Mr Kunle Akogun
……calls on stakeholders to rise to the challenges
By Is’haq Babatune
The Director of Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin, Mr. ‘Kunle Akogun, has called on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), youth advocacy groups and other relevant stakeholders in the country to make advocacy on the proper usage of the social media part of their routine campaigns so as to properly guide the youth on the dangers inherent in its wrong usage.
Mr. Akogun made the call penultimate Saturday (December 8, 2018) while delivering the 4th Public Lecture organised by the Igbomina Youth Assembly (IYA) held at the Igbomina House, Ganmo, in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The Director, whose lecture was entitled “Nigerian Youth and the Social Media Challenge”, admitted that the social media have both negative and positive sides, but maintained that the right usage of this new media will usher in tremendous progress and rapid development in the society.
According to the consummate journalist, “The Social Media has come to stay and it is going to be very much a part of our future. He said, “Just like most inventions, it comes with its own assets and liabilities”, pointing out that “we have to focus on maximizing the assets and minimizing the liabilities, especially among the youths. In other words, we continue searching for ways to mitigate the negative aspects of social media while improving upon its positive sides”.
Mr Akogun advised Nigerian youths to take responsibility on how to use the social media in a positive light and shun every negative tendency that the platform could provide, saying that doing this will prevent the youth from becoming ready tools for societal disintegration.
While advising that social media should be adopted in a manner that enhances academic performance, Mr. Akogun urged parents and teachers to invest in understanding the social media in order to be able to detect the right and wrong usage of social media platforms by their wards.
The Unilorin spokesman, however, decried the call for strict regulation of the social media through legislation or those calling for outright ban of its usage in the country as is the case in some countries like North Korea and China, saying that this would be an over-kill, as it would be foolhardy to throw away the baby with the bath water.
Mr. Akogun, however, said that the solution is for every user to make constructive use of the innate power of free will, with which God has imbued all human beings, pointing out that “if we can use this free will positively, the incidence of internet fraud, pornography, rape and so on will reduce drastically. And I think this is a better way than allowing any draconian intervention by any regulatory body”.
Mr. Akogun, who reeled off several positive and negative impacts of social media, particularly urged the youth of Igbominaland to advance the cause of Igbomina Land through positive deployment of the social media and shun its misuse which, he said, are agents of distraction and inimical to societal growth and development.
In his address, the National President of Omo Ibile Igbomina, Engr. Timothy Niyi Adebayo, appealed to the youth of Igbomina Land to love one another, and be actively involved in and committed to Igbomina cause.
Engr. Adebayo urged the youths to look inward in the area of self employment such as agriculture and vocational skills for survival and always spend quality time on knowledge acquisition as against illicit accumulation of wealth.
Earlier in his welcome address, the outgoing President of Igbomina Youth Assembly, Engr. Shuaeeb Niyi Oyewole, said the Igbomina Youth Assembly is an organized body in Igbomina Land that is saddled with the responsibility of promoting the welfare of youth in the area.
Oyewole said that the membership of the Assembly is open to all committed male and female youths of Igbomina Land in Kwara and Osun States, saying that the objective of the Assembly is hinged on the tripod of youth mobilisation, social service and community development.
Highlights of the event included Inter-tertiary Institutions Quiz Competition, unveiling of new Logo and launching of Igbomina Anthem.
