There is hope for A better Nigeria -Emerging Leaders

EMERGING LEADERS FORUM OF NIGERIA

The Emerging Leaders Forum of Nigeria  is the most leading youth organisation in Nigeria having different youth leaders from various ethnic tribes and religion with clear objectives of ensuring sustainable development in Nigeria. The forum is structured with talented and intelligent youths led by the Forum's National Chairman; Hon. Godstime Chukwubuikem Samuel that have wholeheartedly sworn to the popular pledge of ensuring that the labour of Nigeria's heroes past never goes down the drain.

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Speaking to journalist at the official unveiling ceremony of the forum's blue print in Owerri the Imo state capital, Hon. Godstime had this to tell newsmen: ...Unarguably, Nigeria’s primary failure has been leadership. 

To lead a new conversation on government performance and citizens’ social reality, the Emerging Leaders Forum of Nigeria cannot overemphasize the subject of youth inclusiveness in all spheres of the political economy. 

The extant emphasis on the need for we the youths to be involved in politics is also to encourage participation in the policymaking process. Yet even now, there is a need for a new conversation or dialogue on the roles young people would be playing in this new dispensation.

As a forum, one task we have placed on our shoulder is to find solution to how young people can harness global opportunities that will engender development for the country as a whole. This dialogue would entail a new direction tailored to local relevance and global competitiveness, especially for young and emerging leaders.

It is for this reason that the Forum's Project to unite future leaders for the advancement of Nigeria will also educate, train and equip young people through symposiums to further complement the media advocacy on youths readiness to serve and lead which is directed at active citizenship and responsible governance.

The leadership crisis has gone on for long so much that ineffective leadership has become systemic in nearly every aspect of the national life. For this reason, the seeming consensus among the enlightened public that the country is in dire need of a reinvention which some aver would require a revolution in order to bring it at par with other realities is incontrovertible. 

As we approach the third decade of the millennium, there is therefore a need to take a critical look at the readiness of the next generation of Nigerians especially as it concerns leadership. How ready is the next generation? Is there actually a nexus between the present generation and the youth that could enable seamless political leadership succession as it happen in organized corporate settings? Has the Nigerian youth been rightly mentored, primed and empowered for leadership responsibilities? Are Nigeria youths ready for leadership? These are some of the questions that a team of experts and youths intelligentsia in this forum must bring to bare and fashion out possible Lee ways to give the Not Too Young to Run (Rule/Lead) Act of 2018 an effective teeth.

The Not Too Young to Run bill was recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari. With all the advocacies that heralded the law, very few are tempted to support youth participation in leadership. However, not a few people also have jolted us to rethink our assumptions. Some realists have argued that political leadership, just like any other form of leadership, requires more than proclamations and enablement of the law, and they reckoned that the Nigeria youth has not shown itself to be ready for this.

This is not an exercise in trading blames or cascading guilt. It is important to address this squarely. The first point would be to look at leadership, as obtained in today’s Nigeria. Leadership is not a title or a position. Leadership is defined as the ability of an individual or groups to influence and guide followers or other members of an organisation. It involves making sound and sometimes, difficult decisions, creating and articulating clear visions, establishing achievable goals, and providing followers with the tools and knowledge for achieving these goals; while at once playing high politics which more often than not, could be rough and dirty and do require investing ‘bags of money’ to manage the Nigerian way, including the servicing of ‘stomach infrastructure'.

Based on this definition, we can conclude that our past leaders have not fared too well in nurturing a sustainable political sociology that is inherently developmental or cultured. These are the values around which there is a conspiracy of silence which elders can ill afford to coach and mentor the younger ones on, leaving them to muster the audacity to unravel the dynamic as black box all by themselves.

Secondly, it is evident that what has been missing, among a few other factors in the Nigerian equation, is effective mentoring, especially in preparation for public service and roles. Effective mentorship affects and influences the processes and outcomes in leadership including succession. Mentoring produces leaders that ensure continuity and maintain the culture and values of the institution because such leaders have not only been taught but also groomed and nurtured. They climb on the shoulders of giants and therefore are far more effective and visionary in administration. Mentoring is not to be confused with godfatherism which is exploitative and destructive in the long run and self-serving. Unlike godfatherism, mentoring is a power free relationship based on mutual respect and value for both mentor and mentee. Mentorship is ‘earned’ by reputation and integrity of purpose.

Emerging Young Leaders Forum of Nigeria has eight (8) areas of concentration and focus for sustainable development of our country, Nigeria thus:

1. Leadership and Good governance (Politics)

2. Commerce and Economic Planning

3. Agriculture and Rural Development

4. Education

5. Industrialization, Empowerment and employment

6. Sports and Tourism

7. Health and Sanitation

8. Power, science and Technology

It is worthy to note that the Emerging leaders forum has young members of house of representatives, state house of assemblies, young commissioners, local government chairmen and commissioners, young entrepreneurs, lecturers, heads of enterprises and state and community youth leaders as her forum members.