It was a convergence of different professionals with varied experiences on teenage mentorship and relationship in Lagos recently as Focus Teens Foundation hosted the 8th Edition of Teenage Career and Youth Development Conference.
From banking industry, security sector, teaching and other professional fields, security and industry leaders converged on 157 Gardens and Event Centre at Onipanu, Lagos to mentor teenagers, especially primary and secondary schools’ pupils, telling them what the future holds for them and how they could navigate their ways in life to achieve their goals and dreams.
It was indeed a potpourri of the leaders of thought from the Lagos State Government, the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force, Wema Bank PLC, Oando Nigeria PLC, among others, who came to the event, not only to encourage the scores of teenagers gathered for the five-day teenage and youth career summer conference, but to also mentor, grant them scholarships and empowerment them ahead of future engagements.
The teachers, security and industry leaders came together to encourage teenagers to build capacity by acquiring knowledge and practical skills, balance formal education with natural talent and make intentional choices that would positively shape their future in such a way that they are not only useful to themselves, but for the nation at large.
Tagged: “Being Young is an Asset 8.0”, several leaders of thought said “the theme speaks for itself. It’s basically trying to tell young people that regardless of how young you are, it’s important to know that you can take responsibility
“As a young person, nothing should hold you back and then you chase your dream and aspire to become whatever it’s that you can and do it as a young person without having to grow old to achieve those dreams.”
Speaking at the Teenage career Conference, Kazeem Olaonipekun, Executive Director of Focus Teens Foundation, noted that the progarmme had impacted lots of teenagers and youths in Lagos State and its environs as lots of mentorship, scholarship and empowerment had been undertaken to better the lives of scores of teenagers and youths.
Olaonipekun, who is the Convener of the event, explained what he passed through growing up as a child in Lagos, which he said, prompted him to establish Focus Teens Foundation and convene programme like teenager career youth development conference.
He said, “Every child deserves not only an education but also the opportunity to imagine a future greater than the circumstances into which they were born.It is with immense joy and gratitude that I welcome you all to the 8th Edition of the Five-Day Teenage and Youth Career Summer Conference.
“This conference is more than an annual event. It is a movement. It is our commitment to ensuring that where a child starts in life does not determine how far that child can go.As I stand before you today, I realise that it is impossible to fully explain why we do what we do in just a few minutes.
“Every year I discover another reason why this work matters, another story that reminds me why we must continue. So today, permit me to share just one chapter of that story. I had the rare privilege of experiencing two different worlds. Thanks to my parents, I attended some of the best private schools.
“Looking back now, I appreciate the sacrifices they made to give us opportunities they probably never had themselves. But I was also privileged to attend a public secondary school.
“That experience changed my life. I met incredibly brilliant students, students whose intelligence matched anyone I had met before. They had dreams. They had ambition.
“They had potential.What many of them lacked was not intelligence. It was exposure. When school closed, some students went home to private tutors, quiet study rooms, and parents who could guide them through homework and career decisions.
“Others picked up trays of pepper, vegetables, yam, and plantain because helping their parents survive came before homework. How do we expect two children with such different realities to compete on the same level?
“Some of my friends dreamed of becoming doctors, engineers, lawyers, and pilots. Yet they had never met one personally. They had no mentor to guide them, no opportunity to visit a workplace, no one to tell them that their dreams were possible.
“While I was dreaming about universities across the world, many of my classmates had never imagined life beyond the nearest university in Nigeria not because they lacked ability, but because they had never been exposed to a bigger world. Then something struck me.
“Many students in elite private schools knew about Oxford, Harvard, and MIT, yet some barely knew that our polytechnics and colleges of education existed as valuable pathways to successful careers.
“At the same time, many students in public schools had never imagined studying beyond what they saw around them. I realised then that opportunity is often determined by exposure, not by intelligence.
“And that realisation became the seed of what we do today. While I was still in the university in 2008, alongside one of my mentors, we began visiting public secondary schools to show educational movies. One of the first films we showed was Coach Carter.
“After every screening, I had one simple conversation with the students. I told them:”You cannot choose where you are born, but you can choose the future you want to build. “The brightness of your future is directly connected to the size of your commitment.
“Dream boldly. Work diligently. And let your actions be greater than your excuses.That simple message transformed lives.
“Today, that small initiative has grown into this conference a platform where thousands of young people can meet accomplished professionals, ask questions, gain exposure, discover opportunities, and begin to believe that their dreams are possible.
“To our government partners, corporate organisations, sponsors, and everyone whose vision aligns with ours, thank you for believing in this mission.
“Every investment you make helps close the opportunity gap for thousands of young Nigerians.”
But, for the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force, who were both represented by CP Fatai Tijani, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State and Brig-Gen N.I Abdullahi, former Commander, 9 Brigade, Nigerian Army Cantonment, Ikeja, Lagos State, catching the teenagers young would not only shape the future of Nigeria, but would also reduce the increasing rate of crime and criminality among the youths, drastically.
They both agreed that everybody, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, profession or political affiliations, must join hands together to train increasing number of teenagers and youths in the country in order to save the country from the crime, majorly committed by the youths.
Meanwhile, Adenike Agboola, the Guest Speaker, declared that quality and effective mentorship, empowerment and scholarship must be established and sustained for the teenage and youths if Nigeria, as a country, must get in rightly in pupils’ and students’ grooming and development.
“The Conference should help to let them (the teenagers and youths) see and hear firsthand from different people. You know, learning from different experiences of people that have gone ahead of them, would do a lot for them; it helps them to know that they can’t afford to be complacent in mediocrity”, she said.
Responding on behalf of the participants, Esther Samuel, one of the participants, said,
“It is more of a bridge that helps me at the other side of life.
“It made me realise how the journey of life can be and also made me realise that a moving man will surely meet his luck. Like academically and I can talk about financial aspect as well, it (the teenage career conference) has enabled me to become consistent and intentional about the purpose of life.”
Seyi John Salau is a BusinessDay Correspondent with interest in development journalism, which tells stories that connect the people, brands, and the government. SeyiJohn is also a media professional with BSc, Mass Communition (ACU); Masters of School Media (MSM, Ibadan) & MSc, Mass Communication (Caleb).
