by Jewel Stephen

Golden Heart Foundation is set to host over 5000 youths at the centenary edition of national youth summit coming up on the 25^th to the 27^th of September, 2014 at the international conference centre, Abuja says the National Coordinator, Mr. Norbert Onaga.

Youths drawn from the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, will converge at the International Conference centre, Abuja, venue of the 7^th edition of the National Youth Summit. The convener of the event and Host is the President and founder of the Golden Heart foundation, Dr. David Ogbueli. This year’s summit will play host to youth leaders from other parts of African Countries eg. Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethopia, who have confirmed their participation and attendance. This gives the expression to the Pan African vision of the conference, of which Nigeria has always played a pivotal role.

It is interesting to note that this year’s National Youth Summit, takes place as our dear nation celebrates it Centenary. Indeed this year’s summit has been tagged the Centenary edition with the theme, GENERATIONAL SHIFT: THE EMEGENCE OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS. We believe no greater time exists for the entire nation to reflect on the gains of the past, and make a firm decision to inculcate the values, ethos and skills required for our Nations positive and progressive transformation, into the youth of our dear country, who without prejudice, are the future of our next century.

The summit will have in-depth plenary, seminar and workshop sessions covering but not restricted to the following areas:

• Peace studies and conflict resolution
• Business development and wealth creation techniques
• Social entrepreneurship development
• Leadership and change management
• The social media  and ICT

All the training seminars and workshops are entirely open for attendance to all youths in Nigeria, irrespective of their tribe, language and religion.

Nigeria is on the verge of the greatest transition it has ever experienced. That transition is the possibility of seeing the transformation of the youngest and brightest minds in our country today, to becoming patriots and nationalists; young men and women,   who will form the critical mass required to build upon the foundations of our great leaders, past and present, a nation which is driven by strong institutions and rich in strong values.

An understanding that a Nation is as strong as its human resource and their value system led to the formation of National Youth Summit to provide leadership education which is equipping the heart (character); head (intellect); and hands (skills). We focus on the personal development of the youths while modelling the right leadership path through mentorship; who in turn would impact the different spheres of the economy. We believe that the greatest driver for national Transformation is inculcating the spirit of patriotism, respect for moral and ethical values in Nigerian youths and that every Nigerian youth has what it takes to make a difference in the society because the power to transform our society lies within our ability and readiness to engineer change by equipping the next generation of leaders.

Further details of the event are available online on twitter – @NYSonline facebook – NYSumit, instagram – NationalYouthSummit2014, and the events website www.nationalyouthsummit.com.ng

The future of the greatest, most diverse, and most prosperous black nation on earth, is right before us, and in the hands of the youth of this country. Collectively, we all must rise up and seize the moment.

Kolapo Olapoju