A non-governmental organisation, YouthHub Africa has called for the inclusion of more young persons in governance, saying this would allow them contribute more to the development of the country.
Executive Director, YouthHub Africa, Rotimi Olawale said this at a programme organised by the organisation to celebrate this year’s international youth day in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to him, young people should be given access to contribute their quota to governance in the country.
He said, “We must find inroads for them to contribute effectively to the governance space. I think that what we need to find out is that we have a lot of qualified young people in Nigeria. What I always say is that talent is evenly distributed anywhere in the world.
“We have enormously talented people in Nigeria. What is not there is the opportunities, you know. How many opportunities have been handed over to young people in Nigeria? And there are all kinds of opportunities.
“There are elective positions that are very limited, but there are also appointments that can be given. People are waiting for the president to appoint ambassadors. Now we probably have over 140 ambassadorial slots to fill.
“We want you to trust our young people with money. Let them go into their communities to effect change, and let us hold them accountable for the resources that you commit into their hands.”
Former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, urged young people to care about the future rather than been transactional.
He stated, “So, what I’m telling young people is that they should refuse to be sidelined. First, they should not accept to be paid for nuisance value. So, when they are going to be part of a campaign, and they are writing policy, they should also write policy as if they themselves want to be part of implementation.
“When I was running for election, and when I wanted to run for governor and primary, the young people were the ones who disappointed me most. They would come, and they would pledge commitment, and then they would go and collect money and flip.
“But, interestingly, older men and older women were consistent. They saw the vision, the message, and they said, look, even if we are old, we want to make sure of our children’s future. So, young people should care about the future.
“They shouldn’t care about today’s transaction. Because the old people prefer to pay them off for today and ruin their future. But they should reject today’s payment and insist on being part of defining that future.”
One of the participants, Lois Tofunmi urged youths to scrutinise government policies before they are implemented.
She also urged the youths to demand accountability and transparency from government.
Tofunmi said, “As youths, I think it is time for us to look at some of these policies that have been imposed on us and reject the ones that are not good for our country. If we demand change and accountability from government, we as individuals need to do our due diligence as well.”
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