Ajimobi advocates youth participation in political leadership
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State on Thursday rose in stout defence of Nigerian youths, saying that they must be given chance to participate actively in the political leadership of the country.
The governor stated this while speaking on “Youth and the Future of Nigerian Politics’’ at the 50th anniversary lecture of Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall, University of Ibadan.
“Enough is enough of the system that makes the youth political touts and bouncers. They must be effectively included in general party decision-making and leadership structure of all political parties.
“If the youth of this country must indeed be leaders of tomorrow, we must stop recycling grey-haired leaders in this country. There is no gainsaying the fact that the same set of people who had been ruling the country in the last 30-40 years are still the recurrent factors in rulership today.
“The present scheme of things where the youth are jobless, cannot boast of a today, is such that it would be very difficult to articulate a concise tomorrow for them.
“All efforts must thus be made to ensure that the youth are leaders of their stomachs today before we can consider them for leadership of the nation tomorrow,’’ the governor said.
He also stressed the need for addressing youth restiveness in Nigeria, stressing that “in a country with over 10 million unemployed graduate youths, their involvement in social vices, taking up arms and general restiveness, is a given. This has made entrusting them with political power very difficult as they are seen as politically immature.
Governor Ajimobi also called on those occupying leadership positions in the country to ensure that the quality of education given to the children of today who would become leaders of tomorrow had left the deplorable level that it is today.
“The education that is given to the youth of today cannot be compared to the ones given to those great nationalists. Substandard education hampers the youth’s intellect and ability to master the political terrain.
“If we do all these, our youth would be on their way to occupying positions that rightly belong to them and the political future of our great country would be assured,’’ he said.
The Chairman of the occasion and former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), in his address, described the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe whose hall was named after as the most out-spoken and internationally-recognized Nigerian nationalist.
“Zik was a true Nigerian, a nationalist and an internationalist whose vision extended beyond Nigeria or West Africa,’’ he remarked.
The Guest Lecturer, Dr. Shettima Musatafa, said what Nigerians needed today was the proactive approach based on correct foresight and planning that could accommodate the various and varying interests of the majority and not a nation whose politics and governance were based on suspicious, ethno-religious, myopic, jingoistic and self-centred approach.
Mustafa, a former Minister of Agriculture, called for the bridging of the gap between the older and younger generations of politicians in order to address the misconception and suspicion between them, adding that this must be immediately rectified for Nigeria to move forward politically.
