Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
With great pleasure, I stand before you and welcome you to the inaugural Maktoub Youth Forum Programme here in Abuja.
We are very grateful to the Organizing Committee, which has worked extremely hard in coordinating this forum. And special thanks to Public Relations Expert Maryam Mohammed, the initiator and founder of this engaging initiative themed REinventing the YOUTH.
So much of life takes place in the mind. This is where many ideas are discussed, shared and considered before implementation. In our mind, we have lots of silent, internal correspondence that never see the light of day—deprived of existence because of lack of action.
I want to say a huge congratulations to Maryam Mohammed on the birthing of a long-standing dream. Maryam is a hardworking woman who seeks excellence in all that she does. She is passionate, resilient and very committed. She has a lot of compassion first, for herself, as we all know, and then to others, especially the youths.
I would like to also refer to the many commendable initiatives that have taken place before this event and the effort imputed by the organization in the past to impact society.
As you’re well aware, many issues concern the Youths today—from peer pressure to social media pressure to many more societal issues. This is why a well-needed forum for conversations like these are very welcome.
How we live in our inner world drives how we live outwardly. It’s very inspiring to see positive action taken to allow every one of us the opportunity to grow, to seek, and to actualize a dream. We are truly fortunate to have the support of each one of you present here today, and we appreciate your commitment to amplifying the theme of this event.
The speakers.
Today, our speakers for the programme have been carefully selected and are uniquely positioned to discuss and highlight the key theme and current trends concerning the youth. It will be fascinating to learn from the speakers.
I am delighted to have this selection of brilliant and experienced speakers who are prepared to share their insights on past years and how we can harness our resources to combat some of these issues going forward.
Who are we, what do we want, and where are we going?
Although looking backwards can be expedient, our focus must be on the future. It is necessary to keep looking forward with a long-term commitment to developing a better future for the youths.
INDEED, our previous performance is no guarantee for the future, but we all have the hope of a better future, as long as we learn from our past mistakes and work hard in the present.
Ladies and gentlemen, today should be fun and filled with learnings and inspirations.
I would like to pose a question to you.
Would you like to see a better and more optimized version of our youths?
This is not about creating a whimsical dream of one’s aspiration and goals but about creating a community of like-minded individuals who are committed to achieving a better future, regardless of the challenges they might face along the way.
AS our Mantra says, WE CAN, and WE WILL.
I hope we can act and move toward a better destination with this awakening.
The truth is that we can all attend the same event, have access to the same information and be radically different. I sincerely hope that today, we will take away something and do something positive to get to a better place.
In the famous words of Shakespeare, there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. So much of life takes place in the mind, and I hope with a renewing of our minds today, a better future can take shape for us.
I sincerely hope you will enjoy today and be inspired by some of the ideas that will be shared. We are looking forward to sharing the day with you.
Before I close these remarks, I would like to remind you, especially our moderators, to strictly stick to our schedule and not let any session overrun.
Thank you so much for your participation.
