Welcome address by ‘Gbenga Adeyemo, Chair of The IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks
All truths, they say, are parallel. Recent attention being given to youths and issues about them by governments and other international organisations have lent credence to our decision to focus on the vital issue of making youths entrepreneurs with the opportunities that new and emerging technologies provide at this quarter’s Young Expert Forum.
Our country in particular and indeed Africa in general has, for long, been an ardent consumer, trading in technologies that were invented outside her shores. To me, this has largely been responsible for the poor state of our economy. A cursory look into the depth of some successful nation’s economy will clearly reveal a virile and strong technological sector that constantly spring off inventions.
As a group made up of students, recent graduates and young professionals under the age of 30, The IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks is a perfect group to begin to redress this trend with long term training and investment in her members and the Young Expert Forum (YEF) is a perfect pedestal to do that.
The YEF is our quarterly program that has been repackaged by the present leadership of The IET Nigeria Younger Members to improve on our usual Quarterly General Meetings. The objectives are to continue to build the capacities of our members in all the fields relevant to The IET and also prove ourselves a serious and worthy member of the society we operate in by focusing on a technical matter of national and/or international interest, discussing it and making inputs generated from the YEF on the adopted matter of discussion to the appropriate quarter.
For the first YEF in 2006/2007 and the second of such, we have chosen the theme “Youth and Technology Entrepreneurship: Catalysts for African’s development” which aptly capture our mind as expressed above. We have also decided to focus on the global issue of Internet Governance as our subject of discussion. The Internet has revolutionised our lives and ‘has come to stay”. All effort that will ensure its continuous existence and ensure our continuous reaping of its benefits must be supported. Such effort definitely requires the inputs of youths and a group represented here today.
We have meticulously sourced for competent speakers to handle all what we seek to address at this forum and we are grateful to have all of them in our midst.
I am optimistic that the Young Expert Forum, as a process, has come to stay and out of it will spring up many ideas and positive effects. Other YEF are planned for other zones of the country in 2007. This will eventually culminate in our first, major, truly international event with speakers and participants from within and outside Nigeria. This, we believe, we can achieve. However, we solicit the support of everyone in every way in making this a reality. We are open to productive collaborations in this set objectives.
Ladies and gentlemen, with this picture painted in our hearts, I welcome you to the first quarter 2006/2007 IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks’ Young Expert Forum. Relax, enjoy yourself, learn all you can, task the speakers and, most especially, participate actively during the interactive discussions. I am very much optimistic you would have been imparted at the end of the day.
Let me use this medium to thank all my colleagues on my committee and that of the Yaba College of Technology Student Chapter, who have worked with me to make this forum a reality. Our labour will not go in vain. The task of developing ourselves, our nation and our world is what we have embarked upon and we will make a great success out of it.
Once again, I welcome you to The Young Expert Forum.
Thank you all.
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