AND WHAT I WORE…

On the 29th of October, the World Bank Group held a global launch that will globally and positively affect youths. I had the privilege and honor to be invited to participate as a stakeholder. This event brought together a wide array of stakeholders, even the first female speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Azeezat Yishuwa, to address the future of not just Nigerian youth but global youths. We had youth representatives from different countries such as Brazillia, India, Mexico, and Portugal.

I wasn’t so sure what the outcome was going to be, but I knew I had to look and be very comfortable to partake in such trivial discussion by the World Bank Group. I was excited, I’m not going to lie. But before I get into that, let me ask you, (pause and think it through) what do you know about the World Bank?

The World Bank Group works in every major area of development. We provide a wide array of financial products and technical assistance and help countries share and apply innovative knowledge and solutions to tackle today’s intertwined development challenges. SOURCE: worldbank.org

I learned simply that the World Bank doesn’t just hand out money for projects on its own (this was stated multiple times at the meeting 😅). Every project implemented through the World Bank needs to be approved by the government of member countries involved. I thought it was just a regular bank, where instead of people as clients, we have the countries of the world having all accounts in. 🤔

The World Bank’s global report launch titled Change Makers: Empowering Youth for Inclusive Societies focused on three important things that could positively impact youths in the long run.

●Firstly, we had to look at what Opportunities are there for the Nigerian Youth? How do we find ways to create accessibliltty for youths to contribute to society, in education, political spaces and leadership roles, technology and entrepreneurship across the demographic? Fortunately, we are quite aware of these spaces , but as youth we have to find the opportunities around them to advance. Like Aminu Nyako mentioned, his automated farm in Adamawa, Yola, isn’t there to simply hire 1 or 2 persons, but it is to give multiple people an opportunity to make a living through the rearing of cows.

●secondly, what were the Challenges Faced by Youth: Here, yours truly, I, looked at challenges facing Nigerian youths today, such as lack of electricity which hinders our daily activities and our technological journey, lack of modern agricultural know-how/lack of interest in agriculture, outdated educational schemes/poor basic education, and lack of access and awareness to important things like hospital payments and bank loans.

“To find a solution, we must first understand the problem.”

●and lastly, how do we go about Navigating These Challenges: apparently. The World Bank has been cooking some ways to help the youth in terms of agriculture and education. Without being present in rooms like these, there are things I won’t even know. And pearls, this magazine is intent on teaching at least one thing. It’d be a disservice to not let it be this.

Well, back to fashion, what was so comfortable that I ended up wearing? My go-to Iro and Buba attire. Why I like Iro and Buba is that it is free. It has multiple styling options for such a simple dress. It is cultural, fancy, and very much elite. The color, a pop mint green, and touch of peach coincidentally color coded with Mimi Laushi (Maryam Laushi Dasilva) baby pink colored 2 piece set from Nifastudios (former Hanifa studios).

Moving forward, we will work together to find ways and research strategies that can lead to a more inclusive and empowered future for Nigerian youth, towards the sustainable development goals as well.

A wonderful mention to Maryam Laushi Dasilva for putting me on, and her colleagues at the World Bank for hosting such insighful topic. Meeting everyone in that room was quite an honor.

Last words: To be aware is half inclusive, but to have access with the awareness is full inclusivety. Let’s all work towards including youths for the future development of Nigeria.

Cheers to the good life. 🥂