You Are Not Too Young to Lead | Bella Anne Ndubuisi | TEDxStart Rite Schools Abuja

foreign [Music] s listen to your children we are the leaders of tomorrow come and pay our school fees and give a sound education raise your hands if you know this song all right probably most people in my generation knew this song and as I reflect on this song today I like to think that there is actually a sentence in that song that we hear ever so

leadership Journey Begins now you are not too young to lead this morning as I had my morning devotion interestingly everything coincided with the topic I was actually going to talk about today and in first Timothy chapter 12 verse chapter 4 verse 12 he said don't let anyone look down on you because you're young but set an example for the Believers in speech in conduct in love

in faith and in purity that's what Christianity tells us raise your hand if you're Christians in the room all right and for our Muslim brothers and sisters we know that Islamic principles promote the idea that leadership should be based on piety on wisdom and on competence rather than on age or your social status we also know that as Muslims were encouraged to seek knowledge and understand

and raise your hand if you're Muslims in the room and you can identify with some of what I've said today I want to let you know that as a young person it's never too early for you to start and we have several stories of powerful young people who are inspiring change around our world our very ownly at the age of 10 started to make documentaries about

African leaders and their efforts to improve education today she's not so young anymore but she continues on that path on her advocacy she's interviewed all kinds of world leaders including our very own president uh former president Goodluck Billy Jonathan you all may have heard about Malala yusufsai of Pakistan how many of you have heard about her yeah so at the age of 15 Malala survived an

assassination attempt by the talibans for advocating for girls education in Pakistan but that did not deter her and since then she's become a global advocate for girl child education and inspiring millions of young people around the world Malala was just a teenager like most of you all who are sitting down here how many of us have heard about Watson muchemba for from Zimbabwe Watson at the

age of 15 started the children of Zimbabwe War veterans association and created a platform to address the needs of young people that have been fake that that were facing challenges um struggles from the war in Zimbabwe and they've been providing educational support and mentorship and as well as advocacy for these children and ensuring that they have opportunities for brighter education you are not too young to

lead these stories and the stories of many other young people including of the young man who I learned about today amaziani a junior tennis champion champ I was so inspired by his story remind us that age is not a barrier to leadership and that we are not too young to lead there is power in youth there is power in each and every one of you sitting

down here today and one of the things that makes us such a powerful group of people is that we're so creative as young people we have adaptability our minds are very open we're Fearless you heard some of your colleagues come up here today and speak with such strength where resilient as young people and today one of the things you can start doing to boost your chances

of becoming a better leader is by finding opportunities to build your skills and competences at a greater scale I'd strongly encourage you to identify important community service initiatives in your school and in your local community to be a part of I'll strongly encourage you to join different youth organizations on your campus whether it's youth Council become a prefect a library prefect a school prefect those are

important opportunities to help you to build your leadership skills currently you have the privilege and the opportunity that most of us did not have are at our age you have access to several digital platforms Instagram Facebook Twitter Snapchat how are you using those channels these are important platforms for you to use to amplify your voices to mobilize young and like-minded individuals and to build strong allies

are you doing that you can also begin now to build and develop communication skills critical thinking skills problem solving skills and teamwork I can already see from what I what I gleaned here today that this is a an institution that is preparing young people for leadership take advantage of that and while you do this you may face certain challenges it may not always be easy right

you may find people who are skeptic about your ability to do some of the things you say you want to do you may not get the support that you need you may find people who underestimate you merely because of your age but I want you to know that by building strong supportive networks and learning from your failures you'll be able to overcome those challenges collaboration is

also a very key aspect of overcoming challenges and I'll tell you one important great story about collaboration in 2016 a group of young Nigerians decided that it was high time that we ended the exclusion that was brought about by the Nigerian Constitution by coming up with a bill or a movement that will reduce the age qualification for running for elective office we know that democracy is

a government of the People by the people and for the people but until 2018 young Nigerians were actually excluded from leading from running for elective office but through the not too young to run a group of young Nigerians collaborated at State and at National level and they were able to reduce the age qualification for running for elective office so that before you had to be 45

to run for president but thanks to that bill excuse me had to be 40 to run for president but thanks to that bill at the age of 35 you can run for the president of the federal republic of Nigeria also today at the age of 25 you can aspire to run for House of reps you can aspire to run for State House of Assembly and thanks

to that bill we've had so many young people who've emerged in this 10th assembly as a result of that bill you are not too young to lead in closing I would like to remind us that you at the age where you are now you can create significant impact you can begin where you are you can begin with your classroom with your neighborhood to lead change in

any areas that you identify where there's a gap take action Step Up use your voice use your talents to shape a better future for yourselves and your communities I'd like to remind you that age does not matter and in the future when next somebody tells you that you cannot because you're young I want you to look them in the eye and say what oh yes I

am not too young to lead thank you [Applause] [Music]