The Yoruba Youth Assembly (YYA), an umbrella body of Yoruba youth groups globally, has called for policies to harness young people’s strength in national transformation.
The group said this in a statement by its President, Mr Olarinde Thomas, on Friday in Lagos.
The statement said the group made the call while conferring an award on Mr Vishant Dalamal, Chairman/CEO MDV Industries Ltd., Lagos, an Indian industrialist.
It said the award was to celebrate the leadership and patriotic qualities of the industrialist who had made positive contributions to youths and national development as well as humanitarian service.
“As we struggle to stabilise education not only of certificates but of culture and discipline in Nigeria, it is wise and patriotic to invest in leaders like, Dalamal a man whose attributes are well known,” it stated.
The statement said the awardee thanked the leadership of YYA for counting him worthy of the Yoruba Youth Leadership Award and promised to continue to invest in YYA, youth development and nation building.
The statement also said the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Ltd. (IVM), popularly referred to as Innoson Motors, Mr Innocent Chukwuma, would be conferred with awards alongside three other notable industrialists on Aug. 11.
The others are: High Chief, Ifeanyi Chukwuma, founder/Chairman, Orient Global Group, Price Fuhad Oloto, Chairman, F. Oloto Construction Ltd. and Chief Clement Okeowo, founder, Gibraltal Construction Nig. Ltd.
They are to receive the YYA Award as Yoruba Youth Humanitarian Icons 2020/2021 and also be inducted into Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo Hall of Fame.
The group said the industrialists would receive the awards for their contributions to youth empowerment, Nigeria’s economic and cultural growth.
The statement listed the roles of YYA to include identifying and rewarding contributions to leadership, education, Yoruba Nation, traditional institutions and culture.
The group decried the effects of colonialism, which it said weakened traditional institutions and ushered in a political structure affecting the country’s history, culture, religions and economy.
It said the awardees, who were ambassadors of culture, were contributing their quotas to correcting the anomalies to uphold the nation’s rich cultural heritage and high moral values of discipline.
“As Youths who are the most active and vital force in the society; we are the most eager to learn and the least conservative in their thinking.
“It is, therefore, of utmost urgency that a frame work be put in place to harness and bring into full play the energy of our youths in the task of transforming our tribe and nation into a truly developing one. (NAN)