Business
LASG, Stakeholders Emphasise Leadership, Communication, Skills in Youth Empowerment
The Lagos State Government and stakeholders have highlighted the importance of leadership development, effective communication and emergency response skills in empowering young people to contribute meaningfully to community development.
The call was made during the Youth Leadership, Emergency Action and Development (YOU-LEAD) programme organised by the Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy in collaboration with the Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, the Divisional Head of the Adolescent and Youth Health Division at the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Ayeni Olasumbo, said the initiative was designed to equip young people with practical leadership and communication skills that will enable them to make positive impacts in their communities.
According to her, effective communication is a vital quality for every leader, noting that the training sessions were structured to help participants develop the ability to communicate clearly and confidently in different situations.
She added that the programme will also expose participants to emergency response training, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which will help prepare them to respond appropriately during crisis situations.
Dr. Ayeni noted that the knowledge gained during the training is expected to create a ripple effect as participants apply what they have learnt and pass it on to others in their communities.
Also speaking, Vice President Membership of Eagle Toastmasters Club, Feigne Suinner, stressed the role of communication in mobilising communities and driving collective action.
She explained that effective communication helps leaders clearly convey their messages and encourage community members to support development initiatives.
Suinner noted that communication is a skill that requires practice and patience, urging young participants to be intentional about their words, tone and listening abilities.
A medical practitioner with over a decade of experience in emergency medicine, Dr. Femi Ogunmoku, said the training had equipped participants with the knowledge needed to handle emergency situations such as accidents, injuries and sudden medical collapse.
Dr. Ogunmoku also emphasised the importance of contacting emergency services when necessary, reminding participants to make use of Lagos State emergency numbers such as 112 and 767.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Ibeju Lekki, Hon. Sesan Olowa, said the programme forms part of efforts to prepare young people for leadership roles in society.
According to him, youth currently play significant roles across different sectors in Nigeria, making it necessary to invest in their development and capacity building.
Olowa, who was represented by the Supervisor for Youth and Sports in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government, Balogun Hakeem Oluwole, said the local government remains committed to organising more programmes aimed at empowering young people and preparing them to contribute positively to their communities.
He expressed optimism that the knowledge gained from the training would enable participants to become proactive leaders capable of driving development and responding effectively to challenges within their communities.
The post LASG, Stakeholders Emphasise Leadership, Communication, Skills in Youth Empowerment appeared first on Business Today NG.
The executive secretary of UN Climate Change, Simon Stiell, told the ministers at COP31 that climate finance must be redesigned to lift developing countries out of a cycle of debt and disaster, adding that meeting a headline figure will not do it.
“Meeting a financial target does not always meet countries’ needs. To do that, we need to look at how finance is delivered,” Mr Stiell said on Friday at the opening of a high-level ministerial dialogue on climate finance in Antalya, Turkey.
Countries agreed at COP29 that developed nations would lead in providing $300 billion a year by 2035, as part of a wider effort to raise $1.3 trillion annually from all sources.
Mr Stiell said the roadmap for reaching those sums “must become reality”, but that the terms of the money mattered as much as the amount.
“Many developing countries are trapped in a downward loop of debt, disaster, and devastating capital costs,” he said. “The threat of floods, fires, storms and droughts hangs over them, pushing up the price of borrowing even before disaster strikes.”
He stated that the terms of finance should reflect each country’s debt position.
“Private finance, loans and guarantees are essential to achieving our collective goals. But grant-based and highly concessional finance will remain critical, particularly for Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and other very vulnerable economies,” he said.
According to him, broader action on debt is also needed to prevent countries from being forced to choose between repayments and resilience.
International climate finance for developing countries reached about $137 billion in 2024, and almost 70 per cent of it came in the form of loans, according to a UN Women flagship report released on Tuesday in Antalya.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa paid more than twice as much in external debt service between 2021 and 2023 as they received in climate finance, according to an analysis published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
The analysis found that interest payments consumed more than 10 per cent of government revenue in 27 African countries in 2024.
The chair of the African Group of Negotiators, Nana Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, has said that a transition could not be called just if poorer countries have to “mortgage their futures” to pay for it.
The group lost a bid on Monday for a separate agenda item on tripling adaptation finance. It now wants the target prioritised in the summit’s cover decision.
Nigeria is not on the UN’s list of least developed countries, which places it among the states the UN climate chief expects to rely more on loans, guarantees and private capital.
It needs about $337 billion between 2026 and 2035 to implement its climate commitments, according to the National Council on Climate Change.
Omotenioye Majekodunmi, the agency’s director-general, said more than 80 per cent of that will have to come from private investment, commercial debt, and international carbon finance.
About $2.5 billion a year went to climate action in Nigeria in 2021 and 2022, counting domestic and international sources, according to the Climate Policy Initiative’s tracking.
The dialogue was the last in a series that began in 2013, and its conclusions will go to COP32 in Ethiopia next year, Mr Stiell said.
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