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Ayodeji Thomas Adewunmi
Joined: Jul 8, 2002
Posts: 30 (view all)
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Gender & Age: Male & 28
Country: Nigeria
City: Ile-Ife
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Emerging Information Society
February 17, 2003 - 10:34 AM
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The rationale of youth involvement is not only different, it is intriguing, compelling, and exciting: Bill Gates, & Paul Allen were 19 when they founded Microsoft. Marc Andressen was 20 when he began work on Mosaic, the Internet browser that gave way to the World Wide Web. And down to our Philip Emeagwali who was 35 when he invented a formula that let computers perform the fastest computation work; an invention that led to the re-invention of supercomputers.
o A key demographic with unique problems
Young people are the greatest natural resources, bringing to task intelligence and creative energy in effecting positive change. Unfortunately, youth in Nigeria remain fully untapped and explored. Making them to assume an unforeseen status as End Users.
Ignoring that youth is different from adulthood contributes to the increased marginalization of young people from the Nigerian Society. Millions of young people remain unemployable, and moreover those employed suffer from the “hands” of low wages and poor working conditions. Sad to say, youth unemployment is expected to soar the higher in the next few years.
o Youth-led action
Youth are credible and effective partners when they are inclusive. Unfortunately youth in Nigeria have become a major vessel of violence and destruction; from Ife-Modakeke Crisis through to the Kaduna riots down to the Miss World Controversy they have been extremely proactive. Most Nigerian Youth are scared of what tomorrow will bring. They are perturbed and follow who ever plays the devil’s advocate; thereby turning to Political Thugs & Ethic Bigots. How to re-direct these actions remains the BIG question?
Despite all these, certain percentile of young people have played a prominent role in the campaign against HIV/AIDS, and worked tremendously in bringing positive change through various sustainable projects and initiatives. The Nigeria Information Society Youth Network is also providing cohesive input into the national preparatory process for the World Summit on the Information Society: A drive that will ensure the reflection of the Nigerian Youth’s dream in the emerging Information Society.
o Better leaders for tomorrow
Upholding human rights in every country between present and future generations is recognized as a fundamental base of sustainable development. Youth as future leaders of Nigeria need to be recognized as valuable contributors, encouraged and empowered to participate in the decisions taken today about the country they would inherit and pass on to the future generations.
Involving young people in this new dynamic and in all process of decision and policy-making develops their skill to become engaged citizens in the society. Meaningful participation in this new revolution will increase youth’s sense of belonging and develop their skills. Shifting public action from implementing projects for youth to providing youth with support to bring about this change on their own provides an avenue for entrepreneurship, the strengthening of the civil society, and a real sense of achievement.
o Youth involvement for better results
Involving young people in this new revolution is not only good public relations; it is good public policy. Young people do not expect to be given a perfect country instead they want to contribute to make it that way.
It is high time for us as young people to take the bull by the horns and exert force that will take Nigeria from this present inertia and launch pad it on the path of action and relevance. Remember, young people can be particularly powerful partners, mobilizing support and bringing time, energy, innovative ideas and a new perspective to the table.
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Laurent Straskraba
Joined: Dec 11, 2002
Posts: 237 (view all)
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Country: Austria
Province/State: Oberosterreich
City: Linz
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isn´t it ironic?
May 10, 2003 - 03:05 AM
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despite acknowledging what bill gates, lunis torvald and all the other young ppl were doing to the development of the computer industry and the emerging information society - there is still no big effort to support young ppl and let them participate in discussions where it should lead us to ...
it seems to me that power still is a "playground" for elder ppl who do not have much interest to share it with younger ones.
therefore, i believe that platforms like TIG/YCDO will have much more impact to young ppl - bringing them together, offering grants and opportunities.
thanks a lot 
laurent
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