2023: Nigerian Youths Mobilize For Election Of President With Wealth Creation Track-Record

Four leading civil society groups in the country have initiated nationwide conferences for youths to drum support for the election of a Nigerian president who has a track-record of job and wealth creation.

The inuagural conference of the project holds in the Southeast from 23th to 26th March 2022, THE WHISTLER gathered on Friday.

The venue is Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, according to a joint statement signed by Prince Rwang Pam Jnr. on behalf of the organisers.

The organizers said the theme of the event is ‘Towards Increased Youth Participation in Governance.’

THE WHISTLER gathered that the event is being organised by Online Publishers Association of Nigeria, The Nigeria Citizens Initiative (TNCI), Society for Women Mentoring and Advancement (SWOMAAD), and Southern & Middle Belt Alliance (SAMBA) in collaboration with the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Debate Club (NAUDC), a chapter of the Nigeria Debating Community (NDC).

The four-day event will feature debates among 400 students from major Nigeria universities and award of prizes, our correspondent gathered.

The statement added that, “There will also be seminars with guest speakers, including politicians, community and religious leaders, captains of industry and the academic community.

“The aim of the conference is to transform our youths from being onlookers at the sidelines of politics to an enlightened and competent group of stakeholders prepared for leadership responsibilities

“Youths, not oil, will be Nigeria’s greatest assets by 2030. The primary aim of this event is to uplift Nigerian youths from the fringes of leadership to an educated and distinct social demography of a competent body of young people prepared for leadership.

“We expect at least 1,000 youths from Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, drawn from the 36 states of the federation, to attend the event.”

Other issues to be explored, according to the statement, are: addressing the challenge of youths and political apathy, rotational presidency and Nigeria’s democracy, addressing political inequality and imbalance through zoning of political offices, women inclusiveness and gender balance in governance and the role of the media in ensuring political equity.

The conference organisers said the groups ‘are serious about ensuring that the Nigerian youths participate actively in the next general elections because the future of Nigeria is indeed in their hands’.

According to them, “We want the youths to understand that their future is in their hands so they must participate effectively as the country actively seeks to elect a president from the private sector with a proven track-record of job and wealth creation.”