Our political system is fast degrading. We have witnessed various displays of ill practices in the governments all over the world. God made man, man made money and money made man greedy. It is indeed pitiful that the lack of integrity is now accepted as normal. Tons of money is spent by the governments without much to show for it. So many things are going wrong. Our morality is losing its essence; our currency is fast losing its value, and our government plagued by inefficiency, greed and corruption.
The belief that youths could serve as good agents for development is fueled by the recognition of their strength, hence, their ability to make things happen. However, development doesn’t come easy; it proceeds from a reorientation of what really matters, a change in priority from excessive prosperity mindedness to posterity mindedness and from competition to “co-opetition”.
Before youths can become agents of development, they must first develop themselves. The ability to follow ones passions comes from confidence and self-acceptance, with these, youths can achieve more. The constant search for white collar jobs depicts an enormous lack of self-awareness among young high school leavers owing to parental advice. Development will be facilitated if our youths make career choices which suit their strengths and passions. However, when a person lacks passion for his job or his career, inefficiency breeds from the lack therefore leading to reduced productivity.
Every person is a team player in the world’s economy to an extent, you would agree with me that the establishment of more schools by individuals would reduce illiteracy among children just as the establishment of more business by individuals in the society would reduce the rate of unemployment, thereby reducing crime rate.
Youths can serve as agents of development if they can learn to solve societal problems, such as those already listed in the previous paragraph. One may ask how can the youths solve the societal problems? The answer is simple – through entrepreneurship. The ability to solve problems is an essential skill which can be developed by the youths.
Financial intelligence is in-expendable for the youths if they are indeed to be agents of development. Financial intelligence refers to ones knowledge of the workings of money, as well as ones knowledge on how to manage, multiply and keep ones money. With adequate amount of financial intelligence, the youths will be able to solve, hence making life a lot better and also making profit. Through the acquisition of financial intelligence the youths will be enabled to manage their income, leading to enhanced economic growth.
With financial intelligence in their possession, the youths aspiring to hold public offices will be able to manage the finances of their respective countries.
Finally with integrity, the youths will be able to handle public offices effectively. There’s just no telling how much the youths can achieve or how much development they can bring if they grow under the right tutelage as well as a good and nurturing environment.
The article above was written by Gershom Oghenemaro Wanogho, a 17 year old thinker and emerging entrepreneur.
African Youth Corner 