Don’t ignore restructuring summit, el-Rufai tells Nigerian youths

Kaduna State governor and chairman of All Progressives Congress, (APC) Committee on True Federalism, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai has advised Nigerian youths not to show indifference to the ongoing summit on True Federalism.

Delivering his opening remarks on the occasion of the Committee interface with Youth and Civil Society Organisations, (CSO) the Kaduna state governor urged them to partake vigorously in the discourse, as he noted that they constitute the largest percentage of the population in the country.

He said: “We have gone round 12 states in the federation and we are back in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Abuja, with the objective of devoting  a day to our youth and we shall also devote another day for the women group.

“This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that there is an honest conversation on the structure of our federation. This is the first time that every Nigerian will be given the opportunity to contribute to debate on the  structure of the polity.

“We are going to listen to our young people that account for 60-80% of  Nigerians that haven’t been given voice. Now we must listen to them.

‘’We hope that at the end of the day, expressions collated will  be of immense benefit to  the party and government.

The Kaduna state governor further admonished the youth to spend less time on social media and join political parties for them to contribute their quota.

Secretary of the Committee, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi  restated the issues to be addressed  in the ongoing debate to include, derivation principle, revenue allocation and resource control, devolution of power, form of government, power sharing and rotation, autonomy for local government, state creation among others.

The youth groups in their individual presentations demanded for devolution of power to states and local councils as they noted that the federal government has been overburdened with so many responsibilities which they noted were better handled by states and local government.