When Women Lead

Thank you to the organizers of the GAH-Awards for inviting me as Guest Speaker, it is indeed a great honour to be part of this blue ribbon and landmark event. The 10^th edition is a great milestone, and I am glad to be here today to commemorate such an important achievement of making impact and affecting lives.

I would like to use this opportunity to welcome everyone once again to this august event and most importantly, thank you for your immense support and participation in ensuring that the vision of the organization is kept alive. It is worthy of note that your presence brings credence to the mission of the GAH initiatives particularly in its quest to impact over 2,800 youths and women across the Nigerian communities. Therefore, your kind donations as we together raise the required funds for the mission will be highly appreciated.

As survivors of the dreadful Covid-19 pandemic which brought the entire world to a standstill, we are most thankful to God for the gift of life and good health that we enjoy, offering us the opportunity for a fresh start as we avail ourselves the privilege of one of many courses that this initiative presents. Evidently, the many effects of the pandemic brought with it global economic setbacks with multifaceted impact on lives and livelihood. Despite this, we must continue to push beyond the pandemic and its effects, looking towards a brighter future for all, and seeking the common good of all.

Today, we take into cognizance the interplay between growth, sustainability, and inclusion. I am excited that the focus for GAH this year is ‘promoting sustainable economic growth through skill acquisition’ as it brings to fore the importance of sustainable income and economic empowerment of the productive segments of our growing society. More so, if we must create a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive future for all, the need to be more deliberate about initiatives on innovation, investments, policy, and finance cannot be over emphasized.

How do we go about building a future that delivers growth, sustainability, and inclusion? We must note that economic growth is no longer focused solely on the exploitation of raw materials, energy sources, and physical goods, but on the intangible development of values in the form of essential skills, services, innovative technologies, and inventions. Considering the high level of youth unemployment and the high incidence of poverty in Nigeria, we need to re-think the traditional methods of human capital development and enablement.

One of the actions to secure the future is to invest in the right kinds of capital and infrastructure, understanding that the future of people and the planet will be shaped by the capital investments realized over the next 10-20 years; capital that can drive clean, green, job-rich, and a much healthier economic growth than what we had before. Our call to action must seek to strongly promote skill acquisition because it is a catalyst for growth in a developing economy through cottage industries which in turn supports inclusion and enables sustainability.

More broadly, by ensuring that people are learning the right skills to cope with our dynamic world of today in an inclusive manner, it will spur demand because a growing middle class is a key driver of consumption. Africa has over 200 million young people of working age and will have close to a billion by 2050. Youth training and development in Africa, especially of digital skills, can help close skill gaps with the rest of the world.

Today, we owe it to ourselves, our communities, and our future to prioritize investment in skill acquisition, to build the capabilities in our people in preparation for a world that has begun to experience significant changes in energy, housing, manufacturing, tourism, governance, technology, and so on.

I choose to embrace a movement that promotes efforts towards a better tomorrow for all of us. I choose to train, empower, and encourage our women and youths to ensure that they fully subscribe to and contribute to growing for all and growth for good.

Once again, I thank GAH for hosting this wonderful event and for creating a platform over the last decade to have a meaningful impact on our women and youths. We look forward to the next 10 years of more achievements. For those also playing a key role in their respective ways to support women and youths around the world, I salute you and pray for renewed strength as you pursue your objectives.

God bless GAH! God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Thank you and enjoy the rest of the event.

Angela Jide-Jones