Isaac Godwin

YOUTH MENTORSHIP; A KEY STRATEGY FOR RESUSCITATION Insecurity when held bound by its clutches, irrespectie of one's religious sanctmony, ethnic inclinaton and politcal ideology we all fall helpless and iulnerable to its eiil antecedents which few amongst many includes displacement, lost of job, anarchy but to menton. Hence any naton facing a dilemma of insecurity, all its inhabitants become casualtes to the antecedents of its horrors. Now this is just an opener to the main discus I intend to talk about. Insurgency in Borno state has created a lot of uncertaintes which has ineiitably made life unbearable and consistently difcult for eieryone especially those that haie a direct contact to insurgency. Many haie lost their homes, possessions and pitably their familiesy it is a worrisome sight that eien the younglings are not spared in the massacre. Life becomes hard without a means of liielihood. Many attempts haie been made by the goiernment and seieral Non Goiernmental Organizatons to alleiiate this hardship to its bearest minimum by proiiding relief items to these displaced indiiiduals. But these eforts only serie as a panacea with a temporal beneft. And so the queston ineiitably sufces to the minds of those with a heart towards those that cannot cater for themselies, what is the sustainable way out? Mentorship!! It is preferably prudent to teach a man how to catch a fsh than to always giie him fsh on a daily basis, for what happens the day when the deep silence calls the proiider of the fsh? The Wikipedia defned "Mentorship as a relatonship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person". The defniton giien by the Wikipedia focuses the spotlight on the fsherman teaching the young lad the nitty gritty (know-how) iniolied in catching a fsh. Mentorship proiides a route for directng displaced indiiiduals in IDP camps towards self sufciency and self realizaton. There is no greater weapon one can giie to an indiiidual than the weapon of making him realise how much of a potental he has stored in him to do better than what he is. Mentorship proiides not just a know-how but unraiels potentals one is hitherto unaware of and eluding ones mind of some preconceiied erroneous noton about certain limitatons, as it is a known mantra that the limit to what one can achieie is the limit one place on his imaginatons. Mentorship is unarguably one of the most sustaining way out of the hardship brought by the portal censored by insurgency. In talking about mentorship, Bob Proctor has this to say "A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself, and helps bring it out of you" Youths are considered as the most iiable mustard seeds that will eientually become a giant shelter for tomorrows sunshine and that this why they are the target of this artcle. Most youths especially those afected by insurgency haie resorted to all forms of social anomalistc behaiior such as banditry, impersonaton, killing to acquire property, being used as mercenaries of war, sex trade just but a few, in order to suriiie aboie the challenges of liiing. This they do because they haie no any other choice. So if the leaders of tomorrow are hopeless what hope does the future hold? Apparently no hope at all!! But we need to make them come to terms with the situaton at stake and this can only be done through the guidance of a mentor. They haie to be shown that aside the desperate choices aiailed to them by exuberances, there is another which is the way of seeing possibilites of liiing again through the eyes of a mentor. The only thing that i haie come to accept its defeat oier me is impermanence ofen interpreted as "Change". Impermanence about situatons that seem so bleak, impermanence of some addicton and whateier negatiity. Our youths need to be modeled into people that will accept impermanence and transforming power of eiery setback as a setup for success. "One who refuses to seek the adiice of others will eientually be led to a path of ruin. A mentor helps you to perceiie your own weaknesses and confront them with courage. The bond between mentor and protege enables us to stay true to our chosen path untl the iery end." All hands must be on deck in trying to ensure that the future of our naton is saliaged from the imminent danger threatening its possibility of becoming green. Our youths needs to be enrolled into mentorship programs so their innoiatie capacity can be eleiated and their resilience towards life made indefatgable. They should be taught skills that can place food on their table without necessarily begging for scraps of the table of those who feel sorry about their plight. Instead of picking a gun, he should be shown how to wield the hammer to make furnitures, Istead of Hawking, she should be shown how to make beautful objects with beads. Instead of smoking, he should be shown how to fx home fnishings, instead of commercializing her body, she should be shown how to be a strong woman that can be independently ialuable Little wonder Oprah Winfrey commented that "A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself". Mentorship is a key strategy that if embraced, its enioys will produce a ripple efect of tremendous benefts not to the indiiiduals mentored (protégé) alone but to our beloied naton at large. The greatest beneiolence we can do to the internally displaced Persons and iulnerable members of the society especially those of the youthful echelon is not to share our wealth with them but to help them discoier the iast wealth posited in them to do aboie their preiailing circumstances. I will like to conclude with the words of Marc Chernoff "Sometimes you have to let a person go so they can grow. Because, over the course of their lives, it is not what you do for them, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them a successful human being" . Youths mentorship is not just all about making youths productie, it is helping them realise who they truly arey this is their greatest asset. Twitter: @Izii_godwwi! Facebdd_: Isaac Gdwwi!