Politics
FG Recommits To Youth Dev …For Effective Political Participation
The Federal Government has renewed its commitment to building the capacity of youths for effective political participation.
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Solomon Dalung said this at the round table on politics with values and youth inclusion in decision making processes of political parties, organised by Westminster Foundation for Democracy on Thursday in Abuja.
Represented by the Deputy Director on Rights and Leadership Division, Mr Aliyu Sule, the minister said the roundtable could not have come at better time when Nigeria through the enactment of the ‘Nor Too Young To Run Law’.
“You will agree with me that before the enactment of the Not Too Young to Run Law, young people are often excluded or overlooked as political candidates.
“Politics in Nigeria was regarded as an exclusive space for politically experienced men; while the youth are often disadvantaged and classified as not important in the policy making and implementation,” he said.
Dalung noted that that young people had been the catalysts of Nigerian democracy till date, but they still occupy less than 10 per cent of the nation’s political office and position of policy making.
He however, said the presence of young people in decision making positions benefits all citizens and not just youth.
Prof. Sola Adeyanju, the deputy chief operating officer, Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies said many of the youths are not economically buoyant enough to operate in politics.
“The practice of democracy and the adoption of the Presidential system of government come with their values; these must be adequately observed and promoted for fairness and participation.
“The youths should equip themselves with these values, if they want to guarantee their future and be more involved in political participation as a means of taking over and guaranteeing the political values in the society.
“This is the only way by which the political values can be realised and the youth can hope to effectively partake in decision making on issues concerning them,” he said.
Adeyanju said there was need to have change of attitude towards the essence of politics and youth involvement.
The Country Representative of WFD, Mr Adebowale Olorunmola said the roundtable was designed to form a network of young persons in politics with values to drive the course of participating in politics with right ideology and principles within the political party system.
He said the political systems in Nigeria overtime had become titled to serving mainly the interest of political and economic elites, while excluding the interest of majority of citizens.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that WFD is a non-profit departmental public body sponsored by the Department for International Development (DfID), and Foreign and Commonwealth Office in UK.
Mr Ojukwu, who recently returned to the interim National Working Committee led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, noted that the party had 34 elected members in the House of Representatives, eight Senators, and 80 members at the state Houses of Assembly after the 2023 general elections.
“Now we lost all of them,” he said. “I don’t think we have as many as five members in the National Assembly.”
The former national officer of the LP talked to journalists in Abuja and said he chose to join the caretaker committee led by Senator Nenadi-Usman because they are now the officially recognized leaders of the Party.
“I chose to work with the caretaker committee to help save the Labour Party, for the benefit of the party. I also want to use this chance to ask my colleagues at the national, state, and local government levels to come together and help rebuild our party.
“Another election is around the corner. We lost everything we have. They have left to other political parties. So I’ll reach out to all my friends in the other group to get together and work on making this party stronger again.
“The caretaker committee has formed a reconciliation committee. Let’s come together and talk so that we can restore the first opposition political party in Nigeria.”
Mr Ojukwu, who was part of the Julius Abure’s group, said there are no more factions in the LP.
He added, “There is a court ruling, and since it is valid, the right people are in the correct positions.”
He urged Barr Abure and others to drop the legal cases they have filed because they are not helping the party.
“Litigations are killing political parties”, he said. “They’ve seen many political parties disappear because of legal battles, and the Labor Party is losing support every day, which makes me feel sad.”
Mr Ojukwu said he did not think joining the Senator Nenadi-Usman’s NWC was a betrayal of the Abure group, describing himself as “the oxygen” of that faction.
“I’m with this group because of the verdict. But I never betrayed anybody. Rather, I was betrayed,” he added.