Former Rector, Ibadan Polytechnic, Professor Olusegun Odunola, has stressed the need for more investment in mentoring and make it a national priority, in order to enhance peace and national stability.
Odunola, also former Dean, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, said that mentoring is beneficial and desirable, as its concept is based on the premise that all young people have the potential to succeed in life and contribute meaningfully to society.
According to Prof. Odunola, “in the United States of America, statistics show that an astounding 17.6 million young people, nearly half the population of young people between 10-18 years of age, live in situations that put them at risk of not living up to their potential.Without immediate intervention by caring adults, they could make choices that not only undermining their futures, but ultimately, the economic and social wellbeing of that country.
“It is not therefore surprising that with each passing year, the number of miscreants called area boys increases at a geometric progression, overflowing the metropolitan and urban centres of Lagos and Ibadan, and gradually becoming a norm in our serene environment of Ogbomoso in the past few years”.
The don, who made the call at a forum in Ogbomoso, noted that most Nigerian ethnic groups previously live in communal settings, as the training of children are the responsibilities of every older persons in the community.
“This is no longer the case, as drift to urban centres and acquisition of western cultures and living styles have taken the centre stages, thus relegating our cherished values to the background. What this means in effects is that our leaders will need to evolve more strategies than we hitherto inherited to ensure that our children socialise and are properly mentored, to fit into our communities and society so that we can have peace”.
While urging the government to discharge its responsibility by providing basic amenities like light, water, housing, food and education for the people, he stressed the need to provide a minimum education up to secondary school level free of charge, as well as facilitating access to higher education for the citizenry.
According to him, “it is after this had been achieved that we can be singing the sound of government cannot do everything. Without this level of support and responsibility by our government, the stability of our society is in doubt”.
