Barrister Fabian Awhen
Talents is the natural ability to do something well.
It could also refer to the inmate, mental or artistic aptitude as opposed to acquired aptitude.
In other words, a talented person is no less than a genius. A genius in the sense that, he is naturally equipped and endowed with wisdom that distinguishes him from many mortals.
Everyman, being a creation of God has inborn talents, which are either developed or allowed to remain dormant.
Talents, when properly developed particularly in our youths, serve as a gateway or veritable tool for nation building.
This is why developed countries, and some developing ones spare no efforts at pursuing the development of talents found among their youths.
For instance, some countries like Libya, Japan, and Germany etc have gone out of way to design their educational system to suit their specific national needs, laying more emphasis on the development of identified talents, that can be applied on practical situation, rather than acquisition of mere knowledge.
Undoubtedly, this has given rise to the various inventions and discoveries which the entire humanity today has used to improve its environment.
Here in Nigeria and the state in particular, although a number of talents abound, the only area that appears to have received unqualified national attention is sports, with football topping the list
This is so, because it is only in sports and football in particular that youths appear to have been rewarded with huge sums of money and material benefits, whereas in several other areas like scientific and technological discoveries where the youths have excelled, little attention or no recognition is paid to further develop or commercialise such feat.
At best, such discoveries are shown on our national television, after that the rest in the trash can of history only to be told as stories and at times floated as exhibitions in trade fairs where there is money to buy a stand.
But this should not be the case for any nation or state, that wants its youths to take their rightful place in the committee of achieving nations.
Indeed, the time has come when we should cease to pay lip service to the development or talents that abound among our youths.
These talents exist in all spheres of human endeavour.
Therefore, no one area should have pre-eminence over the other, as talent development should be all encompassing and widely spread for the good of the individual and the state in general.
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