The chairman, Partners for Electoral Reform and a board member of Yiaga Africa, Mr. Ezenwa Nwagwu, has advocated for rejigging of youth organisations in the country to achieve increased youth participation in the nation’s political processes.
At a youth political participation conference in Lagos State to unveil its research report launch, Nwagwu stated the need for youth organisations to become theatres of participation rather than being theatres of transactions that is obtainable presently.
He also blamed the declining rate of youth participation in politics on godfatherism.
He, however, urged the government to create more platforms for youth engagement while also calling on Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to expand their spaces for engagement on political education.
He tasked youths to make themselves relevant by taking responsibilities and making commitments to a course they believe in, instead of following some politicians aimlessly looking for leftovers, saying, “there are godfathers whose interest are for the betterment of the masses. Such godfathers are not selfish, and worth following.”
Also speaking, the APC youth leader, Lagos State, Seriki Muritala, charged the youth to follow political gladiators with clean track records for mentorship and stop demanding mundane peanuts from politicians who meant no good to them.
Muritala encouraged them to be politically- informed else politicians would treat them as blind ambitious youths. “The youth must get informed and follow people with credible reports,’ he charged.
On his part, one of the researchers, Professor Surajudeen Mudasiru of the department of political science, Lagos State University (LASU), who gave an overview of the report, called on all stakeholders in the political space to explore the report for policy advocacy, planning and sound decision making, geared towards extricating the youth from the shackles of political enslavement.
Another researcher who also doubles as a professor of political science, LASU, Sylvester Akhaine, said there is a problem of participation in Lagos State as a result of godfatherism that tends to exclude youths that want to participate in political process, adding that, the ideology of adultism by reserving political positions for certain ages also discourages youth participation in political affairs of the country.
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