Youth to drive innovation for national developments – Kole Shettima

Kole Shettima, a renowned development expert, has called on Nigerian youths to prepare themselves for opportunities through hard work, innovation and continuous learning, stressing that talent alone is not enough to guarantee success.

Kole Shettima, who is also the Director of the MacArthur Foundation’s Nigeria Office in Abuja and Co-Director of the On Nigeria Big Bets, stated this while delivering the keynote address at the Northeast Youth Idea Summit 2.0 held in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

Shettima urged young people to develop practical solutions to societal challenges and position themselves to seize opportunities whenever they arise.

According to him, the difference between those who succeed and many equally talented individuals often lies in access to opportunities rather than in intelligence or ability.

Shettima said his success was made possible because someone recognised his potential and invested in his future.

“The only difference between many of my classmates and me is opportunity. I am sure many of them were just as brilliant as I was, but someone saw my potential and awarded me a scholarship,” he said.

He encouraged participants not to rely on luck, explaining that success comes when preparation meets opportunity.

“People often say someone is lucky, but luck simply means you were prepared when opportunity came. You cannot take advantage of opportunities if you are not prepared,” he stated.

The development expert further challenged youths to become solution providers, using technology and innovation to address Nigeria’s developmental problems rather than merely complaining about them.

Using the country’s electricity challenges as an example, he urged participants to think beyond power outages and begin developing innovative ideas to transform the energy sector.

“When people say NEPA has taken the light, the real question should be: what ideas are we developing to solve the problem?” he asked.

Shettima also urged governments, development partners, and the private sector to create more opportunities for young innovators by supporting the entire innovation value chain, from ideation to incubation, acceleration, and investment.

He stressed that many brilliant ideas fail to make a meaningful impact because innovators lack the support needed to transform their concepts into sustainable businesses and development solutions, and called for stronger protection of intellectual property rights to ensure innovators retain ownership of their ideas and enjoy the benefits of their creativity.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Mu’azu Alhaji Modu described the Northeast Youth Idea Summit as a strategic platform designed to inspire young people to embrace innovation, entrepreneurship, nd technology as tools to address societal challenges.

He urged participants to take full advantage of the knowledge-sharing sessions, networking opportunities and mentorship available during the summit, noting that the future of the region depends on the creativity, resilience and commitment of its youth.

The summit, themed “Transforming Nigeria’s Local Governance: Harnessing AI and Youth Innovation for Transparency,” attracted government officials, development partners, youth leaders, entrepreneurs and technology experts from across the North-East.

Other sessions featured presentations on the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF), the Youth Local Government Accountability Fellowship, TEDx-style impact talks by fellows, a panel discussion on “Transparency in the Digital Age: Technology, Open Government and Citizen Power,” the unveiling of the Bayani AI Toolkit, success stories from NYFF grantees and award presentations recognising outstanding fellows and partners.

The summit ended with renewed commitment by participants to harness Artificial Intelligence, innovation and civic engagement to promote transparency, accountability and sustainable development across Nigeria’s local government system.