Appointment: Young Nigerian bags ambassadorial honour, diplomatic engagement

Appointment: Young Nigerian bags ambassadorial honour, diplomatic engagement

By Olugbenga George, Abuja

Youths in Nigeria are confronted with challenges across many fronts. A downward sloping economic situation, high unemployment rate and skyrocketing inflation, poor education,  among many others.

These have led many of them to engage in criminal and uncanny acts in order to earn a living.

While the government is doing its best to bring solutions to the protracted plague that has prevailed for several decades in Nigeria, the efforts seem not to be yielding expected results.

While many believe that the situation persists because politicians only pay lip service to the efforts of improving the situation, others opine that the rising population of the country is the reason why answers seem to be farfetched.

Whatever one chooses to believe however, the reality is that the plight of youths in Nigeria seems to be deteriorating on a daily basis, this has given rise to the prevalent security challenges, and the rise of criminal activities like kidnapping, banditry, armed robberies, theft, cybercrimes and the list go on.

Despite the ebullient deposit of natural resources in the land, Nigeria has a permanent spot among developing nations for over two decades, and a leading position among poor nations of the world.

An average Nigerian can easily be suspected to be fraudulent, criminal and uneducated once they step outside the shores of their country. 

We do not need a soothsayer therefore to explain why successive governments often frolic with other developed nations in search for Foreign Direct investment nvestment (FDI) which in recent years have yielded no significant fruits.

Despite these disturbing realities, some Nigerian youths have distinguished themselves by choosing a different path from the norm. 

They have invested their time, talents and resources in contributing meaningfully to their communities which has a larger impact on the nation.

Many of these youths have gotten both local and international recognitions, having been rewarded with impressive roles in decision making bodies at the national, regional, continental and global governance levels.

One of the few who has been distinguished in Nigeria is God-dowell Odogun, a driven and resilient individual who is highly enthusiastic about  making a positive impact on society. His distinguishing factor is his ability to not just focus on improving his own fate but that of many others in his community.

Haven realized the natural talent possessed by many young Nigerians in the world of sports, he went ahead to establish a football academy that sources raw talents in his community, he helps to fine-tune these talents through training and exposure to wider audiences.

According to God-dowell, engaging youths in sports will go a long way in curbing the use and addiction to hard drugs and provide a decent source of livelihood for them.

While combining this responsibility with his daily life as an engineer, programs manager and events planner, he has continued to set the standard for upcoming youths who only wait for the government to create opportunities for them.

In recognition of his selfless efforts to improving the quality of life of the youth and bringing peace to his community in the Niger-Delta region, Odogun was recently named as a Global Peace Ambassador. The certificate of award was given to him by Director-general, Global Peace Advocacy and Empowerment Initiative, Chief Dr. Badamasi Sadiq Ibrahim.

Sequel to his Ambassadorial appointment,  Odogun was also among the few who were recently appointed by the Office of the Deputy Secretary General, African Affairs International Society of Diplomats (ISD) to serve as the Travel & Event Management Officer in the department of Protocol, Travels & Event Management of the organization.

Reacting to the appointment, Odogun said the two roles are nothing but a stimulus that will drive him to continue to do more for the improvement of his community and development of Nigeria.

While promising both organisations that he would deploy every energy and resources needed to effectively deliver his roles to full capacity.