Be branded for The Future!

11:28 AM Edit This 3 Comments »
We're repping naija this year - BIG TIME! The launch of The Future Awards Season 5 is happening at Terra Kulture, Tiamiyu Savage Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, this wednesday at 5pm.


If you're one of our invited guests, you will be able to buy branded "i represent naija" and "i am the future" stickers and t-shirts. So come loaded to buy as many as you can.

And it's going to be available after the event - check the website www.thefuturenigeria.com.

Show the world that you have the true naija spirit! Let's rock town for change!

The Future Awards 2010
Aspire. Strive. Achieve.

CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS! CAMPUS REPRESENTATIVES! STATE CO-ORDINATORS!

7:34 PM Edit This 5 Comments »
We are launching Season 5 of The Future Awards (TFA) on the 1st of October – which is just 24 days away! And immediately after that, we begin road shows in Benin, Enugu, Kaduna, Adamawa, Abuja, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Ile-Ife, and in Accra and London – talking to young Nigerians about our message of change and hope.
 
Last year, we set a higher standard for youth engagement when the TFA road shows hit Enugu, Benin, Kaduna, Lagos, Abuja, Calabar and London. This year, as usual, the road shows will involve a town hall meeting, and a blitz of all the networks of young people in those states.
 
To work with us to make these even more effective we need VOLUNTEERS. Apart from being a member of our Volunteer Force, you can also apply to be a STATE CO-ORDINATOR, liaising with us to fine-tune activities in your states, and also a CAMPUS REPRESENTATIVE, working with us to fine-tune activities in your state and being the face of the project there!
 
Volunteers for The Future Awards Season 5 will access a bouquet of benefits including admittance into our Training Programme and The Future Mentorship Scheme, amongst others.
 
We don’t only want representatives in the states we will be visiting; we want representatives in all 36 states of the country! So are you passionate about change? Send us a mail at thefuturenigeria@yahoo.com, titled: VOLUNTEER, and tell us why you want to volunteer with us.
 
Please remember that, as with every year, selection of volunteers will be competitive. Deadline is the 29th of September, so let’s hear from you!
 
The Future Awards
www.thefuturenigeria.com
www.thefuturenigeria.blogspot.com   
Aspire. Strive. Achieve
 
 


"The Future..." belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams...

OUR MISSION

7:33 PM Posted In Edit This 2 Comments »
1) To capture the mass media and use it as a tool to positively re-direct the minds of young people; especially Nigerians and Africans in general
2) To stimulate and support entrepreneurship across sectors/create businesses and jobs to further empower the youth population
3) To foster interaction and synergy between young people across board
4) To employ sustained positive images of young people to correct stereotypes and to give a proper vision of Africa ’s future
5) When people work hard to make change in society, especially young people; they should be rewarded and encouraged to do more
 

Transforming Nigeria

7:46 PM Posted In Edit This 3 Comments »
This article was gotten from the August issue of YADA Magazine. Enjoy and post your comments

Everybody seems to know about what Nigeria is going through. People can recount all the mistakes that our leaders have made till date. I know because I have been there too. I have gotten to a point where the nation as a whole is frustrating and insulting those in authority was as easy as ABC. But I ask myself, if everybody just stays back and keeps insulting the generation that has gone before, Nigeria will not make any improvement as young people will begin to make the same mistakes their forefathers made. This is where YADA comes in.

If you have been following this journal-Zine from the beginning, you must have noticed that everything about this particular ‘magazine’ is different. Inasmuch as we want our readers to have fun and to enjoy reading the journal, we also want our readers to learn something new anytime as the main objective is for our readers to know.

The importance of knowledge cannot be overemphasized. Knowledge is synonymous to the growth of any society. It was the desire for knowledge that made Ancient Greece what is today. Most of our academic and philosophical training is based on what was done in Ancient Greece. We also know that one major characteristic of a developed society is that it is an informed society; one who is willing to learn from the mistakes of the past and strive not to make those mistakes in future by seeking new ways by which the problems can be solved.

In his letter to Lord Burghley, English Philosopher, statesman and lawyer, Francis Bacon said ‘I have taken all knowledge to be my province’. He also said in the book ‘Meditationes Sacrae (Religious Meditations)’ that ‘Knowledge itself is power’. What does this have to do with Nigeria? How does this solve our problems?

There is no point blaming the older generation for our problems. The deed has been done. What we can say is maybe they were not ready? The time was different. Now we have a chance to be different. We have a chance to change the way things have been done and to make Nigeria a place where we can raise world changers. The only way we can change this is if the Nigerian Youth undergoes change from the inside out.

What does this mean? Presently, with the way things are going, it seems that history will repeat itself with this generation. The reason is because this generation has misplaced priorities and also they have the wrong mindset. The average Nigerian Youth is mainly concerned with music or fashion or hitting it big (through pure or impure ways). Why these things are not bad (apart from hitting it big in an impure way), it should not be the core of our youth culture. The Nigerian Youth are the ones who are going to cause a change in Nigeria and our major concern should be in nation building. First, we should go back to our history and find out the root cause of Nigeria’s problems. With the knowledge of that, we begin to find ways by which we don’t make the same mistakes those that have gone before us have made. Also, we should seek out solutions to the problems that ravage us in Nigeria, problems like unemployment, corruption, poverty and illiteracy. Our generation is lucky because we have something our parents did not; the internet. The internet is one of the largest information resource centre created. Everything you need and everything you seek is there. Most times when we get on the internet we spend time checking out music and celebrity gossip. Once again, I am not against this but the truth is in getting our celebrity gossip and in logging on to social networking sites, we should try to seek for information. Let’s read the news and know what’s going on in our society; society being the world as the world is gradually becoming a global village.

Information and knowledge is the key to development. With these tools, we can empower ourselves for a new Nigeria. If of a truth we want to ‘Rebrand Nigeria’ let us start of by changing the mindset of the youth. Let us take our education (informal and formal) a little bit more seriously. Let us find a way of helping our youth that are engaged in 419 scam activities as they are tomorrow’s leaders. We can transform Nigeria together. It starts with you; a little information, a little knowledge. It may look like too little to cause a change but with a generation who knows, with a generation that has been changed from the inside out trust me Nigeria will not only be a nation with good people; it will be a nation with remarkably talented individuals whose excellence will shine across borders.

Remember KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Keep reading YADA!

Hola!!!

1:28 AM Posted In Edit This 2 Comments »
Welcome to the official blog of The Future Awards. Here you will get the latest updates on the awards and the various activities of Future Nigeria. Stay locked and remember your future starts now.

An Overview of The Future (from The Future Website)
According to The Guardian, all the young people that matter in Nigeria can be found at the venue of “The Future...” Awards – this perfectly captures the essence of the event.

Amongst its recent accomplishments, The Future Project/The Future Awards was one of the projects from 25 countries around the world, selected for the US Government’s International Visitors Leadership Programme in March/April 2009. It was also selected by the British Council under its World Changemakers Project.
 
Managed by a youth communications/youth resource agency called RedSTRAT, it celebrates young people between the ages of 18 and 31 with the awards – which are rigorously judged through a 4-stage 4-month process that involves a Board of Judges and an Independent Audit Committee
 
In an addressable population of about 57 million, approx. 31 million Nigerians are between the ages of 12 and 34. At the moment, Nigeria ’s unemployment rate hovers at 4.9%; from 15% in 1999/2000, the unemployment ratio which was 15% has only continued to drop. It goes without saying how frustrated this has made millions of youths. The Future Nigeria Project aims to correct this.
 
Organized by three young Nigerians below the age of 25, more than 75% of the events – from anchoring, to sound, to decorations, stage etc - are completely handled, run and managed by young people under 30.
 
All of last year’s winners were below 31 include a young female farmer, Paralympics-certified medical doctor, under-20 magazine publishers, first African Olympic medalist, amongst others. Categories range from Business Owner of the Year, through Best Use of Advocacy to Best Use of Technology.
 
The next season (Season 5) kicks off on the 1st of October 2009 with an official launch – and will have several build-up events until the Awards on the 7th of February 2010.
 
This year, we are working with the Federal Ministry of Youth, the British Council, the Fate Foundation, the After Graduate Development Centre (AGDC) and the Federal Ministry of Information.
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