Posted by By Joe Kalu on
The Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Sir G.T.G. Toby has charged the youths of Nigeria to cultivate the spirit of brotherhood and inter-ethnic harmony....
The Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Sir G.T.G. Toby has charged the youths of Nigeria to cultivate the spirit of brotherhood and inter-ethnic harmony.
The deputy governor who gave the charge through the State Commissioner for Youths Empowerment & Employment, Barr Honourable Asita noted that Rivers State with its multi-ethnic status, accommodating people from different parts of the world will continue to encourage harmony among the different groups.
Sir Toby was speaking while declaring open the 6th Annual National Youth Festival of Arts & Culture (NAYOUFEST) taking place at the Diete-spiff Civic Centre, Port Harcourt.
He challenged Rivers youths to maintain their enviable records in the competition and lauded the organisers for their efforts in researching for more innovations to improve on the competition.
In his address, the C.E.O/National Co-ordinator of NAYOUFEST, Obong Richard Ekong noted that the youth festival was not intended to replace the National Festival, but serves a complementary role by focussing on budding talents.
He explained that when the country's rich culture was fully developed, it would not only create wealth, but also capable of replacing oil as a major revenue earner.
According to Obong Ekong, "the annual cultural festivals has equally taken care of miscreants and the so-called area boys".
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman of the occasion and former Rivers State Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Sampson Agbaru noted that the festival does not only offer youths the opportunity to show-case the nation's rich culture but also to interact and learn from each other.
Chief Agbaru who is the National Patron of Youths Organisation.
"There is nothing wrong for the youths to complain to their parents but the protest should be through dialogue and not violence, he said.
He challenged the youths to be obedient and learn fast in order to take over the mantle of leadership from the elders.
"The youths have a challenge of making Nigeria better than they met it", he noted.
Goodwill messages were received from partnering agencies among whom were the Director General, Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre, Abuja, Mallam Yusuf Adamu.
The Director-General who was represented by the agency's Commandant, Chief John S. Iwara, charged the youths as leaders of tomorrow to aspire to be more productive and useful not only to themselves, but also to the society at large.
There were command performances by the host state and Bayelsa. Dignitaries at the occasion included the Rivers State Commissioner for Culture & Tourism, Hon. Soberekon Dikibo and his Imo State counterpart, Hon. Inno Okpara and his wife, Special Adviser to Governor Odili on Youth Affairs, Hon. Flag Amakiri, National Secretary, NAYOUFEST, Mr. Francis Azuka, Director Youth and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youths Affairs and all the ten states youths leaders.
The week-long event tagged "Garden City 2006" with the theme "Building a Cross-Road of Cultures" is expected to host over 4,000 youths across the country.
According to a press release signed by the Local Organising Committee Chairman, Bethel Oko-Jaja and Secretary, Tamuno M. Osika, the event will feature competitive and non-competitive events including beauty pageant, cooking, drama, music and essay writing competition.