Former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar’s daughter, Hauwa Atiku Uwai, the CEO of Dark Delight Limited and the founder of Hauwa Atiku-Uwais Foundation is here with us.
She spoke on the work her foundation is putting in Nigeria especially with the youths as she also shared her opinion on the forthcoming 2023 elections.
Atiku Abubaker Believes in Young People – Atiku Abubakar’s Daughter, Hauwa Atiku Uwais, Speaks on Youths Participation In Politics | WATCH
How did you start your foundation and to what objective?
“We started the foundation last year (2021). we kick-started activities targeted towards young people, men and women actually and the motivation behind that was simple.
“As a team, we felt that the young people in Nigeria were left behind in many of the focal areas that were important to nation building and one of such areas was politics so in pursuit of good governance, we started engaging young Nigerians in town-hall meetings, sports programs and such.
“This was the motivation actually to get young people involved in key decision making processes in Nigeria.”
In your own assessment, what can you say about young people’s drive to get into leadership?
“There’s a lot of drive actually. A lot of very qualified, driven and intelligent young people in Nigeria.
“It’s actually fascinating when you seat down and discuss with them. One thing that we found out as a foundation is that there is a deficit in knowledge gathering.
“A lot of young people are not really in-tuned with what is going on because mainly there’s a declined in the reading culture and obviously if you want to stay informed you have to read.
“One of the problems that we have noticed is that what is out there for digestions is usually bombarded with technical language, numbers that sometimes are not very comprehensible to people that don’t have advanced education.
“We know that we have a deficit in our educational sector so for young people to understand the content that is out there becomes a bit of a challenge.
“We are trying to break the barrier between understanding the content that is out there and what drives young people and we have found out that once they understand what is out stake they are very willing to get involved.
“I think it’s actually trying to get them together to such a number where they can contribute to nation building.”
Do you see that sometimes your advantages can be a barrier in talking to the young people and how do you break that barrier to connect with them
“Talking about advantages i have this story to say. Couple of years ago, about twelve years ago, i applied for a job through the national portal at one of the government organizations, i wrote the exams, i passed, i went for my interviews, I passed.
“I went to the training school in Lagos, i finished there for two weeks and i came back and suddenly there were challenges for me to get my batch and start work because even as privileged as i am it was a problem for me because somehow somewhere along the line someone thought that it was pushed from someone from above as we know in Nigeria.
“Eventually, i got to the realization that as a young person i was going to have limitations in that organization if i were to take up the job offer. So i refused it and left because i didn’t feel that, that gave me me the opportunity to express myself and to show the organization what i can give.
“Now this is the story of so many young Nigerians where people tell you that you need connections to get a job. It is actually true and i want Nigerian youth to understand that it is not just the less privileged people that go through it.
“Sometimes privileged people go through it as well and we need to get it to stop. So once i want someone to listen to me i tell them this story because its a real life story that happened to me.
We are being governed by old people, how are you going to convince the young once to take over. Don’t you think you need to start by talking to the old people ruling to step down for the younger people to rule and be part of governance?
“I can talk from my own personal experiences and what off-course i am going through because i know that, this is a very deliberate question but the simple truth is this;
“Atiku Abubaker believes in young people and the capacity of young people and i know for a fact that you have to be able to show yourself up as a young person.
“I didn’t get invited to this show to speak just because i am who i am. I have been who i have been….”
See the video below for more!
