———Enewari Timi-ikio Tuesday



The National Youth Summit 2016 at Abuja, Nigeria may have come and gone but the indelible mark it left in my heart as a Nigeria youth and more touching as a youth from much talked about South-South region in the country.

The fun filled youth summit not only changed our perception as youths but grilled us to be transformers of the generation next which most viewed as bleak without hope and marked as a time to regret ills of the past.

The biggest moment of my sojourn at the Youth Summit in Abuja was not only the fun and pleasantries with youths of different colours, sizes, cultures, languages, across the 36 states and even those outside the shores of this country but my meeting with one of Northern Nigeria’s foremost youth, COMRADE ISAAC BALAMI was quite humbling.

He is the President of the Nigeria Aircraft And Pilot Engineers (NAAPE), the trade union that caters for pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, and flight engineers in Nigeria.

My expectations of the summit was in no measure surpassed all projected pictures with a three-day trilling resource packed sessions with unexplainable ambiance, all summed up in my reflections about a section of youths in the country.

BALAMI dressed in all white climbed the podium as a key note speaker did not only inspire young Nigerians about his humble beginning as a child in Borno State but resurrected dead hopes and at that point, I completely forgot which region of the country I came from, so my heart pressed on to meet ISAAC BALAMI no matter what it takes.

Though fickle at few minutes wondering what an accomplished Northern youth like Engineer BALAMI got to do with an inconsequential young man from the creeks with a lot of bastardized image. Not only did that thought hit me, the high horse South-South Youth leaders were riding on where sycophancy thrive and overshadow leadership responsibilities except few who could really accord commoners all their time.

Then again, for a second thought, I borrowed the “WARRI NO DEY CARRY LAST” spirit from my Delta brothers but in this case, “BAYELSA NO DEY CARRY LAST”. All I wanted was nothing else but to simply tell him;

"Sir, you spoke not as a Northern youth but a Nigerian leader who should continue in this same mentality without a second thought.”

Without much I do, I booked an appointment to meet him and in less than fifteen minutes, I was sited face-to-face with Engr BALAMI. I poured my heart out in few minutes about the perceptions between the North and South which has over showed every topic in this country and the need to maintain balance.

The young former Public Relations Officer PRO/Spokesman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), of Nigeria who holds the Aircraft Engineering License TB 9 Engine and Airframe, Pressurized Airframe, Gas Turbine Jet Engine Hawker 4000 New Generation Jet from the Flight Safety International, Kansas, USA smiled and nodded to my views. Not did Engr BALAMI offered all personal correspondence but have been in touch through text and whatsapp messages for the past 48hours.

Without ethnic bigotry, I categorically say, this simple and humble spirit is hard to come by from youth leaders in my region because unlike BALAMI who was with just a single aide at the time of our meeting, it takes courage, strength and God to pass through at least fifteen – twenty sycophants believed to be aides before you could meet and sit with an average youth leader in my region.

The National Youth Summit tells a story about a polarized Nigeria with wrong perceptions about each without realizing that, the key to upturn the situation rest wit us as young people, an example BALAMI has exhibited that need emulation.

Continue From The Part II Of This Article Tomorrow For More Revelations On My Experiences With Top Northern Youths At The Summit.

http://nextnewslive.com/my-experiences-with-top-northern-youths-at-the-summit-part-i-enewari/

Holla

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IykeChukz:
Holla

Why don't you simply become an Abooki and adopt islam and hausa language?

GUO luxurious bus traveks to Borno every night and it is cheap.

Doghari:
Why don't you simply become an Abooki and adopt islam and hausa language?

GUO luxurious bus traveks to Borno every night and it is cheap.

Sigh, Smh