As part of activities marking 2021 celebration of International Youth Day, LEAD Transformation Initiative (LTI) in partnership with Kids & Teens Resource Centre (K&TRC) engaged youths in an interactive session to commemorate the day.
The event which was held at the LTI’s transformation space in Akure, with the theme: “Transforming Food Systems: Youth innovation for Human and Planetary Health”, the Executive Director, K&TRC, Folashade Bamigboye said lots of attention worldwide is now on youths and that the day which is set aside to celebrate young people offers an all-inclusive opportunity for them to be involved in addressing issues that confront the society especially the current food insecurity in the country.
Participants at the 2021 International Youth Day Celebration
The Guest Speaker, Marilyn La Ferla, the Director, GLAD International, USA, stated that it is important for youths to make the day count as her organization is interested in providing support for Nigerians who have solutions and need help to execute their ideas. Marilyn La Ferla while underscoring the fact that Nigeria has lots of potentials, said in her interactions, she has been greatly impacted and as such, Nigerian youths must rise up to the challenges, adopt technologies and innovations that will help solve food problems.
Also speaking, the Director of Programmes, GLAD International, Mr. Ayodele Taofiq-Fanida challenged the youths to begin to think outside the box and find innovative ways to solve food problems saying if nothing is done, by the time the world population hit an extra 2billion as projected, food will definitely become a problem.
One of the major highlight of the event was a panel discussion and sharing from his perspective, the CEO, K&TRC, Martin Mary-Falana said it was quite unfortunate that Nigeria, though richly blessed with abundant resources has nothing to show for both its human and natural resources. Mary-Falana while also challenging the youths, called for a change of orientation saying it will take a collective effort to birth a new system that will work.
The panelists at the international youth day
In his contributions, another panelists, LTI’s program manager Mr. Akinwale Olafare, while stressing that Agriculture is indeed rewarding, urged young people to venture into it not as a quick fix to their financial issues, saying farming remains one of the fields that guarantees everyday payment. He also used the opportunity to urge young people not to be discouraged by the challenges in the field but to explore opportunities along the value chain by entering the sector as a broker in order to understand the business process before engaging in production or cultivation. In his words, “Agri-business is not a sprint, it is a Marathon”, he stressed further that emission from mechanized farming, urbanization which competes for available lands for agriculture among others poise a challenge to the field.
One of the participants making contribution at the event
Some of the participants who spoke expressed gratitude to the organizers of the event just as they called for increased advocacy among youths to take up opportunities in Agriculture.
