• They must refuse to continue to take a seat back role in
issues that matter
• They must not demand for everything, let their
capacity show their capabilities
• Youths must refuse to be used as instrument of bias
and sentiment, they must
• Youths cannot demand for change and continue to
indulge in malpractices of all sorts, they must refuse to
have double standards.

13. Nigeria @57
• There is no gainsaying that Nigeria is not
where it ought to at 57 but certainly Nigeria
can do better, getting itself out of from this
competition of dwarfs, competing and asking
which one is taller than the other. Youths must
become agents of change rather than the
reverse. Youths must be the change we want
to see in Nigeria.

14. Let us end with this…
Isah Ibn Mohammed
RCE Minna

15. • Thank you for the opportunity
• Happy Independence Anniversary to
you all