By EricJames Ochigbo
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila has charged Nigerian youths on the proper use of the social media.
Gbajabiamila made the call at the 2022 Commonwealth Day celebration on Monday in Abuja, titled ‘Delivering a Common Future’ organised by the management of the National Assembly.
The speaker admonished youths to improve themselves in order to be responsible citizens that would contribute to nation-building
Gbajabiamila said the Commonwealth Day was celebrated every year on the second Monday of March to create awareness and understanding among young people.
He said that it was aimed at drawing attention to the Commonwealth in general and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) in particular.
According to him, the CPA is founded on the ideals of democracy, good governance and human rights.
“This demonstrates the need to mobilise the citizens through innovation and other means to combat the challenges of climate change, corruption, promoting good governance, gender imbalance and boosting trade.
“The idea is to regularly introduce you to these issues and sensitise you on the important roles you all can play in tackling some of these challenges.
“I encourage you all to use your creative energy to positively impact your environment; the future belongs to artificial intelligence and you must fully equip yourselves with relevant skills in addition to your regular studies.
“You must use the various social media platforms to learn and improve yourselves in order to be responsible citizens that would contribute to nation building,” Gbajabiamila said.
He added:“As future leaders, the future begins now and you must avail yourselves of these rare opportunities to play responsible roles in your immediate environment.”
The speaker said that the world was rapidly changing, bringing people closer and putting enormous pressure on the available resources.
He said it was important to collectively build an all-inclusive world where people would be fairly treated.
Gbajabiamila encouraged youths to become agents against bullying, gender violence and other societal ills.
The speaker said that such ills promoted discrimination and obstructed inclusiveness within the school environment and the larger society.
Also speaking, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr Amos Ojo said that young people were the supreme target for 2022 Commonwealth Day, adding that the future belonged to them.
Ojo urged youths to consciously work to secure their future by directing their creative energy and youthfulness towards addressing identified challenges.
He said that ‘delivering a common future’ for the teeming youths in Nigeria was a huge challenge as Nigeria was fast losing its youths to the obsession of wealth and fortune which had plunged them into diabolical rituals.
“Our youths now want to become rich overnight while some suddenly turn into living horrors to their pals.
“May l ask the question: what type of future are our youths looking at when teenagers and under aged children are incredibly involved in money rituals?
“What kind of future is waiting for our youths when the craze for sudden wealth has even over taken morality and Godliness?
“What future awaits a generation when its youths spend long hours chatting on social media sites yet the long hours wasted online on can be channeled to productive activities that can enable one acquire quality education,” he said.
Ojo said that over the past two decades, social media had gained so much growth and fame worldwide with the youth and teenagers being the leading actors.
According to the clerk, it is never too late to drag our children and youths from the jaws of certain identified destruction.
“That is one of the reasons the theme chosen for this year’s Commonwealth Day is timely and very instructive.This is therefore a wakeup call to all parents, religious leaders, school and the mass media.
“They have to all go back to the basics and courageously identify where we missed our ways into the jungle of barbarism that now violently threatens the future of the youths in our society as government cannot do it alone.
“l passionately urge us all to go back to our old ways of doing things; our youths must be counselled on how to fear God and love humanity.
“Social networking has been proved to have both positive and negative effects on our youths but parents should guide and advise their children on current matters like the usage of social media and warn them of its negative impacts when misused or overused.
“Nigerian education curriculum also should be reviewed so that it can include social media studies in its disciplines so as to guide students and warn them about the dangers of social media usage,” he said. (NAN)
