By Alade Aromashodu

As part of the activities marking the 3rd Annual Lecture of the National Association of Women Academics (NAWACS), BellsTech University chapter, students of the university have been called upon to be apostles and evangelists of the nation’s Transformation Agenda because as youths, they stand to benefit more than any other segment of the society, now and in the future. They need to ‘do the right thing to transform Nigeria’ into a secured and egalitarian society of our dream. These were the summations of Ogun State Director of National Orientation Agency, Mr. Emmanuel Olusola Babalola.

The director who gave the charge at NAWACS’ event, entitled: Quality Youths for a Secured and Egalitarian Society, reiterated that society should build quality youths via innate potentials in the youths that will be fully exploited and properly channeled through correct guidance, mobilization and full integration into the society’s social fabric.

On quality youths as apostles of transformation for a secured and egalitarian society, Babalola noted further that youths are not only a subject for policy development, they can and must play a key role in the design, elaboration, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies that concern them, saying, their participation in the affairs of the nation is not only a right but also a civic participation.

He went on: “They are the foundation block of the nation, the essence that makes the society to progress, regress, or digress. Societal problems are not caused by lack of resources to transform Nigeria, but lack of quality youths,” the director stated.

In his own submission, Prof. Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi, the Vice-Chancellor of Bells University of Technology, described NAWACS as a learned association engaged in the academic upliftment of women in Nigerian universities, adding; “The unique value of the contributions of the women extends beyond childbearing and managing the home front. Women are capable of carrying out academic research and contributing to knowledge which has informed the establishment of NAWACS in Bells Tech.

Continuing, Prof Adeyemi said the programme title, Quality Youths for a Secured and Egalitarian Society” was apt and very critical to moulding the lives of our young ones, noting, the egalitarian doctrine maintains that all human beings are equal in fundamental worth or social status.

In her own contribution, Dr. (Mrs) E. O. Areola of Centre for Foundation Education (CENFED), of the institution, described quality youths as those with formal education such as those in the university, adding, “education is the key to raising quality youths.”