"
The answer he provided is that the youth are the engine room of a nation. According to him they are the ones that make a nation great. "While the old people have their wisdom and wealth of experience, the youth, in general, have their flush of intelligence, knowledge, energy and visionary ideals. The role of the youths in nation building is rooted in the energy they have in abundance and the knowledge and intelligence, which they possess".
He thus made the attempt to situate the underlining factors responsible for the general inadequacy in present day youth, which, according to him, reveal poverty and lack of solid moral foundation as basically responsible. He said the standard of living of most families is so appalling that there is a growing tendency for children to feel abandoned. It is a little surprise therefor, to see a good number of the youth engage in drug trade and drug abuse.
His words: "These youths now see drug trafficking as a lucrative business that could easily provide assets and fortunes in hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. Thus we now find drug barons using weak-minded teenagers to achieve their monetary desires. The challenge before us as Africans and our leaders are to first of all go back to fine principles i.e. strive to lay a solid moral foundation for the youths. This should start from the level of the family. Parents should devote more time to the upbringing of their children than quest to amass wealth.
Moving a step further, Marwa said, "another important area is discipline. A society without disciplined citizens is obviously bound for the ruins and has no alternative than to remain in a vicious cycle. Education is another important area for consideration. Genuine efforts should be made at boosting the educational development of our youths. The whole question of poverty also deserves serious attention. Food, shelter, healthcare, decent well paying jobs. Poverty alleviation programmes should therefore be encouraged by all government in the continent".
The youths are not, however, without their own roles, especially in a democracy as captured by Marwa in a paper titled 'The Roles of Youth in Democracy' delivered at the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), at Merit House, Abuja. He said: "As the saying goes, the youth are the future leaders. It is also known that before the arrival of fowls, there must be a well-incubated set of eggs. Hence, in sustaining democracy, the youth cannot fold their hands and watch democratic dictates and structures being bastardised by men and women of selfishness".
Arguing that sustenance of democracy is not a function of money and material alone, he said that the youth are capable of making positive impact towards the sustenance and growth of democracy by: embarking on exercising their civic responsibilities and rights at all times; educating the masses on electoral processes; sensitising the citizens on the need to cast their votes based on the contestant's qualities, integrity, intellectual capacity, track records and above all the fear of God; organising seminars at ward, local government, state and federal levels as to the need for voters not to mortgage their conscience for crumbs from treacherous, unserious, empty-headed and self-centred politicians; Crime prevention by promptly alerting the security agents on an impending crime; refusing to be recruited as political thugs; combating drugs usage and corruption; election monitoring; speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves; promoting the Nigerian culture; devotion to the Almighty God and propagation of religious tolerance; among others.
On the topic of 'Universal Principles of Leadership', which he delivered at the University of Ibadan early 2002, Marwa sought to define leadership as the act of efficiency in harnessing resources under one's control (human, financial, material or a combination of these) to achieve set objectives. To him, a leader is that person responsible for directing the affairs of others towards the achievement of common objectives. "Leadership is the act of getting the job done at least cost", he emphasised, while saying that the end must, however, be reconciled with the means of achieving it.
One of the most essential principles of leadership, Marwa explained is the fear of God. "Whatever enterprises or endeavour that one is opportune to lead, it must be clearly understood that it is privilege from God", he said. Discipline is another important principle of leadership, as he said that discipline is doing what is right with or without supervision or observation. His words: "The moment you do what is right only when someone is watching or supervising you, then you do not have discipline; instead you have what is called 'eye service'. Set good example. Leadership by example cannot be beaten. Leadership goes beyond personnel; includes fiscal discipline".
A leader, according to him, must have the vision of a clear destination of where he wants to go and how to get there. To him, the leader must have the capacity to strategize and plan a course of action that is workable. The leader must avoid complicated plans that have tendency to go wrong. "Goals must be achievable. In effect we are saying a leader should not to be a nitwit, he should have a minimum capacity to think, strategize, plan and act", he said.
Sense of judgement is another leadership principle he identified as he said: "Justice and fair play must prevail. A leader that promotes a policy that is partial by favouring a select group over another will cause revulsion and dissent neither of which will augur well for him or her. Nothing is hidden under the sun. leaders should be patient. They should hear all sides and, have a conscience. Sycophants, gossips, should be given a wide berth".
On acquisition of knowledge, Marwa said a leader must take interest in and acquire at least a minimum amount of working knowledge in the area he is superintending. According to him; "It helps to read into your job and understand up to a certain minimum level to at least enable you even understand what your experts are saying and doing. Then you can add to this knowledge by getting well-grounded staff on the terrain in question. A Botanist working as head of a finance organisation like the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development should read something, if he hasn't, on micro-macro economics so he understands the language. A person in leadership should not see as an opportunity to relax or make it. It is an opportunity to brace up intellectually, learn and be conversant. If you don't understand the field learn it or failure will be you lot".
To Marwa, loyalty, which often appears to refer to relationship with one's superiors only, also involves going the other way too i.e. downwards. He said: "A relationship of trust must be built between the person in leadership and those under him and one of the ways to achieving this is through loyalty to them. How is this achieved By watching out for their interests, their concerns, their problems and addressing them. Keep your workers/peoples motivated and well looked after. Incidentally, my experience here is that Nigerians do not ask for too much from their leaders. And they are very appreciative once they determine that you are working for them sincerely. They know it".
Other leadership principles he identified include, timeliness and calculated audacity, decisiveness and firmness, flexibility and information management. He insisted that: "The leader must know that he cannot do everything alone, he needs people".
