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From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
As youths in Imo State joined their counterparts all over the world to commemorate International Youth Day, the chairman of the Imo State of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Ezinwanne Chimuanya Udoka, has urged political parties to reduce the cost of their nomination and expression of interest forms to enable the youths to actively participate in politics and governance.
He said that majority of youths who are well educated and brimming with ideas on how to make the state and country better have been discouraged as a result of the prohibitive cost of politics.
Udoka said the government can easily and smoothly bring the youth to participate fully and effectively in politics and governance when it prevails on political parties to lessen prices of nomination and expression of interest forms to the affordability of youths who justle or aspire for elections.
The NYCN state chairman, who stated this on Thursday, urged the federal government to ensure that the ‘Not Too Young To Rule Law’ assented by President Mohammadu Buhari is practically implemented so that youths would have the edge and not financial capacity to seek or vie for political seats without any hindrance especially as it bothers on finance, pointing out that a tiny per cent of Nigeria youths were not able to purchase the nomination and expression of interest forms for 2023 general elections.
The council stressed that “when youths who are catalysts for social good, development and edification are empowered through politics, governance, as well as employed to work in government establishments, youth restiveness, crimes, insecurity, suffering and vulnerability would reduce minimally in the country.”
According to him, “politically, youths are lagging behind in Nigeria. The not too young to rule law which the youths applauded President Mohammadu Buhari for assenting into law should fully be feasible. However, the factors militating against the law such as exorbitant prices of nomination and expression of interest forms by political parties for those vying for political offices among others made it highly impracticable for youths to contest for political offices in the country.”
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Udoka reminded the government of the need to always effectively implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which he affirmed will go a long way to affect the lives of people, especially youths positively in line with the vision of the United Nations on Sustainable Development Goals targeted at ending poverty and vulnerability across the world by 2030.
The theme of the 2022 International Youth Day is “Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for all Ages” with the “objective of amplifying the message that action is needed across all generations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and leave no one behind…Youths can be a positive force for development when provided with the knowledge and opportunities they needed to thrive. Today, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years – accounting for 16% of the global population. This number of Youths if not properly taken care of will be a time bomb waiting to explode.”
The council added that the “above underscores the need for proper integration of youths into the mainstream of governance to enable them to contribute their quota in decision-making process aimed at creating sustainable development and empowerment of this all-important populace in line with the SD Goals.”
Meanwhile, the youth leader had called on the “federal government to expedite action to call off the lingering ASUU strike so that our undergraduates can go back to school and acquire skills that can propel their future positively.
