For the desired results of change to be achieved the Empowerment of the people is crucial. Empowerment of the people must be inclusive of skills, knowledge, opportunities, resources and a conducive environment that will support wealth creation and prosperity; guarantee peaceful co-existence and wellbeing of all citizens.
Unfortunately, in Nigeria, we have not lived up to expectations in this area. We pay lip service to empowering the people yet we deny them the basic reward of dignity in labour. We run our educational system based on just giving the youths a sense of education without challenging them to become effective contributors to nation building. Our record keeping is totally inadequate, as a result, we don’t have accurate projections of the number of professionals – doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs etc – that will be needed to support our economy; everyone seems to transfer their skills to the area of high employment potential – civil service, banking, oil sector and politics.
Change must translate to full and total empowerment of the people to discover, nurture, develop, release, and promote their potential, gifts, talents and skills for their personal benefit and the benefit of our nation. It starts from our families, associations, institutions, communities and governments. When the people are empowered, they become challenged to empower others; a system that fosters a sustainable process of raising an enterprising, committed and patriotic citizens that will support building a prosperous, peaceful and great nation.