Dec 9, 2007 - Rotary Youth Leadership Award 2007
It gives me great pleasure to join members of the Rotary family at this year’s Rotary Youth Leadership Award, a yearly event which I am informed is organised for the purpose of preparing the youth for future leadership challenges.
I wish to commend the District Governor, Rotarian ‘Somo Omoniyi and every Rotarian for your commitment to the ideals of selfless service to humanity. I also commend you and the initiator of this training programme through which our youths are equipped with the necessary knowledge, ideas and experience that will relatively make it easy for them to surmount leadership challenges in the future.
The compelling need for this kind of forum cannot be over emphasized for the simple and obvious reason that the youths of today are the mirror through which to a very large extent we can correctly discern what the future will look like.
In another sense, the quality of the youths of today and leaders of tomorrow is a true reflection of how well we have performed whether as parents or as a nation in discharging our duties and responsibilities towards the younger generation.
Today, the greatest challenge which I believe we have to face squarely is value reorientation among our youths. We need to inculcate in them the time honoured values of hard work, commitment, dedication and perseverance as the only guarantee for a long lasting success in life.
We need to teach them that self fulfilment and self actualisation can only be derived from an achievement that is based on honesty, sincerity, righteousness, dignity and the fear of God.
You will however agree with me that these values cannot be realised just by talking about them alone. We need to demonstrate by our actions both in private and in public that these values are actually desirable and rewarding. This is very vital because most times it is not what we say that matters but what we do.
To all the youths that are participating at this programme, I congratulate you for the rare opportunity that you have been given to learn and develop leadership skills. I enjoin you to take good advantage of this opportunity and learn from the experiences of the older generation. The future belongs to you and it is my hope that you will brace up to the challenge and do the nation and your generation proud.
Once again, I congratulate the District Governor, Rotarian ‘Somo Omoniyi, the Chairman of the organising committee, Rotarian Otunba Fatai Olukoga and the entire members of the Rotary family.
I wish all participants a rewarding and fulfilling time.
Thank you and wishing you all merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Her Excellency
Mrs. Abimbola Fashola
First Lady of Lagos State