Youth urged to be citizen activists to propel development

By Patience Gbeze  

Accra, April 2, GNA – Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Co-Founder and Board Chair of Afrobarometer, a Pan-African Research Network, has urged the youth to boldly speak out on issues affecting their development and careers. 

He said students should ensure that their various leaders represented their views and concerns devoid of politics. 

Speaking at the 75^th Anniversary College-level Lecture, organised by the College of Humanities, University of Ghana, Prof Gyimah-Boadi urged the students to channel their grievances through their leadership for amicable solutions. 

It was on the theme: “75 Years of Contributing to Nation Building: The Role of the Humanities”. 

The College had trained students to become problem solvers and give back to society through advocacy and entrepreneurial ship. 

Prof Gyimah-Boadi said while other disciplines trained their students to become doctors, engineers and others, the Humanities impacted the values of empathy and social consciousness. 

“The Humanities attempt to make sense of ourselves as humans, the world we leave in and the society and cultures we create,” he said. 

“They also create awareness of an interest in issues of justice, equity and truth to whip society to the highest speed, nourishing the human spirit.” 

“For me, it has been always impossible to separate Legon from the ideals of the Humanities.”  

Prof. Gyimah-Boadi commended the College and Anniversary Lecture Committee for selecting him to give the lecture after nearly 10 years of retirement as a Faculty member. 

Being an alumnus of the College, he said the invite was a great honour to reflect with the College on past activities and envision the future of great possibilities. 

 These possibilities could collectively create a new group of youths, unrestrained by fear and inspired by valor, to confront human right violation, abuse of power and corruption in order to create the new Ghana. 

The Humanities programme of the University of Ghana, particularly the broad values and orientations associated with that field of study, had impacted on the building of a prosperous, inclusive and democratic country, he said. 

Prof Gyimah-Boadi’s lecture spanned his semi- autobiography – a sketch of his exposure to the Humanities at Legon, in the mid to the late 1970s, and how it had shaped his life and career. 

Concluding with a short homily, he appealed to students of the Humanities to return to the tradition of speaking true to power, defend the defenseless, and practise altruism instead of joining the fray. 

Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori, the Provost of the College of Humanities, said the College’s principal focus was to see how the youth could apply the knowledge acquired to fast-track national development. 

GNA

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