Sanwo-Olu Advocates Institutionalised Leadership Transition to Youths at Summit

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanow-Olu, has advocated an insttitutionalised leadership transition to youths at a summit in Abuja.

The summit held at the State House Banquet Hall, the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday, examined key contemporary factors influencing the youth’s attitude towards leadership roles.

Sanwo-Olu said whether or not young people mattered in leadership was not longer a subject of debate.

He asked if the leaders had started to build systems, institutions and infrastructure required to channel the youth energy for national transformation.

These thoughts, however, set the stage for discussion panels at an event organised by the Office of the Vice President and Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy (LJLA), an agency of Lagos State Government.

Vice President Kashim Shettima posited that an institutionalised leadership approach should be cultivated by a nation seeking to convert the strength of its young population into national capacity.

According to him, youth leadership should not be understood as a ceremonial handover.

Shettima said young people should be raised in reliable pipeline of leadership through a structured process that would prepare, entrust, integrate and support them within the institutions shaping the nation’s future.

The vice-president said: “What is required is a forward-looking architecture of leadership development, one that prepares young people not only to function within existing systems, but also to improve them.

“That is how societies endure. Not by preserving institutions as relics, but by renewing them through capable hands and clear minds.

“The demands placed on leaders are changing with every shift in technology, finance, governance, and public expectations. We cannot prepare young Nigerians for yesterday and expect them to govern tomorrow.”

Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, led various youth groups and young leaders across the country to the event with the theme: “Scaling Excellence: Youth Leadership as Strategic Infrastructure for National Transformation.”

Also in attendance were members of the Lagos State Executive Council, members of the body of Permanent Secretary in Lagos, led by the Head of Service, Mr. Bode Agoro, and Heads of various agencies, Heads of Federal Government’s parastatals, business leaders, development experts, members of academia and civil society.