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OSCA WOVEN WORDS COMPETITION – MARIAM HAMZAT

“Imagination gives birth to things unknown but the writer’s pen turns them into shapes and gives to them living breaths.”

ALSO READ: BOWEN WOVEN WORDS COMPETITION WAS A HUGE SUCCESS

The 2018 OSCA WOVEN WORDS COMPETITION was organized by My Woven Words and it was only for undergraduates of tertiary institutions in Osun State as approved by the ministry of education, Osun state. There were Terms and Conditions for contestants.

OSCA Woven Words Competition remains the “first-of-its-kind” and “one-of-its-kind” in Osun state, Nigeria. To avoid Conflicts of Interest, we reached out to a number of unbiased scholars in a university outside Osun State to assess the submitted manuscripts and select the best contestants. All the contestant got a certificate of participation and some of the submitted manuscripts were selected for online publication.

TOPIC: The Tenacity of Nigerian Youths in National Development and Leadership Roles.

Citizens of Nigeria are expected to exercise their social, civic and political rights by voting and contesting to be voted for in an election, joining assemblies and organizations of choice to worship, pursuing a life of respect and dignity and being active members of their communities. As well, these obligations and right exercising does not leave out youths who from the age of 18 can vote and can be voted for from the age of 25, an advantageous move bore by the Not too young to run bill which was passed to law on May 31st, 2018.

The tenacity of the Nigerian youth in national development cannot be overlooked easily and ignored because it is known that youths have been the key in various activities that concerns the nation, whether positive or negative. Street fights, politics, humanitarian services, protest, election malpractices and communal developmental works have always consisted of youth who work energetically to see that their goal wherever they are is achieved. Politically as well, they have proved to be determined as the turn out for the 2015 general election as well as the Osun state election proved that youths are really interested in the affairs of the country as the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu concluded that youths played a major role in the 2015 general election.

Presently even, hundreds of youths are exercising their rights by contesting for various political posts of which we have 5 contesting for the Presidential post and a lot of other youths contesting for the governorship post and also the House of Assembly. This of course many youths hope to use to achieve a more successful tenure as a good and responsible leader.

Also, while some groups of Nigerian youths have taken it upon themselves to join politics as a way of contributing their quota, some other have taken up the responsibility of humanitarian services. Good examples are three Nigerian youths who got recognized for The Queen’s Young Leaders Awards, an award given to change makers from different countries. These three make up a small portion of many of the Nigerian youths who are working on National Development in their own way.

Not to neglect the fact that the alarming rate of unemployment in Nigeria is leading a lot of youths to job creation, not only for themselves but for other youths as well. A move bore from the change in orientation.

While we have youths who are making impacts positively, there are also many who are making impact otherwise. These youths, one may conclude lack the proper orientation required for one to be able to recognize his duty as a citizen and act on it. Also, illiteracy, poverty and the lack of sensitizing towards their rights and duties can be said to contribute. These, amidst many others are defects that should be worked on for a progressive tenacity of the youths in national development and leadership roles.