The Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari has identified the need for guidance of the youth to enable them overcome obvious challenges towards promoting peaceful co-existence and the resourcefulness of the Nigerian youth for national development.
He made the call at a One–day Youth Forum on Promoting Peaceful- Existence in Nigeria organized by the Agency at the Bwari Area Council Secretariat, Abuja.
Abari was of the conviction that if our youth are consciously cultivated and nurtured in right values and attitudes, they would grow up as reasonable adults, equipped to contribute to the development of our nation and also to global affairs. He said the youth constitute a critical segment of the society and without serious engagement with them there will be no meaningful development in the country. He said the youth are the engine that drives growth and development, stating that it is based on this premise that it has become imperative to guard and guide the youth against any act that is inimical to peaceful co-existence of our nation.
The NOA boss decried the current trend whereby youths are recruited and used as tools by selfish individuals in the society for personal political goals and ambition. According to him, NOA is committed to sensitizing and fully mobilizing the youth to continue to embrace peace for national development.
The DG NOA urged the youth to shun vices that will not guarantee a secure future by rejecting negative values and embrace our national core values as the present administration is committed to providing enabling environment for job creation and through Agriculture as alternative to white collar jobs.
In his remarks, the Director, Documentation, Translation and Publication, Davidson Aminu said the essence of the forum was to create awareness on the need for Peaceful Co-existence and also to educate the youth to shun violence and other negative vices for orderly society.
Aminu said the Nigerian youth have contributed significantly to nation building and rendered valuable contributions to the struggle for liberation and nation development as he said the forum was in line with the Agency’s mandate to sensitize the youth to promote peace and resist any act capable of destabilizing the country.
Present at the event were the Vice Chairman of Bwari Area Council, Alhaji Jafaru Ahmed, traditional rulers, representatives of security agencies and youth groups