Stakeholders have called on Nigerian youths to get involved in governance at different levels.
This call was made by some participants at the civic engagement activity organized by, Abayomi Oke, a fellow of the 2023 cohorts of the emerging political leaders fellowship in Ota, Ogun State.
Comrade Adeshola Afariogun, a civil society leader and convener of the Ado-Odo/Ota Citizens’ engagement platform described as unfortunate the insensitivity shown by youths to governance in Nigeria.
Mr. Afariogun charged Nigerian youths to take charge of their destiny by participating in governance and demanding accountability from public officeholders. He announced that a citizen’s charter of demand is currently being collated for political office holders from Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government. He encouraged participants at the event to make their contributions to the documents.
“I want to commend the convener of this meeting. I deliberately attended this event just to express my commendation to him. Asiwaju has been consistent and he deserves our support. I am the pioneer representative of Ogun West to the Nigerian Youth Parliament and by this year, I will be retiring from youth activities but we must continue to encourage our youths to be actively involved in governance”, he said.
The panelists at the event were Mercy Anih-Bello of Dream Code Africa and Comrade Adebajo Adeleke, immediate past Chairman of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Ogun State Chapter. They shared insights on how Nigerian youths can contribute to nation-building.
According to Adeleke, the Political Institution controls other institutions such as religious and educational institutions, and therefore must be occupied by men of integrity and passion for development. He charged the attendees to discover themselves and pursue a genuine course that would promote the development of the country. He added that the National Youth Council of Nigeria is the only recognized apex body of all youth groups and associations in the country and its primary objective is to promote the interest and welfare of the Nigerian Youths.
In her submission, Ms. Mercy Anih-Bello identified how youths can utilize social entrepreneurship for nation-building. According to her, not everyone will hold public office but we can all play our role in developing our country. She admonished the participants to identify one or two goals from the sustainable development goals and be an advocate for them. She said Dream Code Africa has identified quality education as a challenge in Nigeria today and that is why they are addressing this important thematic area.
In his opening remark, the convener of the civic engagement, Abayomi Oke described the platform offered to him by the Bridge Leadership Institute to be a fellow of the 2023 cohort of Emerging Political Fellowship as a remarkable one. He said he is willing to pass on the knowledge acquired in the programme to many youths within and outside his community.
We gathered that Abayomi Oke is a prominent youth development crusader and good governance advocate. He is the founder and provost of Skill and Talent Academy, SKATA; a platform he has used to empower the dreams of about one thousand youths and women in and around Ota, Ogun State.
The event which had close to 100 people in attendance was witnessed by Community Leader, Religious leaders and political leaders. The Chairman of the Local Government, Engineer Sheriff Adewale Musa was represented by his aide on Youth and Sports, Comrade Dahood Ojugbele. Other attendees include the Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Awori Region, Reverend Francis Ubaka, the Chairman of the Area Community Development Committee in Sango Ota, Elder Adekunle Edagbemi and his counterpart from Agbara area of the Local Government, Mrs. Maryam Alabede.