A pro-democracy group, Kwara Must Change, has called on the leadership of political parties in the country to train their members to become development agents.
The group, in a statement signed by its convener, Abdulrasaq Hamzat said that political parties should be more active after elections,noting that democratic governance can only succeed and produce the right results if political parties are actively involved in governance process and development.
It emphasised the need for the leadership of each political party to prioritise capacity building of their members to act as development agent.
It said that political parties should not be just about winning elections, or about political organisation, but should also be about development planning.
The group noted that government and its institutions can’t be as close to the people as the political parties, adding that, ” his is why political parties should be regarded as the most important developmental institution in democracy and be empowered to play such role.
“It is a fact that federal government has scanty presence in each state of the federation, state government with scanty presence at the local government areas in the state and local government with scanty presence across the wards.
“Political parties on the other hand doesn’t only have a larger than life presence across all states of the federation, it equally has similar presence in each local government areas, wards, zones and even polling units.
” The wide spread of the political parties across the length and breadth of the federation has given them the needed advantage and opportunity to drive Nigeria’s development, using their coverage to obtain developmental data that can transform the country within the shortest possible time,” the group stated.
