2023 Election: Nigerian youths will take their rightful place -Y4G

…describes marginalization of the youths as cruel

By Palmer Ogheneyole Nathaniel,

A group of young men and women under the auspices of Youths 4 Governance(Y4G) has stated that the present state of things in the country as it affects youths’ participation in leadership and governance will no longer be cordoned.

The group in a statement at the end of its general meeting held recently at the NUT Hotel, Asaba, capital of Delta state, noted that the common maxim of youths being leaders of tomorrow has become a scam and an unrealistic illusion.

Flanked by hundreds of members of the group, the Director-General/National Coordinator Engr. Arerosuoghene Jerry Agbajileke while reading the communique stressed that the Nigerian youths faired better in the military era when sensitive government portfolios were handed over to very young, vibrant and energetic officers, adding that since then, the Nigerian youths lost their place to the old brigade who have vehemently refused to give them a new lease of hope.

“It is with great delight that I welcome you all to this August event. First, let me in no small measure appreciate God Almighty for making this day a reality. The planning of this event has been hectic. We are glad that at last, the very pragmatic members of this group painstakingly rallied round the leadership to ensure that the event is a great success, after all.

“The reason we are here is not far-fetched. We have gathered today to speak to the entire world through the instrumentality of the media that the docility and cruel marginalization of the youths in government at all levels must henceforth be repudiated. The youths have been docile for too long. Though we are told that we are the leaders of tomorrow, that “tomorrow” seems like a facade that may never come to fruition”, the communique reads in part.

Adding that “the Youths for Governance Group, formed by us precisely in the year 2017 was designed to carry out advocacies that will awaken the consciousness of youths in partaking in leadership and governance like it is done in other climes. We are here to challenge the authorities at all levels that youth inclusiveness in positions of leadership must never continue to remain in the realm of options.

“Today, we are drawing our undaunting inspiration from American jurisprudence expert, scholar and community developer, Junius Wallis who weathered the storm and rose to become a rallying point for youth advocacy in His country, to state that we have woken up from our deep sleep and now poised to take our rightful place.

Wallis while motivating his comrades wrote thus, “the youths were to be trained to be the vanguard of the next battlefront, whatever that was. I knew within my heart that the Gibson experiment in city hall would attract enemies, so I intended to teach these young people how to fight on this new battlefield.” After legions of titanic struggles with the oligarchs, he rose to become the youngest president of the National Bar Association’s history in 1978. That is the spirit of resilience.

“As a group, we crave for a society where youths will be included and participate actively in politics and leadership. It is an unimpeachable fact that the various military juntas gave youths more opportunities to be at the policy and decision-making table. Then, we had heads of state who were far below the age of 50. Ditto to military administrators in some states. But today, we have men in their 60s and 70s standing as councillors in the local government councils; the lowest cadre of political leadership. Sadly, we have old men of over 60years of age serving as “youth leaders “ at various levels in some Political parties’ leadership. This trend MUST stop henceforth. No nation can move forward under these circumstances.

“As a group, we are open to discussions by political parties, aspirants, candidates and government at all levels, youth advocacy groups and interest groups, on the subject matter. Our position will be to negotiate more leadership vacancies for our youths. We are also not unmindful of the shenanigans of some of our youths. We hope to discuss, recommend and bring forth some of our finest and incorruptible hands, while we retool the minds of the question into more productive and fecund engagements.

“We thank those in privileged positions, governments and industry players who have given our youths opportunities to thrive. Even as we ask for more, we are confident that these lucky ones will deploy their youthful exuberance and warhorse energies into lifting these enterprises to levels of envy. We are confident that our advocacies will yield fruits faster than we ever envisaged. We hope to see some of us rise to become global players, captains of industries and politician powerbrokers in the days of ebullient energies. We are optimistic that a drastic and positive turnaround awaits our youths while we see from afar the greatness that will herald this nation soonest.

“I thank you all once again. I pray we have another press briefing like this in no distance time to itemize and chronicle the successes of our profound agitations. Thank you all once again.”