Profoundly regarded as the apex youth body, but treated with utmost disdain by the government and wholly enmeshed in controversies, the National Youth Council of Nigeria is gaining media attention for the wrong reasons again and again over impasse in leadership driven from greed and conscienceless actions of major gladiators that usually trade the platform for personal benefits from politicians that covet the platform as means of acceptability and popularity among Nigeria Youths.
Alas, those that traded the platform yester years mostly live in penury today, the beneficiaries of previous rape of NYCN are not better than beggars, while their sponsors are scheming for political relevance as scarcity of wise counsel elude them, consistently glued to their romance with deceit, the new players failed to learn from horrible downfalls of the previous characters that failed to reposition NYCN for greatness.
In one of my previous articles on NYCN published in newspapers and other online media, titled “NYCN: Putting the record straight,” offers brief insights into the State of Leadership of NYCN, the piece become a reference as it relates to fresh occurrences in the National Youth Council of Nigeria in the process of resolving contentious issues that still delays prompt resolutions of the leadership impasse in the Council.
There are several sides of the pentagon that cannot be analyzed in a class with limited duration, but the brevity of time doesn’t stop a summarized view for proper transmission of facts inherent in the findings. The vision of NYCN is to provide a worthy platform for projecting general interest of Youths, sharpen their perspectives on governance and humanitarian services as a premise for learning of requisite skills and ideal values for the purpose of impacting positively on the society.
The truth crushed to the earth will rise again, to say that some malevolent individuals whose livelihood can be regarded as youthful misdemeanours on one side, but truly identified as fraudulent manipulations on the other side and glued to self-aggrandizements are responsible for the leadership impasse in NYCN, due to their previous loss over attempts to pocket the Council and utilize it as a veritable tool to achieve their dubious desires. At the appropriate time, soonest, revelations on the roles of lead actors in the birth of disorderliness in NYCN will be published in my piece titled “My NYCN Diary” but for the purpose of this piece I will focus on the most recent onslaught by the lead political jobbers in the Council derailing the cause of stability of NYCN.
Paradoxically, the simple conceptualization of the workings of the Council is the greatest woes ever imagined by those that registered the Council with the Corporate Affairs Commission which offers detractors the lust for grip on NYCN through Court processes and judicial inventions to wittingly suppress collective goods of Nigeria Youths. Ordinarily, NYCN has no business with registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission going by the existence of a Federal Schedule under the Youth Department of a Federal Ministry and her classification in the ranks of NLC, NANS and NWCN recognized by Federal Schedules as apex platforms for their members.
The real battle in NYCN that opened gates for self-declarations and factions in the leadership was orchestrated by a cliquey whose manipulative tendencies greatly conflicts with common sense led by one Dickson Akor who has never won an Election in the Council before nor has any pivotal role in the success story of NYCN but on a vengeance mission against those that denied him victory when he aspired to emerge as NYCN President some years ago. He leads an organization at conflict with security agencies and had series of clashes with government agencies which led from one thing to the other and NYCN withdrew the affiliation of his organization before it was restored after a prolonged legal battle years ago.
Since the restoration of Dickson Akor’s led organization affiliated to NYCN he has attempted on several occasion to super impose himself on the Council through several failed means and the last of its kind was his recent machinations with his collaborators that manipulatively twisted the good intentions of the Congress to open membership of the NYCN Board of Trustees to new members through nominations yet to be fully approved by the National Congress and their latest attempt to dubiously dissolve the three function Committees in the Council and impose their lackeys and rookies as replacement to justify the huge sponsorship from a Governor that is wishful to gain prominence but lacks the required skills and charisma.
The Board of Trustee under the leadership of Chief Macaulay Omo Azugbene as Chairman and Hon Chief Mrs Elizabeth Ativie as the Secretary recognized by law, was grossly misrepresented by Dickson Akor through correspondence he purportedly wrote to some quarters to solicit parochial benefits and attentions, notably from the Office of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Kogi and Kaduna State Government, where he fraudulently introduced himself as the Secretary of NYCN Board of Trustees. His lust for BOT Membership was exposed when he firstly instituted a faulty case against the leadership of BOT before his inglorious claims, but since the legitimate personalities competent to press charges against are not raising the dust, the court of public opinions will be conveyed to expose the machinations of this bounder for now and co-conspirators at a later moment.
The main personality in the NYCN with classified information and records of Dickson Akor’s dubious transactions in the name of NYCN is the Chairman of NYCN Caretaker Committee, Ibukun-Oluwa Oluwa Olembe, saddled with the onus responsibility of leading NYCN out of the doldrums and supervises the conduct a well acceptable Unity Congress to resolve the leadership impasse. It was in the process of curtailing the excesses and overbearing attitude of Dickson Akor that an interface ensued between the duo and Dickson Akor through his cronies attempted to rock the boat of that profound leadership of the Caretaker Committee to cover his fraudulent tracks from public knowledge and since he is already showcasing the magnitude of his threats, the Africa adage that says the mouth that a needle used to beautify a garment is the same he uses to shatter it therefore serves as a link to the maxim that says those that tears the mask of honour wears the garment of disgrace.
The Unity Congress of NYCN was earlier scheduled to hold in July and was later shifted to August 25 to 27, 2016 due to certain exigencies and the three functional Committees embedded with the responsibilities of ensuring a smooth transitions namely Caretaker Committee, Electoral Committee and Congress Planning Committee performed their duties excellently and secured a venue for the Congress at Merit House by the National Universities Commission Abuja before the supervisory body which is Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development issued a notice of Congress postponement after the release of the list of the eligible candidates by the Electoral Committee.
It is imperative to state that the role of the Federal Ministry of Youth in the conduct of NYCN activities is duty bound and cannot be over ruled as dictated by NYCN Constitution and National Youth Policy. In a crisis situation and debacles as seen in NYCN of today, the Board of Trustees and the Ministry have vital responsibilities hence a justification of the Caretaker Committee for the compliance with their directives on Congress Postponement.
In the buildup to the postponed National Congress, some political jobbers in NYCN facilitated a release of substantial amount of money from an overzealous Governor in the North-West craving for undue attention to outdo the popularity of his predecessor in the State and gain undue popularity by sponsoring a candidate for the seat of NYCN President after financial inducement of Stakeholders recently at his Government House, a character with no record of activity in NYCN packaged by charlatans, to hijack the Council once again, launched the latest attack on the genuine National Composition approved by an Emergency Non Elective Congress presided over by the legitimate Chairman NYCN BOT at Bishop Kelly Pastoral Centre in Benin City, Edo State in April 2016 that gave mandate to the three functional committees saddled with the responsibilities to conduct the Unity Congress, the unfolding events will surely smear the image of NYCN once again but the prevalence of truth over falsehood is sacrosanct and on this ground is great exaltations for genuine lovers of NYCN.
The inability to facilitate unity of purpose among Nigeria Youths through the National Youth Council of Nigeria as the apex body does not only constitute threats to the future of Youths, but fatally subjects their fates to perpetual fatality. Ironically, the generality of Youths are less concerned about events in NYCN as the importance of the efforts towards the revitalization of the core ideals of NYCN as the promotes the general interest and well-being of Youths, if only the Youths can be more pragmatic in their concerns about NYCN, the platform will be very enhancing and veritable towards the redirection of governance towards the wishes of majority rather than the oppressive tendencies of the power brokers.
The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports must offer good insights into the premise for NYCN Congress Postponement beyond mere Press Release, a definite date for the Unity Congress must be announced by the Ministry after proper reconciliations of unfolding events with the three functional Committees and the Board of Trustees. Only a timely resolution of the leadership impasse in the National Youth Council of Nigeria can facilitate the return of sanity, curb misdemeanours and social malaise among Youths in Nigeria.
To repose so much confidence in the functionalities of NYCN to help sharpen perspectives of Youths towards positive actions is not an over statement, the productivity of reputable organisations affiliated to NYCN with immense contributions in time past when government subventions and support from donor agencies was sufficient to aid the activities clearly explain the exasperations to the minds of the duly informed about behind the scenes events in NYCN but the complications must be surgically dissected and reshaped in the overall interest of Nigeria Youths globally.
. Comrade Agboola is the National Publicity Secretary of the Sheriff Guards of Nigeria, an Affiliate of the National Youth Council of Nigeria. He writes from nycnpro@gmail.com, 08029809000.
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