Aribasoye: Leaders Must Rise to Responsibility of Mentoring Youth Population

Esther Oluku 

Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Stephen Adeyemi Aribasoye, has harped on the importance of mentorship in harnessing the talents and actualising the dreams of Nigeria’s youth population adding that mentorship is crucial in equipping young people with guidance, privileged networks and support to succeed in their chosen fields.

He made these submissions on the sidelines of the 11th  RECALP Conference in Lagos, alongside renowned leadership coach, Niyi Adesanya, and Nigerian film maker, Mrs. Dupe Olorunjo, amongst others.

The RECALP Conference is a yearly event organised by an alternative church group of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Youths and Youth Adult (YAYA), Lagos Province 19 and an acronym for Relationship, Entrepreneurship, Career, Art, Entertainment and Culture, Leadership and Politics aimed at building the next generation of leaders across various sectors in Nigeria. This year’s conference was themed ‘From Dreams to Reality’.

Aribasoye opined that mentorship will help in closing the visibility and human capital gap by creating a platform for young people to gain key insights in their chosen professional paths while providing them with support tools as they grow in their professional journey. 

“Leaders must be prepared to mentor the next generation. Leadership is about coaching. We must be ready to be there for them to teach them the way. Leadership is about sponsorship and creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and for youth to grow. As leaders, we have to be able to see ahead of the youth and know where we are taking them to because where we are taking them to is key in turning their own dreams into reality.

“Life is not about what one knows alone. Your technical know-how must also meet your technical know-who. The technical know-how must be there, then the technical know-who which I have referred to as mentorship. Youths must have skills which would then meet the technical know-who which is where mentorship comes in. Its not just about mobilising them for nothing. We must be determined and see clearly where we, as leaders, are taking them to,” he said.

Meanwhile, leadership coach, Niyi Adesanya, adding to the discussion stated that mentorship can help young people with accessing privileged information which can transform their dreams to reality. “General information does not give people the success that they want. It is privileged information that does. Privileged information are gotten at privileged gatherings. So young people need to put themselves in positions of privileged gatherings.”

On her part, Mrs. Dupe Olorunjo, highlighted the need for young people to take advantage of research and free resources made available by technology to advance their dreams. She urged young people to look within, find their passions and utilise resources at their disposal to make their dreams a reality.

“There comes to a time in life where you want to chart your own course and social media today has developed. You really don’t need to wait for anybody to help you. Do your own research. Look at what and what tools are available to you. The good thing with a dream is that it’s burning inside of you. So young people need to actually look inwards and push,” she said.

The convener of the yearly conference and Youth Pastor, RCCG Province 19, Femi Aminu, stated that the conference is geared towards passing down the skills, lessons, knowledge and professional experiences of older generations to the next generation of leaders with the hope of imbuing them with the capacity to lead across their industries.

“Its an opportunity to grow the minds of young people and we believe strongly that it is important to tinker the mind sets of the youth. We bring speakers that cut across those areas of the RECALP acronym and give them the freedom to tell their stories because we feel many of our youths and young adults will be inspired and motivated by them,” he said.