Poor coordination mars Taraba maiden Youth Summit
Jethro Yerga, Jalingo
Despite the good intention of the Taraba State Governor, Dr Agbu Kefas to hear from the youth and faithfully honour their recommendations at the first Taraba State Youth summit with the theme; Youth, Economic and Security, going on at Gym Hall of Jolly Nyame Stadium Jalingo, the youth had begun to mal the programme following their poor organization and coordination.
Our reporter who attended the opening ceremony of the summit reported that there was a scanty population of youths at the occasion as many youth could not turn up following an earlier information by the organisers that entry into the programm was strictly on invitation.
It was gathered that the organisers had streamed down the number of youth to attend the summit to only 150 persons across the 16 Local Government Areas of Taraba State hence, the restriction of other youths from attending the inspirational and empowering programme.
Though the reason for chosen only few among many youths in the state to participate in such an inspirational programme was not ascertain neither the criteria of of chosen the stipulated number of persons made known to the public at the time of writing this report, fillers held that the organisers had decided to do so in order to limit the resources, especially the fund, at their disposal.
The equipment, most especially the public address system used at the occasion were also faulty. The echo was not clear enough as it was rather irritating the few participants who were anxious, zealous and well prepared to hear and learn from the erudite and vibrant resource persons selected for the programme.
The Executive Governor of Taraba State, Dr Agbu Kefas, while delivering his keynote address, challenged the organisers of the programme for using such substandard equipment, specifically the public address system which could not effectively deliver in terms of sound quality.
“I want to appreciate the organisers of this programme for their commitment towards making this event a reality. However, I want to point out that the sound quality of your public address system is very poor. You must thrive to do better next time”. The governor added.
The masters of the ceremony (MCs), also contributed to the wishy washy of the programme, probably because of the poor coordination of the organisers as they kept recognizing dignitaries even when the Executive Governor of the State, Dr Agbu Kefas was already seated.
The youth friendly Governor who had dedicated the whole day to be with the youth at the programme so as to hear and asses their views at the technical session of the program was also truncated as the Mc immediately called for National Anthem and the Governor’s departure shortly after the governor had delivered his keynote address at the occasion.
Interacting with our reporters shortly after the occasion, a young man who identified himself as Joseph Wunuken challenged the entire processes of the program, stating that sentiment and “long leg” had infiltrated the process.
He stated that the way the programme was organized, if nothing was been done differently, only youths who have people in government would benefit from it.
“Again, the governor was ready to seat down after his keynote address to listen to all the contributions from different youths so as to note them, but the anchor men truncated the process and called for National Anthem after his speech. It would have been more interesting if they took him through the technical session to hear from some youths.
“Though my name is not on the list of the 150 persons they have selected for the program but I decided to come and I learn. Some have not come because they were discouraged by the earlier message that entry was strictly on invitation”. He added.
