Gbajabiamila tasks Nigerian youths on choice of elective political officers

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3 years ago

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila on Friday tasked Nigerian youths on the choice of various political office holders in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.

Hon. Gbajabiamila who spoke in Abuja during the Youth Summit organised by the Gbaja Professionals Volunteers Network to mark the 2022 World Youth Day, however, observed that the political conversations about the elections have been dominated by the loud voices of division and derision.

While noting that the International Youth Day with the theme: ‘Intergenerational solidarity: Creating a world for all ages’.

He said: “In barely six months, the Nigerian people will go to the polls to elect a new slate of political leaders across the country. Governors, Federal and State Legislators and a new President and Vice President will be elected to preside over the affairs of our nation at this moment of great opportunity and the potential for peril.

“What happens in that election and the kind of nation we will consequently have will depend greatly on the choices young people make in the lead-up to that election and at the polling booth.

“It is unfortunate that the political conversations about the forthcoming elections have become dominated by the loud voices of division and derision for whom politics is a contact sport designed to inflict the greatest harm on the individuals and the body politic.

“These voices have elevated fake news over facts and the politics of grievance and victimhood over studied consideration of the policy questions and answers that will determine the fate of the young people who make up the majority of our population. You must resist this.

“It is time for the voices of reason and compromise, whose manifest desire is to be part of the solution, to seize the debate, and make their voices heard.”

Hon Gbajabiamila disclosed that a practical policy proposal that will be drawn up at the end of the Summit from the digital data bank set up by the volunteers will be presented to the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to guide his campaign.

The Speaker who said he has interacted widely with Nigerian youths said: “I have seen what young people can achieve and have often been amazed at the innovation, resilience, and brilliance of our nation’s youth in different spheres of life.

“From these experiences, I have long since concluded that our nation’s young people hold in their hands the promise of a future that is far better than everything that has come before. I am committed to doing all I can to help make that future possible.”

In his remarks, the National Coordinator of the Gbaja Professional Volunteers Network, Lukman Lawal observed that all hands must be on deck to actualise the quantum of the positive impact we all desire in our country.

“We are poised to identify with the cause of good governance as exemplified by the person of Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, whose mantra of ascension and daily conduct remains “Nation Building, A Joint Task’.

“Over the last three years, in addition to delivering our professional services to the Speaker as aides and by extension the country to achieve the Legislative Agenda of the 9th Assembly, we have successfully carried out direct interventions on Education, Healthcare, Capacity Building and Welfare, impacting about 100,000 pupils, children, youth, women and households, across the country.”

Lawal said available figures from the World Bank suggested that Nigeria’s sustainable development is threatened if decisive steps are not taken to invest in the Nigerian people, particularly the youth population.

He said: “according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria has a youth labour force of 29.9 million people. For context, this is a youth workforce that is over two times the entire population of Belgium. Of this number, 42.5% (12.7 million) are unemployed and actively seeking employment.

“The implications of an underdeveloped youth population are widespread, evident in the growing insecurity, internet fraud, and overall social stagnation in the country.

“The need for a deliberate, coordinate and multifaceted approach to solving youth unemployment, underemployment, and negative orientation cannot be overemphasised and indeed cannot come at a better time than now.”

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