2019: Nigerian Youths will take their destiny into their hands

                          

Green Nigeria, a coalition of young Nigerian professionals cutting across ethnic, religious and political party lines has called on Nigerian youths to take their destiny into their hands by participating more actively in politics and governance. According to the group, Nigerian youths have been kept on the wings of leadership for too long. In a statement signed on behalf of the group by Tonye Isokariari on Thursday, February 17, Green Nigeria noted that “The combination of institutionalized youth exclusion, poverty, illiteracy, lack of equal access to opportunities and frustration with bad governance have conspired against the emergence of qualified and competent Nigerian youths in politics and governance

Calling on Nigerian youths to shun the sentiments of political party, ethnicity, religion, peer envy, greed, ‘my hustle is better than yours’ and other attitudes that have kept them perpetually as hustlers at the mercy of any government in power, the group said Nigerian youths must reject the notion among the elite class that the youths are incapable of leadership. The group said: 

“Why are Nigerian youths allowed to vote at the age of 18 and then systematically prevented from running for office until over a decade later? Last year in Ghana, 23-year old Francisca Oteng Mensah was elected as a member of the Ghanaian Parliament. In Nigeria, she would have been told that she is the leader of tomorrow because of our youth-unfriendly laws that would have classified her as under-aged.

“In Mali, Moussa Mara became Prime Minister in 2014 at the age of 29. In Sweden, Johan Gabriel Wikström was appointed Minister of Health in 2014 at the age of 29. Charles Michel is the Prime Minister of Belgium. He assumed office on October 11, 2014 at the age of 39. Irakli Garibashvili was appointed Georgian Minister of Internal Affairs in 2012 at the age of 30. In Canada, the current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assumed that office at the age of 43. How old was Anthony Enahoro when he moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence as a member of Parliament? How old was General Gowon when he became Head of State? In 1982, Audu Ogbeh was 35 when he was appointed Minister of Communications. Today, he is now Minister of Agriculture. And they say this generation of Nigerian youths is too young or unqualified?

Read more: https://www.naij.com/1088994-2019-group-urges-nigerian-youths-destiny-hands.html