by Sullivan Odumegwu
As a lecturer, part of my regular research strategy is to go beyond the University library and scrutinize newspapers and other internet resources for any modern trend that seems germane to the many topics I teach my students.
As luck would have it – just days ago, I stumbled on something relevant, a very good one concerning a certain Foundation (The Bridge Leadership Foundation) promoted by former Cross River governor, Liyel Imoke.
According to a Vanguard news report published on August 16, 2015, the Foundation had held a youth-targeted event in Calabar the previous day. This story immediately tickled my interest and I thus decided to find out more about the foundation. My purpose is to reference my findings, first as an exemplar for my students; and second as a gratis recommendation to former governors (and others) on how best they can contribute to society after public office.
Below therefore is the rest of this very unique story, as I gleaned from many resources, including Imoke’s public remarks.
First, Imoke’s thesis on the dearth of ‘sense of self-worth’ on the part of Nigerian youths is spot-on. So is the solution he offers. He was reported to have told the teeming youths in attendance that he was just ‘the average guy, the average bloke’. And that in school, was just an average student. But what made the difference for him and his string of achievements in life was that he was driven and knew exactly where he wanted to go.
He hit the point home that it was fear of failure that propelled him most to succeed. I tell my students the same thing, even though not in exactly the same words.
Second, in encouraging his target audience to look beyond government for their success in life’s struggles, Imoke had revealed that in the past six months, only 5,000 (five thousand) jobs were created in all the public sectors in Nigeria – by Federal, States, and LGAs. And that even the famed oil sector has not created any jobs in the same period. For effect, Imoke disclosed that the whole banking sector in Nigeria collectively has only 40,000 (forty thousand) employees in a nation of 167 million citizens.
As I lecturer, I did not even know these facts, and I doubt if many of my colleagues do, at least not in the minute details Imoke enunciated. Still, it is a very useful revelation that should serve as a wake-up call to Nigerian youths to look more to honing their entrepreneurial skills and gingering their sense of self-empowerment. So far, there are 13,000 (thirteen thousand) youth-beneficiaries. Now, that’s a tidy number, and it’s still counting.
Third, Imoke was not all talk and no action. He was reported to have promised publicly that now he’s no longer governor, he will devote all his valuable time to the arduous business of the Foundation. Of particular interest to him is the Foundation’s core mission of assisting youths on self-development of their innate entrepreneurial skills through the Foundation’s mentoring programs. Stressing that young people are the future, Imoke challenged them to look beyond mere political appointments and public office, and begin to take matters in their own hands.
So, as post-gubernatorial life goes, what Senator Imoke is doing with this Foundation is the sort of avocation I will recommend to our politicians as the best life or pastime after being in office. It’s better than again running for public office or attending to the private business of wealth accumulation – two very attractive but selfish options Imoke has disclaimed to instead pursue the passion of mentoring to Nigerian youths.
Sullivan Odumegwu can be reached by email.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
