OUR YOUTHS, OUR FUTURE.

(The Youths as Leaders of Tomorrow)

Presented By Uzoh Chisom Peace

Date :
His Royal Highness,(Title and Name?)
Our Eminent Palace Chiefs,
Our Esteem Parents,
Invited Guests,
Ineffable Youths of Obodokwu both home and abroad,
All Protocols duly observed.
I am Uzoh Chisom Peace, a daughter of Chief and Lolo V.C Uzoh, a Mass
Communication graduate of Babcock University, writer and administrator of
Diamond Words.
First of all, I will like to express my appreciation to our great king of
Obodokwu (Name?) as father of all us in the community for his great
commitment to development of this communication. My appreciation also
goes to all descendants of Obodokwu both home and abroad for their
passion to this community.
I also wish to commend the effort of the organizer of this great annual event
that converges all sons and daughters of the great community to discuss
issues relating to developing our community and nation at large.
I feel highly honoured and humbled to be at this programme highlighting the
importance of youths as related to societal development with my selected
theme as: Our Youths, Our Future.
Before I proceed, I want to quote from words of Professor Eyo Ita (National
Leader of the Nigerian Youth Movement, NYM, 1934) regarding Nigerian
Youths. He put it in this manner:
Youths in other countries are driving forward, building themselves and
their people, making their homelands beautiful, bright and stimulating,
raising them to higher, loftier heights. This is the day of the Nigerian Youth. It

must build a new social order, for whereas yesterday belonged to our
fathers, today and the immediate tomorrow is ours. We can and must shape
it according to our needs and desires. (End of Quote)
According to Proffesor Ita, Our dear Nation has come long way right from the
period of amalgamation in the year 1914, to independence in 1960,
transition from different military regimes and back to civilian dispensation.
This has in no doubt witnessed lots of challenges ranging from civil war,
pestilence, political instability, inconsistencies in government policies and
the rest. However amidst such challenges, it is undeniable that, we have
produced numerous heroes/heroines both dead and alive that stood their
ground to ensure that this great country continues to wax stronger in the
economical and infrastructural development.
This great people has done tremendous work which deserves continuity from
the people of the present age.
Why do we refer to present age people, the simple answers is that changes
obey laws of times and season? Taking for instance, there has been lots of
globalization through sophisticated technological inventions, state of the art
infrastructures, policy driven economy which has by far differ from what was
experience fifty years back.
It is in this regard that the agents for such agents are required and the best
set of category of people that can bring such changes to reality are
predominantly YOUTHS of THIS GENERATION

YOUTHS AND FUTURE

The fact that the future rests on the shoulders of the youths of today cannot
be overemphasized. They are vigorous, exuberant and hard-driving; and this
to a great extent saddles them with the responsibility of building and
managing the future. Speaking of the future, if I were to randomly ask,
where is the future? Very many will say or think in the direction of 3 years
from now, some 5 or maybe even 10. That to me is a convoluted ideology, a
fallacious belief that has successfully stalled our productivity. We are in the
future. The future is here. The future is now. So when I say the youths of
today are future leaders, I emphatically infer that the youths are expected
presently, at top rungs of the developmental ladder, assuming leadership
roles, actively contributing to the pursuit of excellence locally, nationally and
internationally.

What shape the future takes is determined by the step we take today. Malala
Yousafzai, the 17 year old Pakistani Activist for female education and the
youngest ever Nobel Prize recipient, who stood up for the right of all children
to education and suppression against young people, understood the
relevance of emerging change, fighting for a good cause whatever it takes
and struggling for the betterment of the larger society. In a bid to attain her
objectives, she was shot was by the Taliban in an assassination attempt, but
despite the severity of this plight, she remained relentless in her quest.
Through her persistence, her aims were not just achieved, but she is today,
referred to as the most famous teenager in the world.
A significant characteristic that induced a significant number of the American
populace to deem Barrack Obama worthy of the post of the 44 th President of
the United States of America, was his assiduity towards his community and
consequently achievements as a young adult. With a quest to better his
nation, he maximized every second of his youthful age, contributing to the
growth and development of his community in his little capacity. He worked at
various times as a community organizer, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer
amongst other capacities before beginning his political career in the late
1990s.
The ugly perception about the future is what stalls boiling effectuality and
liquidates inherent zeal among many youths. The ugly definition ascribed to
the future is what triggers too many inventions, only in dreams and mere
withering noble intentions left to reality. The ugly misconception about the
future constitutes agent for the prevalent inactivity among youths, finely
clothed in expensive excuses and procrastination. Where are the vibrant men
and women labeled youths, inherently saddled with the responsibility of
rebuilding the world? Where are the days of less talking, more doing; more
actions, more results? Where the crowned leaders of today, the Bible ares
tomorrow? How long shall we wait?
What differentiates Mark Zuckerberg, Pete Cashmore, Jeff Danielle Fong,..and
other great achievers under 30 from us is neither wealth nor circumstances,
but the zeal to make an impact in their world in the smallest way possible
rather than wait till later. That our backgrounds and circumstances may have
influenced who we are, we are solely responsible for who or what we
become. Identify and utilize for good, those things that many who have gone
down the line we currently tarry crave to have back, those things that
distinguishes us from our eldersour intrinsic palpable vivaciousness,
appearance, can-do spirit, vigor, ability to effortlessly acquire new skills and

find new values. Do not throw them into the garbage, else, much later, youll
realize the value of what you had. Do not preoccupy your mind with
achieving your dreams at a later stage of your life, rather, look in the mirror,
and see that success whose name needs be written in the sands of posterity.
While you listen to these words with emphasis on youthfulness, do not get
my assertions on adults and adulthood wrong. Adults do great things,
pragmatically, a host of adults top the list of high achievers in the world, but
this should not be an excuse to toss into the garbage, your youthful
potentials. The reason most adults render pep talk to youths about following
their dreams, thinking and doing not just thinking and waiting is because
they have grown to realize that most of what they achieved at their present
age, could have been achieved much earlier if they didnt postpone relevant
steps to the future. They have realized that waiting is useless - If you can
think it, you can do it if you want it done. Life is too short to ponder for so
long on how it should be done. What is the point of waiting when what could
be achieved at 62 could be achieved even better at 26? They have realized
that if they didnt defer pertinent actions to later, they would have enjoyed
more time with the later achievements. It is useless waiting for years to do,
only to finally do but with limited time to spend with that done.
Hary Wadsworth, an American philosopher once said, youth come but once
in a lifetime. This was further corroborated by another American philosopher
Dave Barry who said, You can only be young once; but you can always be
immature.
Distinguished youths of Obodoukwu, success is not absent in our community
as we are highly honored to have amongst our parents, an array of highachievers, worthy of emulation, who started as far back as in their 20s and
30s to jointly build the Obodoukwu we revel in today. Some of these esteem
personalities include; Dr. M.C Ihuonu, the current President of Oganihu Age
Grade; Pharmacist (Chief) Dozie Tony Ejieji (Nwanbunnia and President
General of Obodoukwu Town Union; Associate Professor M.U Ojua; Engineer
Uche Ngonebu of Airtel; Chief V.C Uzoh (Nwatakwocha-aka of Obodoukwu);
Chief Noel Chukwukere (Ihudike); Nze Joseph Ibebuoguto mention but a
few.
We are all blessed with distinct features. We all are on a mission with
something to offer. We all have stars instilled in us as youths waiting to be
shimmered through consistent hard work and determination. Can you feel it?
If you can, are you ready to utilize its radiance for your betterment and the

betterment of your community before it fades out? Would you rather remain
languid and dependent on our fathers and mothers to continually clear the
frost from our path in a bid to make our own future sweet and cozy?
Speaking from a national perspective, it is no news that our forefathers have
refused to step down. Those who we read about, who we were tutored about,
10, 15 years ago, are still possessed with retaining certain political positions
& in fact, are seen at several aspects of the country in desperate power
tussles. Worst still, we youths are somewhat relegated, left to ourselves and
our dreams. Do we wage war against them? No. That may trigger more harm
than good. Do we strive to better ourselves, our environment, our
communities and our nation at large in the many ways we can? Yes!
Our strength cannot be compared with that of our parents; we are way too
stronger so, this is the time for us to wake up from our slumber! Wake up
from our dreams and face reality! Wake up and be the vibrant soldiers we
ought to be and never consider quitting as an option. Wake up and take
responsibility for our current situation. Yesterday was the time to rest, today
is the time to wake up!
Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Tafewa Balewa and an avalanche of men
and women who fought for our independence, did that in their youthful age
and guess what? Even though the country is currently engulfed by dramatic
inconsistences, fuelled by unscrupulous dictators, we all are enjoying from
their struggle. Dont you want your children and childrens children enjoy
from your struggle?
Today, we talk of unemployment eating deep into our country whereas we
are blessed with natural abilities, intrinsic skills, sound minds to initiate
lucrative business enterprises in which we could be employers of labor,
proprietors of value, bosses of our own, successful entrepreneurs.
Lets be realistic, its quite impossible for everyone to be sovereign and at
the helm of affairs but if everyone make an attempt to be outstanding in
whatever role, then we can be assured that the future for us as individuals
and for our community is bright.
Imagine a world without beggars on the street; with more young
entrepreneurs and less unemployed idle graduates; a world without vile
wretches, pathological opportunists and criminals because everyone is
working towards development, carrying one another along and success is
perceived.

We are the future. What we do today determines how the future would unfold
and what shape it will takestraight, terrific and fruitful or rickety, agitating
and fruitless.
Magarette Tatcha once said, Youth people ought not to be idle because its
not just good for them. To this end, is there a need for youths to stand
upright and meet head-on with abject indolence, underdevelopment,
corruption, juvenile delinquency, peer pressure and discrimination of all
sorts? Is there a need for us to envisage a better future for ourselves, our
esteemed community, Obodoukwu, our country Nigeria if only we
communally work towards achieving it? Is there a need for us to quit goofing
off, accept and fulfill our core responsibility which is making our world a
better place? A big YES answers the aforementioned questions.

CONCLUDING WORDS
My Fellow Youths, Weve heard enough excuses from our past and present
leaders on issues concerning clearing the frost foreseen ahead of us in order
to ensure a bright future. Now is the best time for us to stand up to our
obligation, distilling those potentials already instilled in us on account of
the fact that if you ask me anytime, any day, who todays youths are, Id
proudly say, OUR very own FUTURE.
Long Live Sunrise!
Long Live Obodoukwu!!
Long Live Nigeria!!!