Youth in Nigeria in desperate need of mentorship, says Emir of Zazzau

The Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Ahmad Bamali, said Nigeria needs leaders that will groom the young ones to be responsible future leaders of the country.

The emir made this known at a women's conference organized bythe Women Models and Mentors Foundation (WMM).

The conference has the theme "The Right to Participate."

"What we are lacking today is mentorship. You don't have to be a professor to mentor people. We should try as much as possible to impact knowledge to those behind us, especially, those that require some tutelage and technical know how.

"Entrepreneurship is very key; I am passionate about it, especially when it is an issue that relates to women."

"I am one of those blessed people that have girls as my children. I have four girls and a boy, so I can say I am a father of girls.

"We are encouraging young girls to go into entrepreneurship, especially those graduating from Islamic schools. We always tell them to combine western and Islamic education.

"It is not about getting a degree." A degree is just a sheet of paper. With the education that you have acquired, how have you applied what you studied?

"It is not about having multiple degrees; what have you done?" What can you do with your hands? That is what matters today—not to be doing things that will not even help you in your own home. We should always try to encourage the young ones, especially women.

"Yesterday and the day before yesterday, I mentioned that certain courses in the university should be phased out. I am an advocate of that. Those courses will not fetch you anything.

"Those courses mean that when you graduate from the university, you will only add to the increasing number of unemployed graduates."

"There is no point in going to the university to study something that will not be useful to society."

The royal father further encouraged young girls especially those graduating from Islamic schools to strive to combine Islamic and western education to excel in all their endevours

He stressed that entrepreneurship is the key and way forward to development, try and be employers of labour not seekers of white collar jobs.

He also encouraged people to go into farming as a sustainable means for families to cater to their needs.

In her welcome address, Hajiya Bilkisu Ibrahim, President WMM,said women are faced with greater barriers than men in the social, political, and economic spheres of their lives.

"This inequality has manifested into the denial of opportunities in all facets of life.

"The importance of having women's voices in socio-economic and political leadership positions cannot be overemphasized because they constitute most of the population."

"Women leaders have positively impacted governance and economic success, and they encourage other women to become leaders," she said.

Also, Prof. Hauwau Yusuf, Director Centre for gender studies, Kaduna state university while presenting a paper, pathways to nurturing sustainable roles in good governance said women should be encouraged to form cooperative societies at various levels for adequate and sustainable empowerment

She said the establishment of cooperatives will help them bypass the middlemen who exploit them in the distribution of their product.

"There is a need to integrate gender equality into plans and budgets," she said.

Amb. Fati Ibrahim in her presentation, said there is need to come up with policies and legislations that are gender friendly

She said denying women there basic rights to good living will not yield positive results adding that major should be taken to improve the self esteem of women and youth

On her part, Prof. Ladi Adamu, in a lecture at the Ahmadu Bello University, sought roles for women in the peace and security architecture of the nation.