Resilient Youth’s Absolutely A Joyful Being

“Your life will never be the same again”- Capacity building magnet, John Onyeukwu.

I have since realize the commonsensical fact that there is power in resilience, youth resilience, so to speak. I have written so often to juxtapose the seemingly comatose state of our generation in this part of the world (Nigeria) and the will-power of our youthful exuberance. In this regard, I find it exceedingly obliged to always sing the song of ***Neief*** fellowship and the brains behind its eminence- the North East Regional Initiative (NERI). Neri is a project of USAID/OTI in the northeast Nigeria.

***Neief*** is a flagship youth led program of socially active and enriched engagement

Fellows and the then Deputy Chief of party (NERI) at Inaugural

forum for the next generation of vibrant intellectuals to brainstorm & articulate the challenges of addressing violent extremism in the North East.

I do not really see my incessant narration and showering of encomium on this groundbreaking happenstance as an over-enthusiasm. My reason is not far-fetched. It’s an initiative that nurtured and developed intellectual and entrepreneurial acumen away from the scourge of belligerency in the northeast and of course the country at large.

The youth intellectuals (fellows) were made, right from inception of the program, to repel the traumatic experience casts in their minds in the course of social upheaval affecting their communities. Hence made readily available to give counter

Fellows telling compelling stories

narratives against extremism ideology not only on social media space but also in an outreach program for people who cannot have access to the internet.

Even as the fellowship’s active participation in the #NotAnotherNigerian campaign elapses way back, fellows are still championing the course of change- promoting resilience in youth to choose an alternative narrative to violence and be an intellectual entrepreneurs.

What’s so joyful in all this stuff, is probably what you are pondering over, right? Well, you are not being entangled in verbosity, my esteem reader…endeavor to stay with me a little while!

…brainstorming on critical thinking (taffakur)

These vibrant intellectuals have stood out against all odds in their respective communities. They did not succumb to what Ben Carson refers to as ‘victim mentality’ (a sort of bequeathing to a state of nonentity as a result of one’s social predicament) but built a strong anathema against all forms of turmoil. Hence their resilience paid off and were choosing among many to pioneer this maiden stride, neief. They have profoundly made a plethora of breakthroughs nationally and internationally. Kudos to their resilience and thank you to a capacity building ***magnet*** and his citadel for acknowledging and engaging them.

Why the hullabaloo about neief ? Simple, the fellowship is my motive power behind my successful take off in the world of blogging. I had the best hands to learn the nook and cranny of social media. I lunged my first blog post on Medium the very first day of induction. That’s marvelous, isn’t it? Yeah…! That was just for a start. I afterward became an ardent lover of not just blogging but research /publication and of course peace advocacy and promotion of youth resilience.

Executive Director, Quilliam N. America Muhammad Fraser-Rahim see ***here personally recommends one of my blogs [here](https://www.quilliaminternational.com/islam-and-critical-thinking-tafaqqur-an-impetus-to-creativity-by-ishaka-mohammed-babangida) to make a headline in the list of Quilliam International blog publications. Other fellows and myself coauthored in different publications one of which was [The Youth in Africa, Agents of Change](https://ishakabab.com/youths-agents-of-social-change/)***. “Ordinary Savior” was another great book which wraps-up fellows’ works in a superb anthology and is making waves in the world of literature. I intend to blog on each fellows milestone achievements in my subsequent posts…hope you will stay glued to this site and enjoy reading…? I bet you, you will be glad you did!

To wrap up this episode, I am somewhat compelled by necessity to say that I’m not making an effort to ‘praise-sing’, but rather, and with all sense of commitment, to entreat youth from all walk of life to use their youthful exuberance and make best use of the human and material resources at their disposal. The social media space is chunked with a lot of stuffs. You can turn those things maligned with negativity- radicalization to violent extremism’s majorly done on the internet to positivity and progressive narrative, just like the case of (Neief) fellows.

Be proactive and a driving force to achieving your destiny! Remember, you are inherently resilient. Why then will you not propel yourself up and climb that ladder that is seemingly elusive. ‘Whatever the mind can conceive it can achieve…’ A resilient mind is sure going to end in a joyful mood.

This is a crosspiece, the original is found here: : https://ishakabab.com/resilient-youths…y-a-joyful-being/