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Article Title: Youth Leadership Skills' Empowerment for National Transformation
by Ekpoh, Uduak Imo; Edet, Aniefiok Oswald and Uko, Esther Samuel

Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to ascertain the role of secondary schools in empowering students with youth leadership skills for national transformation. The population of the study included students from public and private secondary schools in Uyo Metropolis of Akwa Ibom State. A sample of 400 students were used for the study. One research question and two hypotheses guided the study. Data collection was done using researchers-developed instrument titled "Leadership Skill Development Questionnaire (LSDQ)".The questionnaire was validated by experts in Test and Measurement. The reliability estimate using Cronbach Alpha was 'r'-0.86. Data collected were analyzed using frequencies, simple percentages, population t-test and independent t-test. Findings indicated that the level of empowering students with leadership skills under existing curricular and extra-curricular activities was significantly low and that there was no significant differences between public and private secondary schools in the level of their empowering students with leadership skills. Recommendations made included that leadership skills should be embedded into regular school curriculum. This paper will be invaluable to stakeholders in the educational sector. In this regard, the findings would be beneficial to secondary school administrators as it will provide useful information that will facilitate the training of youths with leadership skills. Also, it is envisaged that the study will help curriculum planners in including leadership skills as part of the curricula.

Keywords: secondary schools, youth, leadership skills, empowerment, national transformation

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