Why youth should be more involved in politics —Convener of Asiwaju Diaspora Network, Olanrewaju

Olanrewaju Moshood Sharafa is the Convener of Asiwaju Diaspora Network and Founder of Tayese Empowerment Foundation. In this interview, he discussed the timeliness of the participation of youths in politics, his aspiration of becoming member of the House of Representatives, Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency, and many others. SEGUN KASALI brings the excerpts.

What birthed Tayese Empowerment Foundation?

Tayese Empowerment Foundation is a legacy project for me. It is a project within Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency. It is a local project that has national aspiration. The essence of the project is to immortalise my grandmother, Alhaja Bintu Adeshina aka Iya Kongo’s legacy. My Grandmother was the first Iyaloja-General of Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government, worked closely with Alhaja Habibatu Mogaji and of course with the current Iyaloja-General, Madam Folashade Tinubu. I felt that when my grandmother passed away the vacuum was there and we needed to fill that vacuum. Also, to look inward and beyond what mama has done and to touch every part of the local government – the widows, the children, the less privileged, the market men and women – to continue all those mama’s legacy and aspiration.

What form does the empowerment take?

At the moment, what we are trying to do with the empowerment is to roll out our food initiative. In December, we are feeding the constituency. We are trying to see how much we can solve that level of poverty. Our plan is to move from that feeding project to other plans that we have such as the back to school project, Support the widow project, the market men and women, micro investment scheme, which involves supporting them with loans to set up their businesses. We are rolling our food initiative project through the market men and women in the constituency. On the average, we are looking at 10 to 15 markets. It is a big project that we are looking at about 20 million naira investment. It is not that much but we are starting like that. We are rolling out bags of rice, beans such that people can crossover into the new year with smiles on their faces.

You have declared ambition to run for Ifako-Ijaiye Federal House of Representatives. Why?

Our constituency needs a vibrant voice and a representation in Abuja by someone who has the energy to articulate what the people want. We want to put our constituency on an international stage. I have a project in 2026 where I am talking to investors to know more about our constituency. It should be someone who has the exposure to replicate the international standard and best practices within our constituency. I am someone who grew up in the constituency in terms of living and schooling. Having spent quality time therein, including international exposure, I can bring all of that together to advance the level of exposure we are currently experiencing. I want to see a representation where we pass law that can enable investment within our constituency. I want to see us advocating for law that can bring about growth pole, for instance, Ifako Ijaye Vocational Centre, which is recognised by the Federal Government will be a growth pole, to that constituency. So, I want to see a vibrant representation that international best practices is embedded in. A vibrant representation you can speak for your people in such a way that it will bring the dividends of democracy back home.

How well of Ifako-Ijaiye politics do you know?

I say it with all sense of humility that I was part of the creation of the local government in terms of how it all started. I served as the Ward Congress Chairman during the ACN. I take huge pride in my knowledge of the council itself having grown up there. I have been part of the aspiration of market men and women and other youth initiatives that are going on in that constituency. I am ready to serve my people.

Why is it time for a Youth like you to come in?

One of our slogans for this project is Igba Otun. This is a new dawn, we want our people to know that it is time for the youth. The youth of today can drive huge change considering what we have experienced. Such change includes how you can bring in Artificial Intelligence into governance. So, youths have what it takes to understand what they can put in place to support the GenZs in terms of catering for their needs and also representing them with the right expectation. But, we are not only representing the youth, our call to serve and aspiration is for all. The energy you put forward as a youth is quite different from a non-youth with profound respect to the elders. It is time for you to get involved in politics and there is a lot of initiatives around that Not-Too-Young-To-Run.

What should they expect from you if emerge winner?

Let us talk about lawmaking. It is where you put an idea together that represents the voice of the people and therefore, you follow the process to enable such idea to become a law. Within the MHR context, our expectation is to propose bills to the House and such bill being supported to becoming a Law. The bill you propose to the house must represent the interest of your people. So, if you have a wide knowledge of expertise in a range of issues that can bring positive impact in the life of your people, chances are that you can propose law to the House that will make positive impact. If you have the international exposure of policies and initiatives that can positively impact the lives of your people, chances are that you are going to sponsor enough bills when you are in the House. For example, there are a range of issues that impact our people. We look at economic, social and environment lives of our people.

How good are the policies of this current administration of President Tinubu?

When the President came on board, I was invited to speak on a national television programme and I mentioned the expected milestone of the President. I am extremely pleased that some of these milestones crystallised.

What are these milestones?

The first milestone I mentioned was that the President should look out for Legitimacy of the office he is being occupied and that happened. What the President then did was to stabilize the economy by coming up with policies with the CBN and all of that. He especially tackled the Forex and put the naira to a stability point. The President then moved to the subsidy thing and get that out of the way to get the economy back on shape. So, I am just giving you some timeline of activities that the President has passed through. Now, the President is looking into the insecurity issue following the intervention of the USA. If you look at the direction that this current administration is facing, it is looking very good.