Kwara South: KWAYORG rallies youth for developmentdevelopment


By Rowland Olonishuwa


There is no denying the fact that youths are the vessel through which a people preserve their heritage, values and belief system.

This was reinforced yesterday when members of Kwara South Youth Development Organization (KWAYORG) led by its president, Barrister Joseph Titilope Akogun paid a courtesy visit to the Editor of The Herald, Mr. Yomi Adeboye.

The leader of the team, Barrister Akogun informed the Editor that KWAYORG intends to host a youth conference which will help to resuscitate the lost values of the people of Kwara South.

He explained that the organization is focussed on promoting the culture and values of the people of Kwara South and also reorientation and empowerment of the youth.

The group, he explained, “seeks to work with government and non-government institutions to create jobs for our youth, create wealth and exploree our great resources and also how to showcase Kwara South to the world.”

According to him, 350 youths cutting across the seven local government areas from Kwara South are expected to attend the event.

"In this part of the world, empowerment has been bastardized and politicized so much that it has lost its meaning. This is why beneficiaries of such empowerment sell whatever they are given because they don't have the financial discipline needed.

"Our graduates lack the requisite skills to make them employable and this has contributed greatly to the unemployment rate in the country.

"We want to prepare our youths to be employable. Being an okada rider is not just the solution to unemployment. Our youths can be better equipped for the needed glorious future that we need in Kwara South," he said.

Bar. Akogun lamented that training institutes in the South of the state have gone moribund and the structures are wasting and dilapidated.

He explained that there is need to inculcate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in some corporate institutions in Kwara South.

"We need to encourage the few companies in Kwara South to give back to the society."

Expressing joy over the visit, Adeboye lamented the dearth of infrastructure in Kwara South stressing that "there is need to go back to the beginning, to inculcate in our people the virtues of hard work and merit.

"From what you have said so far, I'm happy we have youths thinking of tomorrow. The practice when we were growing up was that indigenes of Kwara South who were in the Diaspora would bring their children home every festive season and holidays but nowadays most young ones don't even know their places of origin.

"And once we were old enough to go to school, our parents would bring us back home to live with our kith and kin.

"Once you are alienated from your culture and values you begin to lose a lot. And this is affecting our youths."

The Editor noted that allowing the young ones to go home often ensures they remain attached to their roots and the values and morals of the people.

He described the people of Kwara South as a people that practice communal development and self help tremendously, explaining that there is need to return back to the ways of their forebears.

"Our people were well known for community self-help, we didn't rely on government for anything. When we were growing up there were industries and factories around Kwara South, we had the Oro Bicycle industry, a candle industry at Okerimi-Oro, Okin Breweries, Okin Biscuits, Garment factory at Esie, Sahara Safari (a commercial farm) at Esie and so many others.

"Unfortunately, all these are closed down and become relics of the once glorious past," he said.

On the teething unemployment currently facing the country, Adeboye lamented that, "Our problem is not just that of unemployment. We have unemployable graduates and that is much more grievous. We need to help our people to acquire skills and we need to start somewhere."

While assuring the delegation of his hundred percent support, Adeboye urged them not to relent in the laudable project they have embarked upon.

He pointed out that the group had embarked upon a thankless task stressing that the development of the area should not be left to politicians or the government alone.

Others on the entourage of the president include Olutosin Olamide Bello, Director of Strategy and Policy and Abidoye Sofiyyah Titilope, the Assistant General Secretary of the organization