“Take Charge of Your Future” by BM Dzukogi
Jerry Adesewo
Speaking in Minna, the Niger State capital, at the opening ceremony of the 6th Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu Schools Festival, popularly known as HIASFEST, BM Dzukogi challenged participating students to take charge of their future.
The founder and president of Hilltop Art Foundation emphasised the need for young people to take their destinies into their own hands to escape the life of misery that the older generation has bequeathed them.
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“Your fathers and mothers have destroyed this nation. That is why we are all struggling to survive today. So, you must become yourself, work hard, and utilise the talents that God has given you to ensure that you don’t continue to live in this misery or bring forth your own children into such misery and hopelessness.”
HIASFEST opened in Minna today and will run for the next four days with 28 participating schools from Minna and around Nigeria.
Schools will compete in various categories such as on-the-spot poetry, spoken word, art and craft, innovation, short stories, dance, drama, and music, among others.
The festival is reputed as the biggest teen art festival in Africa and has been growing year-in, year-out, with a budget of around twenty-two million Naira required to execute this year’s edition, which played host to over 3000 students from around the country.