…As BSN splash N10m, scholarship on NYSC Essay Writing Competition winners

By Emmanuel Elebeke – Abuja

Former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Prof. Jerry Gana, has urged African youth, particularly, Nigerians to engage in critical thinking to find lasting solutions to the country’s leadership crisis. He made this call at the 11th African Biblical Leadership Initiative (ABLI) conference in Abuja.

Gana emphasized that Nigeria’s youth must shun destructive acts that could plunge the nation into chaos and instead adopt cautious, creative analysis and thinking as future leaders. “Nigerian youth, don’t use your energy to destroy the country. Channel it into thinking and generating ideas that will propel Nigeria forward,” he stated.

“The real issue is not to use your energy in getting angry and abusing people and destroying things; that is not the solution. The solution is to use your energy to think, to analyze, and to bring out ideas that will project Nigeria forward,” Gana added.

He also identified “evil gatekeepers” as a significant obstacle to Nigeria’s progress, frustrating investors and hindering economic growth. Gana encouraged the youth to challenge these gatekeepers and promote transparency and accountability.

ABLI’s conference theme, “Leadership, Governance, and Nation-Building,” resonated with Gana’s message. The event brought together leaders from various sectors to discuss Nigeria’s development and the role of youth in shaping its future.

In attendance were notable figures, including: Dr. Sam Adeyemi, Founder of Daystar Christian Centre; Bishop Lawrence Bhekinkosi Leshaba, ABLI International Director; Reverend Dr. Kapoore Edwin, ABLI Nigeria Director and Past. Poju Oyemade among others.

Gana’s call to action emphasized the importance of youth involvement in governance to bridge Nigeria’s leadership gap. By harnessing their energy and creativity, he believed Nigeria can overcome its leadership challenges and achieve meaningful progress.

In his remarks, the General Secretary and the Chief Executive Officer of the Bible Society of Nigeria and organizer of Africa Biblical Leadership Initiative, ABLY 2024, Samuel Samuel said that the conference aimed at enshrining biblical principles in leadership. ‘‘You know, when you go through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, there are bad leaders, there are good leaders. So, each of us have the choice to make. Whether we want to be good leaders or bad leaders. We have examples to follow.

‘‘We have mistakes to avoid, we have principles to adopt if we want Africa to be great. I’ve studied a little and I discovered that Europeans became great today because some nations in Europe decided to be great.

“You see countries like China, South Korea and Japan. And today, the entire Asian world is getting it better. They are becoming developed nations and not developing. Like we are calling ourselves in Africa. Go to Middle East. You see countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar is coming up.

“And most of them now, they are doing well. And all of them want to go to Dubai now, which is the United Arab Emirates. Why did they change it? You may not call it Bible, but you call it God.

‘‘Because they use the principle, the policy, the idea of God in running their system. But in Africa, you see us, we are so religious. We go to church, we go to mosque, we do Fiji, we clap and we do everything.

“And yet, Africa remains poor in the midst of plenty. It’s the biggest moron. Anywhere you go in Africa, we have a lot of natural resources that will make Africa great.’’

“All these other nations, call it Asia, Europe, America, they come here, take away our resources and they are doing great with it. But here we are, we are suffering in the midst of plenty. How can we make our leaders go back to the Bible? Go back to the basis.

“Look at the way the developed nations practice things. All the things they practice, we find it embedded in the scripture. But in Nigeria, we talk much about God, about the Bible, about whatever, and yet, it’s not showing in our system.

“And that is why you see we are suffering in the midst of plenty. So this idea is born, actually, not by Bibles of Nigeria, but by African leaders themselves. What we call African Prayer Breakfast that was held in Addis Ababa in 2010.

“And after that meeting, it was resolved that we will have something like African Biblical Leadership Initiative to be done by the Bible Society movement. So the British and Polish Bible Society in UK started this idea from 2012 and has gone around some African countries. It’s the turn of Nigeria this year.”

The National Chairman, Youth Wing, Christian Association of Nigeria, Belusochukwu Enwere said, the programe was vital to the life of all Nigerian Christian, especially the youth, being the youth section.

He charged the youth to go home and propagate the gospel of Christ, saying, ‘‘The gospel of Christ is real. And I will not forget to say this, if you can see, I made mention of our distribution of the Holy Bible to the Christian community, the Christian youth, both in secondary schools and other churches.

‘‘You can say that the nation is already moving forward and the policies are right. And I’m telling you that the leadership gap already, the youth are beginning to feel it.’’

High point of the conference was presentation of the six finalists in the 13th NYSC Essay writing competition grand finale titled: Raising a New Generation of Transformational Leaders – A Catalyst for Social Change.

The winner of the competition was Judith Tsaaior, serving in Taraba State University scored 172.5 points with a cash prize of N400,000 and scholarship.

Davina polled 172.5 points to clinch second position and went home with N300,000 and scholarship, while 3rd position went to Tijani Mutiat with 170 points and went home with cash prize too.