Nigerian youths tasked on mindset development for leadership

As the world celebrates the International Youth Day, youths in Nigeria have been tasked to develop their minds and take advantage of the endless opportunities the nation has to offer.

The Chairman, International Youth Fellowship in Nigeria, Mr. William Kim, gave the challenge at the Annual World Youth Camp in Ikorodu, Lagos, as part of activities to observe the Day.

Mr. Kim said that mind education had become imperative for the nation’s youths, especially in the wake of the ongoing debate about young people taking their place within the political space.

The IYF Chairman, who is also a Missionary in Nigeria, stressed the need for youths to be exposed to the teachings of the bible.

“If there is sound mindset, they (youths) will be able to live good life, I am a Missionary, I ministered in Kenya for more than five years, I really want to lead people to Jesus based on the bible, the IYF mindset education is going to help us do that,” said Mr. Kim.

Speaking in the same vein, the IYF Director of Mind Education Institute in Nigeria, Mrs. Christine Oh, emphasised the need for future leaders to develop great dreams for their future, noting that Nigerian youngsters had great potential powers.

“We want to give youngsters in Nigeria the opportunities to realise their dreams; the youths here have great potential powers because of the English speaking advantage, I am from South Korea and we have only one language, we Koreans are handicapped in learning foreign languages, for instance, Korean students need up to one year to learn Spanish, but Nigerian youngsters need only two months to do learn, that is the power you have, IYF is in 99 countries, our goal is to send Nigerian youngsters to different countries of the world as volunteers to teach them English and even learn other languages because Nigerians have the advantage of learning fast,” Mrs. Oh added.

At a symposium organised for the teaming youths who converged on the camp, the Guest Speaker, Pastor Kwang Bo Rhee maintained that until youths in the country had fully developed mindset and consequently have change of heart, they would not be ripe enough to take their place in politics.

In the words of Pastor Rhee, who spoke through an interpreter, “we are not in difficulty because of the situation; things can become difficult because of the mindset that we have towards the situation; that is why we need to change the heart of the young people and help them develop strong hearts through mindset education.”

The Guest Speaker hinted that in Hong Kong where he came from, youths got into politics from age 18 as he affirmed that it would not be an aberration for Nigerian youths to be involved in governance from now.

A Youth Corps member who participated in the camping, Mr. Onayemi Oluwaseye, said that the programme should further be encouraged to help Nigerian youths ‘think out of the box.’

Mr. Oluwaseye lauded efforts of the National Assembly for considering passing a Bill that will give statutory framework for youths involvement in politics.

Another Corps member, Miss Badejo Victoria believed that the programme would open the minds of the nation’s youths to their roles.