… 2019 excos outlines six months scorecard
The President of Junior Chamber International, JCI Nigeria, Adetola Juyitan, has expressed the commitment of the organization to continue to partner youth-based organizations as well as corporate bodies including foreign missions to push the limit of youth empowerment and development.
Juyitan made this known while giving account of the stewardship of Junior Chamber International, JCI Nigeria in the last six months during a media parley held in Lagos on Thursday, July 18, 2019.
While charging the youth to rise to the occasion by getting themselves engaged productively, Juyitan stated that the organization is ready and determined to assist them to help nurture their innovative skills and talents into rewarding ventures through its numerous programmes.
Speaking on this year’s theme tagged ‘Act As One’, Juyitan noted that JCI Nigeria, as an organization, has designed programmes which are tailored towards enhancing capacity of the youth particularly on leadership and entrepreneurial skills urging the youth to take advantage of the opportunities.
Providing background on some of the programmes carried out by the present leadership team, the President stated that the organization has been involved in recognizing the enormous role of the youth who had distinguished themselves in different spheres of human endeavour through innovative ideas and solutions by designing initiative for that purpose.
“Today, we have an initiative or a program titled ‘Ten Outstanding Young Persons’ (TOYP) in Nigeria that we carry out every year to encourage people to submit nomination for anyone that they feel strongly have carried out great projects wherever they are.
Though they may not have been noticed by government but they are making waves in their little way.
“It is interesting to know that a lot of people that we know today such as Linda Ikeji, Rotimi Amaechi were noticed, identified and rewarded by JCI through this particular program. We had recognized the impact they were making even before the world got to know much about them.
TOYP is a platform that gives young people the opportunity to be seen while also opening doors of opportunities for them globally. Since we started the program in Nigeria, some of the winners have gone ahead to win at the global stage.
Two years ago, we had two people win at the world stage and last year, we had one person. We recently won 6 awards at a global meet in Mauritius”, he added.
She stressed that the organization would continue to seek support from well-meaning individuals and organizations to deliver on such responsibility, adding that it remains open to partnership and alliance that are geared towards making life better for the youth.
“JCI is an organization that unites all sectors of the society. In all that we do, we do our best to involve the government, those in the business community.
We try to cover that area in the course of the year. We have been able to sign up several partnerships. Some are still in the offing, some we have started mining the rewards and benefit. Of course, we have carried out several projects and programmes in the course of the year.
We have been involved in courtesy visits to traditional rulers, bank directors, multinational firms, heads of diplomatic missions all in a bid to seek support and partnership and other benefits for our youth”, she said.
While outlining some of the achievements of JCI Nigeria, Juyitan stated that it was gratifying to note that the organization has significantly played its role in creating a better society for the youth given the number of programmes that has been held to enhance their capacity since it came into being.
She stated that majority of the programmes organized by JCI Nigeria this year alone has had meaningful impact on the lives of the youth stating that it would continue to contribute its quota so as to help galvanize them to get more involved in productive activities that would improve their well-being.
She stated that the increasing number of young people now actively involved in governance through political participation was a clear indication that things are beginning to take a new shape.
Listing some of the upcoming programmes, the Executive Secretary, JCI Nigeria, Adeyemo Adeonipekun noted that the ‘advocacy program on electioneering’ as well as the ‘JCI story’ embarked upon by the organization are classic examples of projects which have had far-reaching impact on the youth for positive cause.
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We are planning to host International Youth Day which has been fixed to hold on August 20, 2019. There is also the Lady Mechanic initiative where we are expected to train as many members as possible. For us, we will continue to initiate programmes that cater for the need of the youth just as we have done on past projects”, he disclosed.
JCI Nigeria, an affiliate of Junior Chamber International which was founded 62 years ago, is a non-governmental organization that is committed to taking action and creating impact in the society. It has over 100 local organizations (both City and Collegiate Chapters) and over 5,000 active citizens’ membership base.
