The Commissioner for Youth Development in Rivers State has said that the country’s value system is in error and called for change in attitude.
Speaking at a recent prize-giving ceremony, Hon. Prince Ohia, said that it was in error because everybody had a mindset to get rich quick.
The Commissioner said: “There is one thing that is lagging. We are having one issue. If we talk about the value system we should be talking directly to the youths. We should be talking directly to the people because truly our value system is in error. Everybody especially those in their youthful age have mindset of getting rich as fast and as quick as possible”.
He said while he was not opposed to getting rich those who are rich should have content and character, explaining that to have content was to acquire knowledge and to have character was to have good relationship with people and respect for the elderly and constituted authority.
He also said people should maintain integrity even in the face of challenge and appealed to youths to strive to make remarkable achievements which would contribute to the growth of the world.
The Commissioner spoke as prizes were recently given to winners in an essay competition organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications entitled “Rivers State: Our State Our Responsibility” in which six winners had emerged and were given prizes at Conference Hall of the ministry.
The Commissioner who said that money was not everything advised youths not to focus on materialistic benefits but plan on how they would achieve their goals.
He said that wealth acquired without content and character was vain and said he was aligning himself with the campaign with hashtag Our State Our Responsibility.
Hon. Ohia said his ministry had impacted on all sectors of the state on youth development saying that he had had interactions on how to rejig the system geared towards youth development.
He said all the awardees were winners for summoning up the courage to participate in the competition.
The winner of the competition, Sophia Awajibenem Eyitemi, said that she was excited to become the overall winner in the competition saying that there was shared prosperity among people living in Rivers State which should be protected.
She was to become brand ambassador of the ministry for three months and had received N60,000 prize money, a plaque and certificate as second and third place winners had also received plaque, prize money and certificate and consolation prizes for the fourth, fifth and sixth position holders.
