The National Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo, has lamented that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is failing to carry the Nigerian youth along in the appointments so far made.
Jalo, who spoke against the background that no youth made it as a minister in the cabinet of President Buhari, warned that the practice of “use and dump” of the youth after each election should be urgently discouraged as it was counter-productive.
The President’s party man made this assertion yesterday in Abuja at a workshop organized for the APC youths in collaboration with the International Republican Institute, IRI, with the theme: “The Role of Youths in post-election era.”
According to him, “There is this saying that the youth are leaders of tomorrow but in Nigeria today, the tomorrow seems endless. After all we are leaders of today not tomorrow because we have waited long enough and this tomorrow remains an elusive business.
“It is my opinion that the young people be given the opportunity to serve in leadership positions especially by this government because of the role they played in ensuring victory during the last election. Yet the young people are clouded, therefore the imbalance needs to be corrected.
“In order to build next generation of leaders, we must invest in the young people, the government must give support and ensure participation of young people in politics and government, and every effort must be made to ensure they become better citizens.
“But in most cases, the youths of Nigeria are usually used and dumped by politicians. Most especially during elections after getting into office they rarely have something for the young people. When in the real sense they constitute the majority of the voters with about 60 percent of the total voting population.
“It’s therefore pertinent for the youths of Nigeria to come together to address this problem.
“It is regrettable that with the population of about 70 million people, the youth constitute a powerful voting bloc in election, but they are however missing from political space active players, but active spectators. As indicated by the hype of activity in social media,” he stated.
