Young persons need education, security to develop

Young persons have called on governments to provide them with security and free education to enable them reach their full potentials and contribute positively to nation building.

The young persons who spoke ahead of the summit for the International Day of the Girl Child at the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), were from 15 secondary schools within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

They had gathered to discuss the plight of the Nigerian child, especially the girl child.

Master David Austin, a student of Junior Secondary School (JSS), Wuse Zone1, Abuja, noted that lots of young people had been displaced across the country.

“Young people need to be encouraged, girls are being trafficked, and we have so many young people who are school dropouts.

“The government should make sure security is properly put in place to protect us because when there is no security, education cannot be achieved,” they said.

Miss Regina Igweze, another student from JSS Garki, Area 11, said that young people could be the security they deserve by ensuring absolute carefulness in all they did.

Igweze added that clamouring for change would not make any impact if the younger generation was not affected positively.

“When girls and other young people are careful in anything they do, they can cause the security they wish to see.

“We also need more to be done, it is not enough to dwell on change when much is not being done to change the situation for young people.

``Nigerian children require basic education because education is the key and has the ability to re-unite people,” Igweze said.

She added that the peace of the entire nation would be achieved if the citizenry accord each other peace in our various communities.

Ms Onyeka Onwenu, the Director-General of the centre, urged the young people to be focused and always believe in themselves to achieve their dreams.

Onwenu said that it was important young people spoke up on what they felt and what they wished the country to be when they became the prospective leaders of the nation.

She, however, urged them to speak up whenever they were meted with violence, adding that it will enable them overcome their fears and also soar higher in life.