Interview

Questions aspiring president must answer the youths —Gbeminiyi

Mr Oladipo Seyi Gbeminiyi is a youth leader and social commentator who was a former National Publicity Secretary of the Alliance of Yoruba Youth Council Worldwide (AYYCW). In this interview by Bode Adewumi, he speaks on the need for Nigerian youths to be more involved in politics among other issues. Excerpts:

You are a youth leader and have been at the vanguard of campaigning that the youth take the challenge of ruling the country. What are the motives behind your moves?

We understand the fact that the ‘Not too young to run’ bill has been passed into law and we have representation at the local government, state and federal levels. So, everyone is eligible to contest, either young or old.

And anyone who wants to become the president of Nigeria has vital questions to answer the youths. Now, with the issues of banditry, kidnapping, unemployment etc. they must be able to proffer realistic solutions, not rhetoric. We want solutions that are workable and we have timeline. Like unemployment, let them tell us, this is how they want to create jobs, are they incorporating the youths into the already saturated civil service?

Policies that will encourage industrialisation, like tax waiver for new startups, would the government give loans to small and medium scale enterprises in a bid to incorporate them into job creation? So, some of these things are vial questions any intending president come 2023 must answer the youths.

On the issue of the newly-found goldmine – Cryptocurrency, a whole lot of youths are into Cryptocurrency and the federal government said it is banning it, which means anyone who is into Cryptocurrency is doing contrary to that. The new government must be able to tell us, are they going to ban it too, or are they going to allow it or regulate it? As far as I am concerned, Nigeria must not be backward, we must be at the forefront of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the issue of Cryptocurrency I believe should be regulated and the sector will be able to drive the economy.

I can assure you if Cryptocurrency is regulated in the way it should be, that sector alone can finance the budget of this country without looking at the oil sector. So, I believe the next administration or anyone aspiring to be president of Nigeria must be able to give us his views on all these.

Come to think of it, would you say this government has not done well?

Well, government is a continuum, the Buhari-led administration inherited what the Jonathan-led administration left behind, and the incoming administration will also inherit what the Buhari-led administration is leaving behind. The Buhari-led administration has done its best, but as far as insecurity is concerned, he has done way below our expectations being a retired general. We had expected that if he was not going to do anything at all, in the area of security he should take A1. Now we have banditry in every area of the country, nowhere is safe, travelling now is a nightmare. Job creation – zero, we know the inflation rate as we speak, inflation is now two digits. So, if you say has the government done well, to me, it is a relative term. To some, he has done well, as he created more jobs –no, has been able to tackle insecurity – no, in the health sector health, practitioners are on strike, in the educational sector, the lecturers are on strike. So, how do you say he has done well? I would say he has performed below average.

As a former national publicity secretary of the Alliance of Yoruba Youth Council Worldwide, what were your aspirations at that time?

According to the name, is in an alliance of Yoruba youths, it is a coming together of Yoruba youths across board wherever you are in the world in as much as you are of Yoruba origin. It is a rallying point for Yoruba youths where we can voice our aspirations. Now we are saying it is the turn of the South, the north as done it and as a Yoruba person, I think it is the time of the Southwest. So, the association will be clamouring for and supporting the best candidate from the Southwest. We are going to be looking out for the best of the best. So, being a Yoruba man, I wouldn’t support anybody outside my zone, that is what is right and that is the stance of the association, because we the Yorubas have values, the knowledge and over time, we have delivered at every given opportunity.

Do you have any candidate in mind?

I cannot speak for the association in that regards, I believe at the appropriate time, the association will support someone of its choice.

As a young man, what do you think the government can do to alleviate poverty?

There are models applied everywhere, if you look at the model they operate with in New Zealand, they don’t pay too much attention to paper knowledge, they pay attention to what can you deliver. In Nigeria, if we go with that model, I tell you Nigeria will be known worldwide and be better than the way it has been. Though the government of the day is winding up already, but I believe it can still do a lot. On the issue of digitalisation, the government should come up with a plan. Look at Facebook for example, it is this government that started charging Facebook and Twitter taxes, before, there weren’t paying taxes. Do you know how much the country has lost? We should harness the digital world very well, we should take advantage of it and by so doing, and there will be enough money to support SMEs, to do a lot of things for the populace and by so doing a lot of things will be better.

What are your words for Nigerians?

I want the youths to come out and register. It is not just about sitting behind your phones and computers tweeting, votes are not counted on twitter and Facebook, votes are counted at the polling booths. How many of them have PVCs? Let them go and vote the candidates of their choices. So, they should go and get their PVCs and the youths should also get involved in politics. Don’t leave politics for the old people, they say we are the leaders of tomorrow, that tomorrow is today, when we join political parties and we are actively involved then little by little we grow. When we start from House of Assembly to the House of Representatives to the Senate and then the presidency, you don’t jump.

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