The Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Malam Ali Muhammed Ali, has urged Nigerian youths to be positive about their country.
Ali said this when he received on courtesy, the leadership of the Committee of Youths on Mobilisation and Sensitisation (CYMS), at the NAN headquarters on Thursday in Abuja.
Ali represented by the Editor-In -Chief (EiC), Mr Ephraims Sheyin, implored Nigerian youths to have faith in the country and be intentional in deploying their capacities toward making the nation great.
”Let the young people not focus on trying to abuse Nigeria as a country that is flawed, practically every developed country went through this kind of situation,’’ he said.
He said that youths in the country should be encouraged to deploy their talents and knowledge to accelerate nation`s growth, similar to contributions of youths in other countries.
He added that the move would enhance the economy of the country.
According to him, no country can make significant progress without encouraging youths to deploy their talents, as they have major role to play in driving all sectors of the economy.
He described youths as a strong force that should not be ignored because of their access to technology which exposed them to vast evolving knowledge.
The NAN boss said that youths should be empowered to access opportunities early through the provision of an enabling environment to develop their talents and leadership potential.
He assured the organisation of NAN’s support and urged them to continue to use their platform to inform and integrate youths to ensure inclusivity.
Earlier, Chief Obinna Nwaka, Director General of CYMS, said they were in NAN to seek its support in performing its duties of promoting government policies and programmes.
Nwaka said the programmes required peaceful coexistence and social cohesion for its success.
He explained that as part of its efforts to foster social cohesion in the country, the CYMS was organising a youth conference aimed at providing an interactive forum for youths.
Nwaka added that the forum would provide an interface where youths and leaders would deliberate on policy formulation which could foster mutual understanding.
According to him, the engagement of youths in policy formulation and other decision-making processes are crucial to ensuring inclusive governance.
The CYMS DG disclosed that the conference would also provide youths with the opportunity to be mentored to make appropriate lifelong decisions.
He noted that youths were the worse hit by bad governance, which could make them vulnerable to being engaged by crisis merchants, thereby stalling the process of governance and its attendant dividends
He also commended NAN for promoting peaceful coexistence in Nigeria through its reportage.
He further said that NAN had been a major advocate for peaceful coexistence, especially during electioneering periods.
”NAN always ensures that the country is not torn apart and the reporters are very professional in the discharge of their duties,” he said.
He stressed the importance of peace as critical for shoring up development in the country, which required concerted efforts from critical stakeholders such as the media to achieve. (NAN)
