Post a comment
The Founder and Chief Strategist for Project 1808, Inc. Dr. Alhaji U N’jai on Wednesday 8th February 2023 gave a lecture to four hundred (400) Corps of the National Youth Service Orientation Training on the theme ‘Patriotism for Nation Building.’
The lecture was part of a twenty-one (21) day orientation course at the Army Peace Mission Training Center at Hastings, Freetown facilitated by the National Youth Service (NYS), an agency of the Ministry of Youth Affairs where N’jai has been a chief guest lecturer for the NYS orientation training scheme since it began in 2018 with its first batch of two hundred (200) Corps.
Delivering his lecture, Dr. N’jai described Patriotism as the corner stone and pillar for nation building, a fundamental move used to promote total liberation and self-empowerment in the minds of their citizens.
N’jai who is also a lecturer at the University of Sierra Leone admonished the students to learn or revisit history in order to understand the idea of patriotism, encouraged the corps to emulate the spirit of courage and leadership portrayed by Sengbe Pieh (Joseph Cinque), a key historic figure in Sierra Leone’s and anti-slavery history.
He implored the corps to be agents of change within their communities and society, urged them to “learn about the past, get inspiration, reflect on the present predicaments and mistakes, and then build hope for the future.”
The Director of Programs, Recruitment and Training at the NYS, Sylvester Bewie, while presenting a certificate of participation to Dr. N’jai, described him as a pillar to the NYS scheme since its inception.
Mr. Bewie acknowledged the role of the founder of Project 1808 to academia in Sierra Leone; stating “these are the people we must emulate and celebrate because he has contributed greatly to knowledge and the development of this country.”
Mr. Bewie said the rationale behind the youth service scheme is to provide the agency for young people through capacity building and as well as have practical job experiences. This is also the goal of project 1808 Inc, a Sierra Leonean non-profit Community Based Organization (CBO) that was established in 2011 with a mission to create thriving children, youths, adults, and communities by providing tools for technical, leadership, entrepreneurial, and greater resourcefulness.
Mayiella Sesay, a graduate of the Institute for Public Administration and Management, said the NYS has been a great experience in gaining knowledge about the role of youth in promoting national development. Also, Moses Mohamed Sellay a graduate from Njala University said he has been strongly influenced to be a change agent based on the trainings and experiences from the NYS training centre, and the lecture taught him to reflect on one’s culture and reclaim one’s history for self-emancipation.
