When youths represented Kano at UN

The annual event is being endorsed and supported by a number of countries, institutions and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The permanent mission of Hungary to the United Nations is the lead endorser in collaboration with Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Liechtenstein and the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan. It is equally supported by DUGUESNE University in […]

The annual event is being endorsed and supported by a number of countries, institutions and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The permanent mission of Hungary to the United Nations is the lead endorser in collaboration with Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Liechtenstein and the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan.

It is equally supported by DUGUESNE University in collaboration with UN department of public information and the program planning support of the UN programme on youth.

The youth assembly was geared towards achieving the UN’s eight millennium development goals which include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women. They also include reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.

All heads of states at the millennium General Assembly at the United Nations in September, 2000 unanimously agreed to work towards the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But it is the people of each country who must come together to take action to see that these goals are achieved. And the Youth Assembly at the United Nations is a unique conference addressing and celebrating the youth movement taking action to make the above goals a reality across the globe.

Nigeria was represented by seven persons. Of the seven, four were from Kano State. Kano State government facilitated the trip of the four persons who represented Kano in particular and the country in general. The representatives were in high spirit when they were sharing their experience with newsmen when they addressed a press conference at Kano NUJ press centre last week on the outcome of their trip to the UN’s Youth Assembly.

They were at Media Trust’s Kano Regional office also for the same purpose. All the four work for NGOs. They are Bashir Sani, Bashir Lawal, Aminu Ibrahim and Ambassador Auwalu Alhassan. Sani works for Nigerian Youth for Community Participation (NUCP), Lawal is with Youth for Social Development (USD), Ibrahim from Society for Women Empowerment in Nigeria (SWEN) and Alhassan works for Patriotism Initiative in Nigeria (PIN).

For Bashir Sani, it was a big occasion just like that of the world leaders because of the depth in all the issues discussed. “We’ve learnt a lot and we’re happy with the knowledge gained at its three-day assembly,” he said. According to him, all that they have learnt would be of tremendous benefit to all Youths in Kano in particular and Nigeria as a whole.

“Our intention now is to have an opportunity to educate our people, particularly the youth assembly at the United Nations. We need a big gathering to educate our people, particularly the youth on what we have learnt from the 6th Youth Assembly at the United Nations. We need a big gathering to share our experiences with the youth who were not opportune to attend the conference,” he said.

To Bashir Lawal, another participant of the youth assembly, Nigeria as a whole and Kano in particular could benefit a lot from the knowledge they gained at the conference, especially in the area of peace. He said the youth should be told that only through peace significant progress could be made.

“We have interacted with many international NGOs who pledged to assist us develop our own NGOs. We have learnt a lot to the extent that we can now further develop ours. All the NGOs we met work closely with the UN,” he said. He  however said their major concern now was  how to make the annual conference rotational so that African countries would be able to host such occasion.

He said they were grateful to Kano State government for sponsoring their trip, disclosing that they presented a souvenir to the UN during the cultural night of the assembly on behalf of the state government. He said on their own part during the conference, they highlighted the problems of Africa, which include hunger and poverty.

He pointed out that given the importance of the conference, the slots for Africa and Nigeria in particular should be increased to have more youth participating in the yearly programme.

Another participant, Ambassador Auwalu Alhassan said the conference was convened in order to further discuss ways on how to achieve the UN’s eight millennium development goals, especially on efforts to provide permanent solutions to HIV/AIDS, global warming and bad governance. According to him, the UN was of the view that the world would  be a better place if MDGs were  achieved, hence the involvement of the youth in the crusade. Alhassan explained that the assembly exposed them to the practical ways of helping a community to achieve the desired goals because experts were invited to give lectures on different topical issues.

“I see a bright future for this kind of assembly. We have more 50 youths in Kano and so it is important that more youths should be delegated to represent others in the next conference,” he said.  UN Secretary General Banki Moon sent in his goodwill message to the assembly in which he said the world needed the youth to make the most of the gathering. “We face multiple, interconnected crises with severe impacts that fall disproportionally on the young” he noted.

“In 2007, for example, youth comprised 25 percent of the world’s working age population yet accounted for 40 percent of the unemployed. The global economic downturn means that, in the near term, youth unemployment will continue to climb. Unemployment rates tell only part of the story, especially for the vast majority of youth who live in developing countries,” he said.

He added that the youth assembly offered timely opportunity to learn from and inspire one another, and therefore urged them to see their time as a call to action. “The world needs each and every one of you to do your part in transforming our world and building a more sustainable and equitable future for all” he said.

Co-founder and co-chair, Youth Assembly at the United Nations, Patrick Sciarrata, Executive Director International Institute for a Culture of Peace, Dr Elaine Valdov, Project Director Maria Mandora also spoke at the assembly on the need for countries, especially the developing nations to step up in achieving the millennium development goals.