The lawmaker representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Hon. Jimi Benson has urged the youths of Nigeria not to be discouraged despite the things that are amiss in the country, tasking them to rather see the opportunities amid chaos and not the other way round.
The three-term legislator stated this during a Fireside Chat with the Fellows of the Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy recently. He opened up on his career in the private and public sectors while sharing nuggets of wisdom on diverse leadership attributes like seizing opportunities, building relationships and leading through empathy.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Defense, who flew in from the Federal Capital Territory because of the Fellows, advised them not to take lightly the confidence that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has in them, which has provided a platform to optimise and maximise their leadership potential by giving them a gifted young leader in the Executive Secretary, Mrs. Ayisat Agbaje-Okunade.
Benson said, “Some youths have told me that my time as a youth was easier than theirs, but they have forgotten that they have something we did not have back then which is technology and can be very advantageous. It is possible to turn chaos into opportunities, see the opportunities in the chaos”.
The lawyer-turned-lawmaker said, “The youths of this country and Fellows of the Lateef Leadership Academy should learn to shoot at opportunities for it’s a bird that never perches. Be relentless. Be tenacious too”.
The Executive Secretary of the Academy, Mrs. Ayisat Agbaje Okunade revealed that the Leadership Academy was created by the Sanwo-Olu Administration to fill the leadership vacuum in the country by baking transformative leaders.
She disclosed that the process of becoming a part of the programme is strictly by merit.
One of the Fellows, Mrs. Orifunke Lawal, said what thrilled her the most with the FireSide Chat with the Hon. Jimi Benson was not just his brilliance but his openness as he advised them to keep growing to fit themselves into positions of leadership.