Let’s have a basket of knowledge — Fadina

By Dayo Adesulu

JUNIOR Chamber International, JCI, is set to honour 10 outstanding Nigerians between ages 18-40 that are doing exceptionally well in their chosen fields, beginning with the unveiling and recognition of 30 nominees.

Speaking at the unveiling of the 30 nominees in Lagos, its chairman, Oluwafunmi Atanda said: “Today, we are unveiling 30 nominees for recognition, but we shall formally recognise 10 young outstanding people among them doing exceptionally well in their chosen fields in August.”

According to her, nominations from the public for the 10 outstanding people living in Nigeria or Diaspora have started. “If you are contributing to the growth of your community and also trying to put so much out there to save humanity, people should actually recognise you for what you are doing,” she said.

Business opportunities

Explaining the opportunities the recipients would have, Atanda said individual development, international opportunities and networking business opportunities are some of the opportunities.

Going down memory lane, she said: “We opened nominations for 50 days and ended the nominations on January 31 with about 1,817 nominations of young people doing well in their various fields across the country and also outside the country.

“Nominees were streamlined based on JCI values. We believe that faith in God gives one a purpose in human life, that economy and justice can best be run by enterprise. These nominees were x-rayed based on these values that JCI has espoused for 61 years.”

Meanwhile, one of the past winners, Prince Lekan Fadina, in his remarks said that his challenge to JCI was not just people applying, but what they do with those talented Nigerians.

He said: “I have seen some of the great things in the submission either in terms of economy and environment. To me, the greatest challenge to JCI is that we should not sit down and just allow them to go. My organisation will be interested in collaborating with JCI; we must get those people out of the number that have been able to stay down to 50. Are they going to go like that? Is their knowledge going to go like that? Can’t we get what I describe as a basket of knowledge?

“JCI must create a platform where all the thoughts and ideas of these young people are put together in what I call the basket of knowledge. It is then we can say that JCI has added to the development process in Nigeria.

We must have a programme to nurture discipline among the young people by instilling in them the spirit of patriotism, moral values, loyalty and family values.”