By Henry Ikuesan Olugbenga
Too often in the immediate past, community leaders and local governance authorities rallied the young people to organise and equip themselves for service and leadership positions. However, when such positions opened up, the young ones were sidelined usually for some unfathomable reasons. Happily, the situation is changing. In particular, one is impressed with what is being deliberately done at the Igbogbo/Baiyeku LCDA where many competent, visible and highly industrious young people are being given positions of responsibility.
There is something quietly powerful about a leadership which listens, not just to the loudest voices in the room, but to the undercurrent of conversations happening among the people. And so it is with great pleasure that we pause today to acknowledge decisions that has warmed many hearts across Igbogbo/Baiyeku LCDA.
It used to be the case that at this period when new supervisors and special advisers of IBLCDA are being sworn in, genuine concerns would rent the air of neglect of youth and students groups. The open concerns that our young people were not being given sufficient access to governance were frustrating because these sets of people are active players in community development and political activities. That their energy, ideas, and hunger for contribution were going untapped was inexcusable. Some said it with frustration. Others said it with resignation. But somewhere in the midst of that conversation, our Chairman, Omo’ba Hammed Olalekan Aroyewun, heard it differently. He heard it as a challenge worth answering.
And answer it, he did.
With the appointment of several young men and women into his cabinet, the Chairman has done something that goes beyond politics, he has made a statement of faith.
Faith in a generation. Faith in the future of this LCDA. Faith that Igbogbo/Baiyeku’s best days are not behind her, but ahead and that the hands that will build those days are young ones. We salute him for that. Deeply.
To the newly appointed cabinet members, we say welcome to the arena.
This is your moment, and it matters more than you may yet fully realize.
You were not appointed because governance had run out of older options. You were appointed because someone looked at you and saw potential worthy of responsibility.
That is a rare gift. Honour it.
Work hard, not to impress, but because the people of this LCDA deserve your very best.
Be humble enough to learn from those around you, and bold enough to bring fresh thinking to the table.
Let your conduct in office speak with a clarity that no announcement ever could. And above all, remember where you came from.
Remember the young person in Igbogbo/Baiyeku who is watching you right now, quietly wondering if there is also a place for them someday. Your success is their hope. Your integrity is their permission to believe.
To our Chairman, once more, thank you sir for betting on we youths. May this cabinet repay your confidence in full.
Henry Ikuesan Olugbenga (PoOker), a media aide to Omoba Hameed Aroyewun writes from Igbogbo
