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IYD 2022
So who is a Youth, what age does youth end at? UN (without prejudice to other definitions) defines youth age as 15 to 24 years.
When I was in religion and denomination, youth meetings included up to 40 year olds 🤣

In Nigeria, when I was young, they said we (my generation) were leaders of tomorrow. Tomorrow refused to come because the leaders are my grandfathers ages (even as old as I am).
Our youth came and passed while we were waiting to be leaders.

Today our country’s youths are out of school, orphaned (many by insurgencies), poor but mostly hard working and intelligent.
Our governments at the three levels do not have sustainable Youth Development programmes. Youths are left without proper guidance (and/or counselling).
Many youths go through mental, physical, social, health, financial and educational pressures by themselves with little help from families that are able.

University Youths are at home as a result of unending strikes by academic bodies and impasse with the government.
Many youths are in orphanages, managing to go to school and live on handouts. The girl child youth suffers all kinds of degrading life such as abuse, period poverty, sexual (Ochanya on my mind), social and even institutional harassment.

Some other youths have been indoctrinated by religion and some societies that place one gender over the other (over the female), making some youths to engage in abuse of their peers, especially female peers.

I believe ( I have also read many publications that believe) that our nation’s progress is tied to the development, the quality and functionality of its youths.

The eroded value system of our nation (peoples and their leaders), lack of political will power to address our problems, corruption, excesses, wastefulness and overhead of “people in power” (legislators on my mind) need urgent “fixing” so that the nation can focus on development of its youth, economy and improve the overall standard and quality of life and living and also to achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

Today is International Youths’s Day, I have 3 youths and a soon to be youth, I was once a youth (and still one in my mind). I will like to see the 8 points MDG achieved because it will mean Development for our the youths in our nation (and globally).

Dear Woman, dear queen, dear mother, as we celebrate us today, please love that child that lives with you. Love that child you “took” from her/his parents- whether they are relatives or non relatives, paid helps or unpaid, whether you call her (or him) “omo odo”, “mai aiki”, “house help”, “au pair”, “nanny”, etc, remember she (or he) is born of a woman, she (or he) is created like you, she (or he) is loved by God, parents and others.
Some of them are younger than your children, yet they have to wash your children’s clothes and dishes, cook for them and make their beds- hmmm.
You take your child to hair dresser yet dandruff is eating away that child’s scalp.
She has no proper footwear, “jiga” is eating her feet away. When she (or he) falls sick, you still get her (him) up to serve your household- without taking her (or him) to get treatment. You even tell her/him to stop pretending and go sweep. She/he sleeps on cold, hard floor in your kitchen or dining area.
When she breaks a mug, you pull her/his ears from here to jericho- haba ma’am!
This is from what I’ve seen, felt and experienced.
Happy International Women’s Day. Let’s #BreakTheBias
8th March 2022