A group, National Youths Inclusive In Governance Organization, has warned politicians against using youths for political instability.
Convener of the group, Mr Yusuf Sheriff Banki, stated this during a press conference in Bauchi
He said with over 60 percent of the country’s voting population dominated by young eligible voters, it is critical to give them their rightful place in the political space.
Sheriff urged the political class to engage youths as agents of progress in the country, and not tools of violence and destruction, political corruption and misdemeanor.
He said the elite should endeavor to mentor youths on political education and employment opportunities which will ultimately serve as a succession plan for them to take over the affairs of governance when the time comes.
Sheriff said they have began mobilisation across the country against youth exploitation ahead of 2023 general elections.
He regretted that, so far, the youth have been neglected and forced to surrender to their fates, resulting in politicians using them as tools of violence and destruction, political corruption and misdemeanor.
Convener of the meeting said youths access and opportunity to participate in political processes must be provided as a matter of rights and not a privilege as enshrined under section 14 (2) in the 1999 constitution as amended, and as reiterated in National Youth Policy (2009), African Youth Charter and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good Governance.
He said that increased youth political participation in governance and decision-making is a clear indicator of a country’s democratic development.
Sheriff regretted that the lack of effective and efficient mentorship has contributed to the various social vices that have bred criminality among Northern Youths.
He said decades of civil rule in Nigeria have produced a disturbing profile in various sectors of the society, including citizens’ expectations on the mode of the governance that raised, in the first instance, their hope that all will be all right at the end of military rule.
“It was also regretted that the past years have created a generalized crisis of rising expectations particularly as democratic institutions continued to exhibit weaknesses in meeting the democratic aspirations of the people,” Sheriff said.
He stressed that the return to democracy in Nigeria after almost three decades of military authoritarian rule, has produced two related euphoria in the minds of Nigerians.
The first, according to him, is that there was the joy of witnessing the end of nauseating authoritarian tendencies and misrule, which by then had taken a serious toll on the country’s ability to nurture and develop democratic institutions.
He added that the second euphoria was predicated on the expectations that the new democratic government would turn around the country’s ominous past leadership trajectories and engender peace, unity, good governance and development.
