By Ezra Ukanwa –  Abuja

As part of its contribution to drive development in the African region, the Ladi Kwali Foundation, has harped on the need for a rebirth in African culture and art works to advance technological development in the region.

The Executive Director of the foundation, Mr. Japhet Sha’agi Kineze said this at a Summit to honor the late Dr. Ladi Kwali’s luminous legacy, themed: “Rebirth of African Culture, Arts and Technology in Africa’s Development’, in Abuja.

The summit was also to mark the International Youth Day, IYD, and bring together young passionate leaders who are passionate about rewriting Nigeria’s history.

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According to Kineze, though the government, organizations, and individuals have continued to advocate for technological governance, we believe that in order to adequately address issues affecting women and youth, we must promote inclusivity, level the playing field, remove bottlenecks, encourage accountability for community growth, increase access to quality education, and then create platforms where these women and youth can fully explore, generate new ideas, and join force.

“Even in this current reality, I believe we should muster sufficient willpower to begin doing the right things in order to return to our misaligned world. We must see it as a challenge to reclaim Africa’s historical pride, to embrace a positive mindset Africa’s prosperity.

“This is an incredible opportunity for us to have an African conversation about how we can advance African development through arts, culture, and technology. This year’s summit is jam-packed with educational and entertaining content for everyone. We have participants from all over the world, the majority of whom are notable experts in their fields, CEOs, thought leaders, and important industry players”, he added.

Kineze, while noting that the country is plagued with a myriad of societal challenges ranging insecurity, among others, he said few interventions were deployed to tackle them.

He said: “Examining our community, this is plagued by insecurity, brain drain, poverty, an infrastructure deficit, and a high rate of youth unemployment. It is difficult to generate professional opportunities due to a lack of information, facilities, and interpersonal support.

“However, few targeted intervention efforts were being made to address these problems which he listed as: inadequate participation of women, youth, and prospective entrepreneurs in practical training, as well as insufficient assistance, stifles growth and keeps these women and adolescents from reaching their goals. Most are forced to leave and engage in regressive habits and behaviors that stifle societal progress.”

Delivering his Goodwill message, Former Chairman, Kwali Area Council, Hon. Ibrahim Daniel, pointed out that Nigeria has the required assets that could be geared towards wealth generation, advising the youths to leverage such opportunities.

He added that: “The world today is driven by modern day technologies and if you want to make it today you must be very creative and now that we have such assets how to convert them into wealth using the modern day technologies.”

Ibrahim, therefore, called on the Nigerian youths to view culture as a developmental tool to access the international community.

His words: “The challenges we have today is because of the idle mind, and we feel very strongly that there is nothing we can do. In every home, every person has a technological device that we can connect with and be creative with. So the youths should be inquisitive by being creative.

“We will upscale through seminars, through workshops and through community driven programs, so that the youth can be aware that they can be productive and they can make work out of it, they can be of good benefit to themselves and to the country in general,” he continued.”

MEANWHILE, Co-oganiser, Michael Akou averres that the summit was aimed at presenting ways in which technology can impact change for the betterment of people, especially the younger generation.

“We’re bringing technology to ingrain with social fabric, specifically arts and culture, also making sure that we could use the existing technology to create a bigger impact. It’s about how we effectively use technology to increase awareness to create value exchange.

“And one thing that we need to change now in this world is making sure that there’s a direct value exchange between people and the economy without gatekeepers, you know, intervention of centralized platforms that have taken all this value away from people”, he pointed.

Vanguard News Nigeria