WorldStage Newsonline— Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has advised the Nigerian youths to give more attention to politics and governance as they did to soccer and entertainment.
Mr Monday Ubani, 2nd Vice President NBA made the call at a Public Lecture and Inauguration of Lagos Chapter of Young Leaders Empowerment Forum in Lagos. The theme of the lecture is “Politics of Sustainable Development in Nigeria’’.
He said that if the middle class and youth gave much attention to politics and governance, they would have been fully equipped with leadership skills “or even be in leadership positions’’.
”The middle class and the youth form 64 per cent of the country’s population, but most of them do not participate in electoral processes.
“Yet, they think that they have the moral justification to complain about the happenings in the country.
”When it comes to soccer, most of our youths devote so much attention with accurate predictions, discussions and analyses. Even, the entertainment industry was developed by the youth without government support.
”Just as they give attention to sports and entertainment, they should give stronger attention to politics and governance to develop the country.
”Rather than complain, the youth should take action as we move toward 2019. The youth need to come together and form a formidable force in politics and governance to make the society better,’’ he said.
Ubani advised the youths to register as voters and obtain the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) to enable them to vote during elections.
”Secondly, the Nigerian youth must also know that the dynamics of the Nigerian political system is still based on political parties.
“Therefore, the youths must form or join parties and actively participate as officials and active members of the parties and not as thugs,” he said.
On his part, Mr Austine Igbe, Executive Director and National Coordinator of The Forum, said that many young Nigerians were not ready for leadership positions.
Igbe said that the youth had not been well groomed as they had not been fully involved in the country’s political landscape and governance.
According to him, it is time for the youth to leave their comfort zones and actively participate in the country’s political processes to achieve desired change.
”We have realised that the problem of Nigeria is leadership failure and we need to start empowering and grooming people, especially the youth with leadership skills.
”President Muhammadu Buhari is bidding for second term because he thinks that the youths are not ready to take over the mantle of leadership.
”Our aim is to mobilise and empower the middle and working class within the age of 30 and 50, who are still energetic and active to dominate the politics and governance of the nation.
”We want to reintegrate the youth back into governance dynamics of the nation so that Nigerian youth can be successfully factored into the governance framework of the Nigerian state.
”We have started going to political parties to empower their youths to form Young Leaders Forum so that the youth will begin to get involved actively,” Igbe said.
