Having Leaders That Are Not Prepared For Their Positions Is A Curse – Yakubu Dogara

Yakubu Dogara has said the youth of so many young people in Africa have been stolen by their leaders.

He noted that lack of readiness for positions remains the problem of leadership in Africa.

Dogara begged African youths to step up their fight to end the menace.

“I believe that it is a curse to have leaders that were not prepared for their positions,” Dogara said.

“While preparation does not guarantee that the person so prepared would succeed in leadership but lack a preparation is surely a guarantee for failure. This is partly the curse of leadership in Africa.

“It will take the youth who must build solutions for tomorrow’s problems today to rise to the occasion and end this palpable leadership curse on Africa. So many generations of Africans have had their youth stolen from them by the very people they called leaders.

“The time has come and now is the time for us to empower and free the creative energy of our youth if the outcome in Africa must be radically different from what obtains at the moment. This can only be achieved through networking among African youths,” he added.

“The climax is the passage of the ‘Not too Young to Run’ constitutional amendment bill by the national assembly with more than the required two-third majority of members,” he said.

“Lastly, it is no news that Africa is in need of selfless leadership, therefore, you must begin to tune your mind to how best you can serve your country and it should start at this conference. To lead tomorrow you must be prepared for it today. What is the essence of fighting for leadership positions not prepared for?

“Let me warn that the democracy we practice just like education guarantees nothing. It only provides you with the opportunity to succeed and the risk of failure. In as much as most governments are being encouraged to be involved in youth engagement, young people on their own part must be sensitive to the fragile nature of democracy, especially in the African environment.

“We must not allow ourselves to be used as instruments of political or economic instability; rather every young person must wear a robe of vigilance as eternal vigilance is the price we must all pay in order to safeguard our democracy and the liberty that it offers,” he added.