Group tackles government over social welfare for Nigerians 

For Nigeria to become balanced and accommodate everyone, a group of Nigerians has demanded that the Federal Government must urgently put in place the process of a social welfare programme in the country. 

They argued that the efforts to mentor the youths to create employment and become useful to themselves and the country were becoming more difficult because of the grinding poverty faced by most of them. 

According to them, today’s youths and the unemployed are finding it difficult to face the reality of starting small, not because they don’t want to but for the fact that even the basic needs of life are not even there for them. Lamenting on the situation, organiser of NewAfrica Youth Summit and Mentorship Award, and author of the book, “Growing up in Africa: The Beauty of Unemployment,” Mrs Gift Chidima Nnamoko, said mentorship was becoming difficult specifically in Nigeria because the society lacks social welfare programme. 

According to her, “it also becomes difficult because when you try to mentor some people what they expect from you is money.”She said a number of youths in the country were failing in businesses in due to lack of sound mentorship, saying that they need father figure to see and encourage them through their investment or chosen career.

Nnamoko, who gave awards to some individuals, who have excelled in their various professions by being persistent and focused, said the programme was put together to identify with those who have struggled on their own to attain greatness in their career. 

She described mentorship as a process of followership, nurturing, grooming and tutoring. On her part, one of the book reviewers, Stella Asogwa, also an awardee, described the book as something good for the youths, saying every entrepreneur in the book had one challenge or the other. 

“The book will give hope to every reader to stand firm in whatever he or she does.  It is all about determination, power of the mind because every single person had gone through whatever you are going through in life. I recommended that the books be made available to schools,” she said. Speaking in the same vein, Apeh Iwodi said entrepreneurship is not just what “we do but how we think. Some people have keys but no doors. 

“Anyone who is about greatness at any point in their life should read the book. It’s not just about youths. You read stories about people who don’t just have keys but also have doors.”Commending the programme organiser, the Founder, Sublime Partners, a law firm, Enite Odebala, recommended the book for those that have already attained success, saying “like the fact that it was written from the face of sincerity and not the know it all attitude. 

“It encompasses all scores. Beyond knowing the how of doing things, there is also the why about the choice of doing what you want to do. More so, the book goes beyond just making money to include impacting on the society.”