Hashim Yussuf Amao, Ibadan
Years beyond recall, the advice and guidance that come with mentorship have always helped shape the lives of young people positively. Across academic, personal, spiritual, and professional lives, the rising need for youths to have mentors is deserving of attention. Unfortunately, many young Nigerians seem unconcerned about finding themselves worthy mentors, which has made many of them derail from good paths and ruined their chances of success in life.
At crucial stages of life when a single mistake – if taken wrongly – can make any young person slip off track, a mentor’s wise counsel on a wide range of topics from career choices to behavioral decisions to self-development, can help a confused youth rearrange his thoughts, renew his confidence, and get him back on track.
This need has aroused the curiosity of many concerned Nigerians, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who, at the recent graduation of the first 74 trainees of the Legislative Mentorship Initiative, asserted, “I have always said the lack or failure of leaders to mentor the young ones is the bane of society….”. It only remains to be hoped that more programs like the LMI, which will sensitize the youths on the need to have mentors, will follow suit, as this would be of great help to the lives of Nigerian youths and the nation at large.
With the aid of worthy mentors, young and inexperienced Nigerian youths would navigate through the challenges of young adulthood and adolescence easily by taking ideas from older mentors who are more experienced and have walked through some stages of life – while they also open doors of opportunities, internships, valuable networking, and connections to these youths.
At a time when atrocities like kidnapping, drug abuse, thuggery, and banditry are mostly perpetrated by youths, it has become pertinent to advise Nigerian youths to seek valuable mentorship from worthy mentors, as this will not only help combat these atrocities, but also better their individual lives.
Hashim Yussuf Amao
Twitter: @LegalBard
