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| The second Global Conference on national youth service was held in Nigeria, in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city, from 10-14 October 1994. Conference theme: LINKING YOUTH SERVICE FOR GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING The conference provided the opportunity for concerted efforts to increase ties among youth services in order to enrich individual youth service programs, drawing up of guidelines for multilateral co-operation in tackling social ills, youth research and development, et cetera. Deliberation centred on nine papers presented under the following sub-themes:
The conference had the following objectives:
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As the 20th century draws to a close, there seems to be a renewed focus on national youth service. In the early 1990s, there arose an initiative for youth service leaders in various parts of the world to
"...meet and learn about each other's programme and consider a model for continuing exchange of information and modes of best practice". This culminated in the first Global Conference on National Youth Service held in 1992 at Wingspread, Racine, in the state of Wisconsin, USA. The conference affirmed its conviction with respect to the benefits of national youth service as a positive instrument and advised "colleagues in the order countries to ... recognize the critical need to address the national youth service question". It concluded with a call for broader participation in future national service conference to be held in Nigeria.
This led to the hosting of the second Global Conference by Nigeria, in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city, from 10-14 October 1994, with the theme: LINKING YOUTH SERVICE FOR GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING.
The conference had the following objectives:
- to move the proposals made at the last conference to the state of strengthening the mechanism for international co-operation with a view to heightening the potential of the youth service programme as an instrument for global understanding;
- to stimulate greater interest within countries in programmes of youth development and widen the scope available to young people for youth service;
- to foster greater collaboration between youth service organizations and other organizations with like objectives, globally, thereby opening up new vistas for youth;
- to help refine the approaches for youth involvement in national / community development while facilitating greater youth participation.
The conference provided the opportunity for concerted efforts to increase ties among youth services in order to enrich individual youth service programs, drawing up of guidelines for multilateral co-operation in tackling social ills, youth research and development, et cetera. Deliberation centred on nine papers presented under the following sub-themes:
The second Global Conference appeared to have generated enthusiasm and interest among many countries of the world; consequently there was a high level of response from countries wanting to participate in the conference. However, for reasons other than lack of interest, a number of them could not attend the conference; but those that attended, demonstrated a high level of commitment to the philosophy and objectives of National Youth Service Global Conference. There was indeed a clear demonstration of how far, both in conceptual and practical terms, the conference agenda has moved forward since the first meeting in1992. The presentation of papers and reports by countries, individuals and organisations under the conference sub-themes, reflected the desire of all participants to contribute from their experiences, and to benefit from those of others.
An analysis of these papers and presentations revealed the varying practices in the organisation of the national youth service in different parts of the world; and there was a consensus that in order to ensure the future usefulness of these organisations to different communities, especially in tackling the programmes of youth and national development, all those experiences and practices must be pooled together to support and strengthen international programmes. The place of research, especially in a comparative sense, was emphasised. Thus, in an opening speech, the Director-General of the NYSC, Colonel S. A. Sofoluwe, urged the conference to continue and strengthen the process of exchange of information between nations. This he considered as a satisfactory rationale for Nigeria to have accepted to have accepted to host the conference. In another opening speech, the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, General Sani Abacha, GCON, urged the conference to explore the usefulness of organising an international Association of National Youth Services. General Abacha felt that such an organisation would provide the necessary platform, not only for the sharing of experiences, but also for promoting international understanding and world peace.
The keynote address presented by the Guest Speaker at the conference, General (Dr) Yakubu Gowon, was more of a working paper for the whole session. In it, emphasis was also placed on global understanding, international co-operation and social development. As the head of the government that established the National Youth Service Corps, when he was Head of State of Nigeria, General Gowon imparted to the conference the benefit of his experience, stressing the fact that without disciplined and well organised youth, no nation can develop efficiently. To him, countries should seek ways for mobilizing their youths for productive engagement in the process of nation building and national development. This can be done even outside the process of formal educational engagements; young men and women should be systemically inducted into the practices and ideals of selfless service to the community. He cited the example of the age grade system in Africa and other examples like the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides, which use various approaches, and are involved in some aspects of social development.
General Gowon also proposed the organising of the youth into the youth service that knows no borders. For this to be done, he recommended systematic education at all stages. General Gowon maintained that the "combination of youthfulness and education on the one hand, and mutually diverse cultures on the other hand, provide a high potential for creating powerful social and cultural bonds". He raised fundamental issues for discussion as they bear on funding, career, international exchanges and periodic meetings, as well as modalities for the globalization of the youth service concept and for the harmonization of projects, programmes and policies.
In proposing a global exchange among youth services, General Gowon advised that effective action at the international level would have to start with effective policies and programmes at the national level. He however pointed out that the mission and mandate of such an exchange programme would reflect both the priorities and positions of each participating society or country. For example, for developing societies on the one hand, the focus would be on the issues of survival, nation-building and basic rural development. For the more established and developed societies on the other hand, the focus would be "the improvement of the quality of life and the environment and the containment of other harmful by-product of modern living".
The conference examined the enhancement of youth development and participation, national and international development, and resolved to form an International Association of National Service for multilateral co-operation concerned with tackling social ills, youth research and development, mobilization of human and material resources, and also providing secretariat services for efficient global networking of national youth services.
Participants reviewed the implementation of the resolutions of the first conference as reflected in participating countries' reports, and the experiences of participating nations / organisations and individuals. The conference examined the evolution of youth service in the 20th century and the research imperatives in youth services global networking. In the deliberations that followed the conference made far- reaching conclusions and resolved that the next Global Conference, the third, should be convened by Papua New Guinea as host in 1996.
A.D. Okafor
Essien S. Essien
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