Of youths and Nigerian politics

I want to support the new policy that makes it possible for anybody from 30 years and above to seek for any political position in the country.

The majority of our politicians are old men who lack the vibrancy to take us to the next level, and giving young Nigerians the right to contest for political positions, even to the presidency, will revitalise our politics.

However, one negative thing about this development is that our politics is played with money, and at the age of 30, most of the youth who are politically-inclined would not have made money to make them realise their dreams.

In fact,  in Nigeria today, except one is a child of a wealthy individual, one struggles to the mid-40s. So how does one raise the funds to pursue political ambitions?

I believe youths can join parties like the Labour Party, which focus on youths and workers’ welfare.

It is, however, painful that such parties have also been taken over by moneybags who use them as a springboard for their political advancement.

For example, we have seen politicians who won on the platforms of these ‘small’ parties who later decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Whatever it is, the decision that Nigerian youths can now aspire to the highest office in the land is a good development. I, therefore, hope that through the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), youths can embrace a political party through which they can launch their political ambitions.

We need more youths in political positions in this country. Our elderly politicians have failed us for long, and that is why we are in the economic mess we are in today.

• Fidelis Akpan,

Uyo,

Akwa-Ibom State.