My Unwavering Commitment to Nigerian Youth: A Lifelong Mission
The challenges facing Nigeria's youth are often oversimplified, reduced to mere issues of unemployment or restlessness. In reality, the problem runs much deeper and is far more dangerous. It stems from a longstanding failure by both the state and society to effectively integrate young people into the nation's economic, civic, and moral fabric. This failure did not emerge suddenly; it has built up over decades, manifesting today in widespread unemployment and underemployment, weak transitions from education to work, the normalization of shortcuts like fraud and violent crime, disillusionment with leadership, erosion of shared values, and the steady exodus of young Nigerians who see no future at home.
Most Nigerian youths are neither lazy nor criminal. They are navigating a system that frequently offers effort without reward, education without opportunity, and citizenship without dignity. This harsh reality has profoundly shaped my life's work. For nearly three decades, one conviction has guided me: Nigeria's young people are its greatest asset, and the country's future hinges on how intentionally we prepare, guide, and empower them. Every initiative I have supported, spanning sports, education, mentorship, entrepreneurship, and community development, has been driven by this unwavering belief.
Reflections on Vision 2010 and Historical Context
My name is often linked to the late 1990s, a period marked by intense political tension and national uncertainty. I do not shy away from that history. At the time, I was young, idealistic, and deeply concerned about Nigeria's direction. Like many of my generation, I believed the country needed a long-term, structured vision that placed youth at the center of national development. This belief motivated my involvement in mobilizing youths around General Sani Abacha's Vision 2010.
Vision 2010 was not perfect, and its political context remains controversial. However, stripped of politics, it represented something Nigeria has consistently lacked: long-term thinking. It aimed to plan beyond election cycles, align education with economic development, restore discipline and national purpose, and create institutional continuity. I believed then, and still do, that genuine implementation of Vision 2010 would have significantly addressed Nigeria's youth problem by embedding youth development within a coherent national framework, rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Unfortunately, Vision 2010 was never implemented. Instead, Nigeria repeated a pattern seen since independence: abandoned plans, shifting priorities, short-term programs, and policy inconsistency. Successive administrations, through neglect, incompetence, and corruption, have steadily worsened the youth crisis. We expanded universities without expanding opportunities, introduced youth schemes without sustainability, and spoke endlessly about empowerment while ignoring moral formation, civic responsibility, and family stability. The result is evident today: more educated youths, fewer meaningful opportunities, and a generation trapped between ambition and despair.
Decades of Practical Youth Development Work
As years passed, the politics of the late 1990s overshadowed much of what came before and after. Public perception hardened, and intentions became entangled with a turbulent era. That is the nature of history. Not every effort survives hindsight scrutiny; some are misunderstood, overtaken by events, or judged only through controversy. What has never changed, however, is my commitment to Nigerian youth. To understand my mission, one need only look at where I have invested my time, energy, and personal resources for over two decades—outside the political arena. I chose early on to focus on practical, non-political youth development with real-life impact.
Sports development has been a cornerstone of this work. I have always believed that sports offer young people more than physical competition; they instill discipline, teamwork, confidence, global exposure, and social mobility. Through youth tournaments, talent showcases, and training clinics, I have helped create platforms for thousands of young Nigerians. Some earned scholarships, others built professional careers, and many found structure, purpose, and self-belief at critical junctures in their lives.
Education and mentorship have been equally central. Over the years, I have supported scholarships, learning resources, training programs, and mentorship initiatives designed to help young people find direction. In a country where talent often competes with structural disadvantage, mentorship is not a luxury but a lifeline. Too many young Nigerians fail not due to lack of ability, but because no one guided them through crucial choices.
My work has also extended into entrepreneurship and skills development. Nigeria has millions of young people who may never follow traditional career paths but possess creativity, resilience, and entrepreneurial instincts. Through grants, workshops, advisory support, and community-based training hubs, I have worked to nurture these instincts into productive livelihoods. These efforts, quietly sustained over decades, form the true arc of my life's work.
The Evolution to Moral Formation and the New Deal
As I continued working with young people across Nigeria, a deeper pattern became impossible to ignore. Many challenges confronting Nigerian youths today are not merely economic; they are moral and social. I have seen talented young people derail their lives not for lack of opportunity, but for lack of guidance, values, and stable support systems. I have seen communities struggle with insecurity that policing alone cannot resolve because foundational elements—families, role models, and shared norms—had already weakened.
This realization led to the New Deal and its core programs: Parents Against Crime Together (PACT) and Youths Against Crime Together (Y-ACT). The New Deal is not a reinvention of my mission but its evolution. After years of working with youths, one truth became undeniable: sustainable change requires intentional moral formation. Young people do not exist in isolation; they are shaped by homes, parents, role models, and the values society rewards or ignores. Through the New Deal, my focus has shifted to prevention rather than reaction, rebuilding what has been eroded rather than merely responding to its consequences.
PACT calls parents back into active moral leadership, while Y-ACT challenges youths to embrace responsibility, discipline, and ethical living. Together, they reflect a belief I have held all my life: Nigeria's problems will not be solved by abandoning its young people, but by guiding them—firmly, compassionately, and consistently.
A Legacy Built on People, Not Politics
My story has never been about political labels; it has always been about people, especially young people. The early years of my journey unfolded in a complicated national context, and history will judge that era as it chooses. What matters now is the work that followed and the commitment that remains. I have never stopped believing in Nigerian youth, never stopped supporting them, and remain determined to do my part, as I always have, to help build a society where young Nigerians are not forced to survive by shortcuts but empowered to succeed with dignity.
Nigeria's future depends on how intentional we are about preparing the next generation. That is the legacy I have chosen to build, and the path I remain committed to.
