Your Excellencies,
Diplomats,
Government Officials,
Head of Missions,
Head of Parastatals and Agencies.
Its been a long time coming. I cannot express how grateful I am for this opportunity and global trust. I stand before you, deeply touched and inspired by your generous words of congratulations and encouragement. With boundless gratitude for the confidence placed in me by the Delegates, and with an unswerving resolve to honor that trust, I humbly accept the outcome of the election as the President – General of this great Organization, our World Youth Organization. I wish to extend my deepest respect and appreciation to all the leaders and peoples of the Member States for their strong support.
I follow in a line of remarkable leaders. They had also faced this moment, each at a critical juncture in the Organization’s history. Like myself today, they must have pondered what the years ahead would hold at the helm of this dynamic institution. Each made important and lasting contributions to our common enterprise in upholding humanity’s deepest values and highest aspirations.
I appreciate the youth of every race, who believe we are stronger together, who devoted their life to have contested purposely to lead the cause with real plan to widen and decentralize opportunities to every single youth. I feel the energy in you just as good as in fellow youth out there. We battle together so we might have that race won. We all worked so hard to display all talent and strength necessary to champion the cause of our youth. I respect you all and I will always look out to have you in my team. I thank you.
Also of note is the efficacy and commitment of the transition committee that after all these years, they have never forgotten the responsibility of knowing who they are fighting for. They oversee the helms of affair of the largest youth organization in the world today, they embodied the spirit of service, thereby given the organization a global recognition we all enjoy today. I congratulate them for what the organization has achieved so far. I am confident that your experience would not be bad to share or work with and I also look forward to working with you.
I want to thank the electoral chairman, Davies Johnson and other officials who oversee a credible, free and fair election. Special Thanks to my Chief Navigator, The former President of Nigeria and the Chairman of Former Heads of state in the world, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who in his self-assessment discovered my competence for this position. The United Nations former Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon for his unwavering support, also former Secretary General, Koffi Annan for his diplomatic roles, and all youth ministers present. I want to thank my delegates who campaign from their heart among others and win the majority vote. I would not be standing here without the unyielding support of my family, friends, organizations and institutions. I love you all and you have all earn the victory. Above all, I will never forget the youths globally who this victory truly belongs to.
Fellow youths,
The strength of our youth has been tested by recession, all manners of challenges. We have experienced war and awful things but we always show to the world that we are strong, resilient. Our generation is full of energy and new idea. We are trying to get over our bad moment, but the worse moments keep coming. We found ourselves in such moment when youths have no courage to stay alive or rise up to their defense. When youths could not perform the task of primary responsibility due to low self-reliance and economic constraints. Moment when more youths are out of work and more are working harder rather to earn low life and income. More does not have shelter and even watch their value plummet. Also several dark moments full of factors that render youths un-productive and redundant. More youths un-avoidably could not do anything to get involved in democratic process or leadership role.
I will listen attentively to your concerns, expectations and admonitions. I am deeply honored to become the First African to lead the Organization, It is quite fitting that you have now turned to Africa for President-General to guide the WYO system. Africa is dynamic and diverse, and Africa aspires to take on greater responsibilities for the world. Having come so far and rising still, the region is living and shaping the full range of achievements and challenges of our current times.
The surge in demand for WYO services attests not only to the WYO’s abiding relevance but also to its central place in advancing human dignity. The WYO is needed now more than ever before. Because our challenges are not Governments entire making, but our failure to respond and tender our preference in the democratic process and politics of today. We are subjected to political violence, engaging in regional and ethnic conflicts in some parts of Africa. Violence against women and drug abuse in some part of South America. We are beclouded in racism by focusing on those things that could not bring us useful development and growth. Our failure to engage in idea that widens our scope and horizon of opportunity made us being unable to touch lives in the grassroots. Only a few could afford to rise up to the task of the 21st century youth and the rest of us compete in anxiety and sometimes withered.
Today I want to tell you that with WYO, enough is enough.
The WYO’s core mission in the previous century was to keep countries from fighting each other. In the new century, the defining mandate is to strengthen the inter-state system so that humanity may be better served amidst new challenges. From the Balkans to Africa, from Asia to the Middle East, we have witnessed the weakening or absence of effective governance leading to the ravaging of human rights and the abandonment of longstanding humanitarian principles. We need competent and responsible states to meet the needs of “we the peoples” for whom the WYO was created. And the world’s peoples will not be fully served unless peace, development and human rights, the three pillars of the WYO, are advanced together with equal vigor.
The road that we must pave toward a world of peace, prosperity and dignity for all has many pitfalls. As President-General, I will make the most of the authority invested in my office by the Charter and the mandate you give me. I will work diligently to materialize our responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of humanity and for the peaceful resolution of threats to international security and regional stability.
I know the importance of empowerment to youth with a good idea that can take a risk and start new businesses and employ hundreds of other young people. Recently I listen to my brother who started a Agri-business but shut down in less than two years due to lack of external financial support. I remember those youths who often put ideas together but remain un-materialized due to government or national policies not favor youth development and growth and I hear from majority of young people talked about difficulty of starting a new business or young manufacturers who could not afford raw materials. These are my people, intelligent young people I hold with high esteem and their stories develop my strength to have won the election. I will provide empowerment schemes and opportunities that will honor your hard work, creativity and innovation.
In order to meet these growing mandates and expectations, we have engaged in the most sweeping reform effort in the history of the Organization. The very scope of the reform has taxed the attention and energies of both the delegations and the Secretariat. But we must stay the course. We need to muster the human, institutional and intellectual resources, and to organize them properly. We should do our part in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, the expanding peace operations, the threats posed by terrorism, Unemployment proliferation, HIV/AIDS and other pandemics, environmental degradation, and the imperatives of human rights.
Let us remember that we reform not to please others, but because we value what this Organization stands for. We reform because we believe in its future. To revitalize our common endeavor is to renew our faith not only in the WYO’s programs and purposes but also in each other. We should demand more of ourselves as well as of our Organization. To cut through the fog of mistrust is going to require more intensive dialogue. We cannot change everything at once. But if we choose wisely, and work together transparently, flexibly and honestly, progress in a few areas will lead to progress in many more. Only the Member States can revitalize this Organization. But I will always be there to assist and facilitate as needed. We will invite and desire meeting with todays inventors and scholars, programmers, journalist, artist, athletes so they can develop our youth and help them learn new skills regardless of what they do. We will provide platform where youth can be inspired by other great innovators to new levels of understanding irrespective of their region, and field. I will show compassion to the life connection they needed to foster. This will be another way of delivering the psychological dimension of empowerment. We will in-cooperate organizations, institutions, NGOs for support and funding purposely to provide economic empowerment for youth in their various capacities.
We will provide legal aid, in form of free legal advice, discounted or even sometimes free to the youth communities. We will create and commission resource centers across the globe to enhance accessibility. The centers will run alongside with Global Youth media Initiative (GYMI) for greater outreach and to process information faster. The initiative will consist of team of expert mostly youths in Information Technology. They will be responsible for live streaming of WYO event, programs, activities and archiving. They will manage our empowerment data process and receive feedback from youths globally in order to bring them close and have confidence in the operations of WYO. It will bring us close to issues that concern our youth across all regions and to make youth empowerment go round.
Our centers will also provide administrative ability to respond quickly to medical humanitarian emergencies in those regions where youth faces endemic disease. The centers will enhance our penetration into regions to search keenly for human resources and availability of personnel who would feed us on the need to take action in form of advocacy, even protest as the case may be.
We will engage in program that can prevent or reduce youth violence. Other Empowerment program will be created purposely for conflict avoidance and resolution skills. It will improve ethnic identity and reduce racial conflict. Rights of sexual monitories and strategies for studying violence and methods of trying to evaluate it would easily be organized across the region so we can understand what works and what doesn’t.
These processes will be my guide, as I rally the Secretariat staff for our very best performance in serving the Organization. As your President-General, I am far from perfect, and I will need the unsparing support, cooperation and trust from all represented here. But I pledge to serve you well, with all of my heart and to the best of my abilities. I will seek excellence with humility. I will lead by example. Promises should be made for the keeping. This has been my motto in life. I intend to stick to it, as I work with all stakeholders for a WYO that delivers on its promises.
My heart is overflowing with gratitude toward my country and people who have sent me here to serve. It has been a long journey from my youth in war-torn and destitute Nigeria to this rostrum and these awesome responsibilities.
For the Nigerian people, the WYO flag was and remains a beacon of better days to come. There are countless stories of that faith. One belongs to me.
The world is a much more complex place, and there are many more actors to turn to. During those years, I have travelled many times around the world. I have been elated by the successes of the WYO in making life better for countless people. I have also been pained by scenes of its failures. In too many places could I feel the dismay over inaction of the WYO, or action that was too little or came too late. I am determined to dispel the disillusionment. I know that Government cannot solve all of our problems but we have the right to make them do those things which we cannot do for ourselves. Protect us from harm and provide every youth a decent education; we will make them invest in our tertiary institutions by providing adequate facilities. To build good roads and new science and technology. We will make them work with us and we will work with them. We want our governments to work for us, not against us. They must help us and not hurt us. They should ensure opportunity not just for those big men with the most money and influence, but for all youths who are willing to work. These are what I stand for and where my ideology lies
I earnestly hope that young boys and girls of today will grow up knowing that the WYO is working hard to build a better future for them. As President-General, I will embrace their hopes and hear their appeals. I will show to the world that holding our Governments accountable for what they can do for us, will be one of the core proprieties of the organization, to restore hope to the hopeless and the most vulnerable.
I am an optimist, and I am full of hope about the future of our global Organization. I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to the yearnings, and above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking our world a better place full of opportunities for all of us to become productive adulthood. . Let us work together for a WYO that can deliver more and better the only way it could be done to fulfill what defines us as the leaders of tomorrow.
Thank you for your kind attention.
GOD BLESS WORLD YOUTH ORGANIZATION,
GOD BLESS YOUTH ACROSS THE GLOBE,
GOD BLESS ALL THE CONTINENTS,
GOD BLESS NIGERIA MY COUNTRY.
