YOUTHVILLE ISSUE #127
Friday, April 21, 2017
08078068532
youthville@dailytrust.com
...young at heart
‘I’m working to become a renowned marine engineer’
By Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun
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Yes of course. I am not the type that would depend on my parents for everything. I am currently into small business, and the proceeds I have used to help myself in various ways. It has always been my dream to be selfempowered and that I preach to other young minds. What are you doing to affect other youth positively in your immediate locality? I am enlightening others to study this special course – Marine Engineering, because most of our people in Nigeria are not familiar with this course. Specifically in Katsina state, we are very few who can be referred to as Marine Engineers. In the next four to five years, I want to see many people studying this course so that my country will have more marine engineers and navigators especially now that government is mulling the idea of having a national shipping line. We need human capacity to drive the maritime sector and seeing that Nigeria achieves that will be my ultimate joy. What would be your advice to other young persons in Nigeria? For youth who are still unemployed like me, I urge them to wake up and find an alternative. They should never depend always on government or their guardians. I have often urged such persons to start-up businesses and pray to God for success because He alone grants success, but we as humans must demonstrate our quest for it.
Why I ventured into HIJAB business — Fatima Wh By Latifat Opoola @Latif @LatifatOpoola “Selling hijabs is not a b huge business in Nigeria because it is not a necessity for most people but the few that wear them like to look for good innovations and quality, so I offer them that,” Fatima Garba, an 18 year old business lady has said. Fatima started her hijab business, ‘Pinkdusthijabs’ told the YOUTHVILLE the desire to own h e r own hijab store
Peace group mulls training of 1,100 youth on ICT From Maryam Ahmadu-Suka, Kaduna
Ahmad Khalil Yahaya Bakori is a 25 year old young mind from Katsina State. He recently graduated from the College of Maritime and Technology in Alexandria, Egypt where he read Marine Engineering. In this interview, Ahmad spoke about his feats and ambitions in the maritime industry. hat motivated you to taking a course in marine engineering? I was motivated from what I have read about successful marine engineers. More so my decision was backed by my fervent prayers, hardworking lifestyle and being patient to attain success. What was your most memorable event during your stay in Egypt? I cannot forget the day I found myself at sea working in the engine room as cadet. We sailed from Alexandra seaport to Cyprus, and it was just loving and memorable for me. As a successful youth, what were your challenges during the course? Actually there was no challenge. The only one I could think of was that I missed my country home and Nigeria during my stay. In my educational pursuits, I have had course to miss my home a lot right from my primary education which was at a boarding school till date. What is your next move now that you are back to Nigeria? I am preparing to enlisted in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Insha Allahu. From thence, I hope to further my education while pursuing a remarkable marine engineering career. What I do at present is further study books related to my course of study while understudying the industry in Nigeria. Have you done any other thing besides studying?
The secret of eternal youth is arrested development. – Alice Roosevelt Longworth
stemmed from seeing successful hijab stores around the world like Basma K, and Hijab Loft excel and succeed in the business given the limited market for them. The 200 level, English student from Alhikma University started the business with roughly N30,000 late 2016 after learning and perfecting her skill watching videos from YouTube. “It actually takes a creative person to get into this business knowing how to pick the right colors and patterns,” she said. The young entrepreneur who still finds it challenging joggling studies with business confesses it is a very lucrative
business even with its specific target audience. “Not only Muslims patronize, I get customers from other faiths too. “I look up to my mother and sister and seeing that they are both into business I got inspired and making hijabs(veils) was what I chose to venture into,” she said. Fatima uses social media to advertise her product and she says the medium is very effective in getting her more customers. She therefore calls on youths to make sure they are committed if they want to get in to her kind of business because it has to do with a lot of sacrifice.
The National Executive of the Organisation for Global Youth Peace, Empowerment And Development Initiative (OGYPEDI) has said that it will partner with the Kaduna state government to train 1, 100 youth on Information Communication Technology (ICT). Speaking when the team paid a courtesy visit to the Kaduna state governor, Malam Nasur El-Rufai while on a 3-day working visit to the state, the North West coordinator of OGYPEDI, Ambassador Mark Patrick Ayasal who spoke on behalf of the National coordinator of the group Mr Japhet Omene said youth need to be ICT inclined to be relevant in today’s society. While applauding governor El-Rufai for his achievements since
assumption of office, he called on the governor not to relent in his efforts at ensuring that the youth are carried along in his administration. However, the governor who was represented by his commissioner for Youth, Sports and Culture, Daniel Amuze Danauta lauded OGYPEDI for its initiative and programmes geared towards achieving peace in the country, youth empowerment and the overall development of the state and Nigeria at large. He went further to thank OGYPEDI for the role the organisation is playing in championing peace, youth empowerment and advocacy for good governance. He expressed his ministry’s readiness to support and partner with OGYPEDI on various areas of developmental and capacity building projects.
186 applicants secure admission into Fisheries College From Nurudeen Oyewole, Lagos A total of 186 applicants who applied to the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology (FCFMT), Lagos have been admitted to study various courses in the 2016/2017 academic session. At the matriculation ceremony, the College’s Provost, Capt. Sule Abiodun Yusuf said the 186 admitted students represented 30 per cent of the total number of applicants who applied for places at the institution. “I wish to congratulate the freshmen for being able to gain admission to the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology. They are among the lucky ones who scaled through the Joint Admission and Matriculation (JAMB) admission processes as only about 30 per cent of applicants to this institution were admitted,” the Provost said. The breakdown of the admitted students’ figure showed that 127 students were admitted for National Diploma courses in Fisheries Technology, Nautical Science, Marine Engineering, Maritime Transport, Business Studies and Industrial Labour Studies, while 59 other students got Higher National Diploma (HND) in Fisheries Technology, Maritime Transport, and Business Studies. He advised the students that as youth who want to be relevant in the 21st century, they must be willing to learn, imbibe as well as develop every relevant and positive attitude. The Acting Executive Secretary of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Prof. Ambrose Voh also warned the newly admitted students from engaging in extraneous or peer group influences that may lead them to cultism, examination malpractices, drug abuse, illicit sex as well as other vices that may hinder them from graduating with their colleagues.
DAILY TRUST, Friday, April 21, 2017
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YOUTHVILLE
Exercise app: Athletes more influenced by peers — Report By Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun A new research of exercise behaviours of over one million people, yesterday, revealed that running could be contagious. The study, published in the Nature Communications journal said people could run longer, faster and more often if their friends used exercise apps and share data on social media. The United States’ Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers, Sinan Aral and Christos Nicolaides said 1.1 million people who used specific social media network were sampled. They had used fitness-tracking devices to monitor their running information over five years. They noted that the data contained daily distances, duration and pace, as well as calories burnt during runs undertaken by these individuals. Aral and Nicolaides stated that “when a run was completed, it was immediately digitally shared with friends of the runner.” The duo found that for every extra kilometre run by one person, his or her friends run around half a kilometre over what they usually did. They, therefore, concluded that “exercise is socially contagious.’’ Besides, the study suggested that runners are more influenced by peers whose performance is slightly worse or better than their own.
‘Why youth should engage in martial arts’ From Risikat Ramoni, Lagos Youth have been urged to engage more in martial arts to help them focus, shape their future and assist them to grow in the right direction. At a martial arts championship held in Lagos recently, the organiser, George Ager said the competition was organised to encourage students to participate in martial arts sports like Karate, taekwondo, kick boxing, kung fu among others. Ager who is also the founder of Mobility Arts Nigeria Ltd, a telecommunications company said, “Instead of going out and doing the usual things I.T firms do as charity, we decided to do something different by sponsoring a sport that people no longer give attention to.” International martial arts champion and Director, Jooda Prolific Arts Academy, Austin Jooda at the event noted that testimony from principals of schools where he coaches suggest that those students who engage in martial arts students came out tops in their classes. He said, “For you to train in martial arts, you have to learn how to focus on a particular thing. In it, there are still opportunities. Anyone who is good in martial arts also has the opportunity to become a military man,” Jooda explained. A parent, Amen Omoike, insisted she enrolled her children to participate in martial arts due to its intellectual advantage.
Typing without keyboard, next on Facebook By Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun Facebook is working to create a data input method that doesn’t rely on a keyboard, but instead allows the user to type directly from the brain, the company said at its two-day developers’ conference in San Jose, California. “In a few years’ time we expect to demonstrate a real-time silent speech system capable of delivering 100 words per minute,” or about five-times faster than a person can type with a smartphone, said vice president of engineering, Regina Dugan. Dugan also heads Facebook’s hardware research unit known as Building eight, which has more than 60 scientists and engineers working on the new keyboardless typing method. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the input method could, for example, allow users to send a text message or email to a friend without taking out a smartphone to type. Dugan referred to research at Stanford University, which has allowed a paralysed woman to type at about eight words per minute directly from her brain. But the current method requires invasive surgery in which an array of electrodes is implanted to receive data where the brain would normally control the person’s motor functions.
Group extols Lalong for organising Jos Carnival From Bashir Liman, Jos
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he Plateau Youth Peace Ambassadors (PYPA) has extolled Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau state for organising the maiden edition of Jos Carnival. The group in a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Comrade
Yahaya Ali, and the Secretary, Emmanuel Benjamin Utaji also said that the carnival has the vital ingredients and potentials to revitalize the Plateau heritage and above all sustain the peace enjoyed by the citizens of the state. The group also said the carnival would serve as an avenue of boosting tourism since Plateau is
among the topmost states where tourist attracted sites are naturally endowed. “As peace ambassadors it is our hope that, those from outside the state will now believe that, truly peace has returned to Plateau State, we therefore called on all investors and tourists to feel free to come to Plateau without fear,” he said.
Photographer tasks Nigerian youth on creativity By Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun An artist and photographer, Issac Emokpae has urged Nigerian youth to imbibe the spirit of hard work and be creative so as to achieve excellence. Emokpae told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that youth must be patient and think out what they want to do to be selfsufficient. He said: “Nigerian youth need creative ideas to excel; they should not dream of jobs that are not there.” The artist who also advised youth not to focus on material gains but on hard work, said, “When they work hard in life, they will help themselves and contribute to the country’s GDP.”
Emokpae studied Art at the University of Lagos but spent most of his life focusing on photography in fashion and journalism for clients. His clients include 234 NEXT, Tiffany Amber, Elan, AD Consulting and Nigeria’s leading advertising agencies. He has won awards including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) “Save Our Treasures” art competition in Troyes, France in 1996 and the Hasselblad Masters, Semi Finalist Award for Photography in 2007. Some of his works are “Autum Series’’; “Monad Series”; “Peace on Earth-1990”; “Exchange of our Treasures-2000’’; “Reconstruction in Reverse-2010’’ and “Body only-2010”.
AUN students sensitize 150 girls against violence By Chidimma C. Okeke Students of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, under the auspices of Women Against Violent Extremism (WAVE) has sensitized 150 teenage girls on how to avoid being used as suicide bombers or as agents for detonating explosives. The workshop which was organized for girls under the AUN’s ‘Feed and Read Program’ is in response to the growing cases of child suicide bombers in Nigeria and was led by security and counter-terrorism expert Dr. Lionel Rawlins and AUN Senior, Miss Amina Bamalli, a statement from the varsity said. Rawlins and Bamalli said Boko Haram terrorists are always on the lookout for young girls that they can indoctrinate and use as suicide bombers and warned the girls to be vigilant, to say NO and ensure they report any suspicious overtures and packages to their parents, teachers or security agents. “You must never accept or help to deliver strange packages from strangers. You must
value yourself and your life, you are important, you are somebody,” Rawlins said. He referred to a 2016 report by UNICEF saying one in every five suicide bombers is a child and 75 per cent of all child suicide bombers are girls as young as eight years old. The Boko Haram sect has resorted to using mostly female suicide bombers to carry out attack, it said. It is part of the Peer to Peer Facebook Global Digital Challenge –a global inter-university competition. Students registered in the competition, develop social and digital campaigns to challenge hateful and extremist narratives using the power of social media.
If you sleep in youth, you’ll cry in your old age - Sardinian Proverb