– Nigerian youths are major stakeholders in the Nigerian project
– Various youth groups in the country use their platform to push for positive agenda for the youth folk
– One of such group is the Nigerian Youth Parliament
The Nigerian Youth Parliament has decried the unguarded and frivolous proclamations by some groups in the country.
The group lamented about the “disjointed, disgruntled, unpatriotic and social irritants who are seeking cheap popularity through utterances which threatens the sovereign unity and integrity of the country.”
The parliament which described itself as an authentic voice of the Nigerian Youth Constituency sounded a note of warning to the groups.
Nigerian Youth Parliament president, Ayo Obe addressing the press on Monday, August 14. Photo credit: Nigerian Youth Parliament
They called on the leadership of the National Assembly to promulgate a legislation that will address the activities of such groups and punish them for any misdemeanors.
“This is because freedom of speech does not imply utterances of words capable of truncating national peace, unity and cohesion.
“However Nigeria is one united entity and our strengths lies in our diversity and in the Unity of Nigeria we stand,” the group added.
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In a statement sent to ZENITHBLOG.com and signed by its speaker, Ayo Obe John after its meeting at the National Assembly on Monday, August 14, the parliament made 13 key demands. They are:
1. They called on the federal government to declare state of emergency on the economic sector, build youth capacity and create jobs in other to avert the impending socio-economic and political hurricane that may hit the country if no commensurate measures are in place, and in the right time.
2. They canvassed for the outcome of the National Confab be fully implemented, as it reflects the true opinions, consent and goodwill of every Nigerians, having in it, the true home-grown ideations, ideologies and innovative solutions to fix the country and strengthen our unity.
3. That there should be complete economic and political restructuring of the country; giving the federating constituents the capacity to realize their unique socio-economic and political potentials and grow their prosperity.
4. That the federal government should open sincere dialogue with different genuine groups clamoring for the restructuring of the country and aggregate their opinions for the benefit of stepping up a holistic solution to address the surging agitations.
5. Charged the federal ministry of youth development and sports to stand up to its responsibility of developing the enormous potentials of Nigerian youths demography and aligning with all global conventions on youth development. Also, appeal to the Acting President to convoke a National Youth Roundtable Dialogue (NYRD) to address several issues confronting the youth.
6. That State Houses of Assembly should as a matter of necessity and trans-generational breakthrough pass the NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN BILL and the Local Government
7. The federal government should declare a National Youth Day as a day for celebrating the enormous potentials of our youth demography, and assessing all Youth Response Actions (YRA) and setting in motion a 360 Days National Work plan on Youth Development.
8. That the presidency should remove the National Youth Service Corps budget from the Youth budget.
9 That the presidency should declare state of emergency in the power, agriculture and science and technology sectors.
10. That the 8th National Assembly should promulgate an Act that will establish the punitive measures as deterrents to every hate speech that will ridicule and destabilize the National Unity and cohesion.
11. That the presidency should as a matter of urgency commence the full implementation of all treaties, agreements and consensus with any group.
12. That the federal government should adhere and comply with all court rulings, judgments and injunctions, thereby doing away with selectiveness in the compliance with any outcome of court process.
13. That all the political parties in the country should strengthen the youth wing of their party, and enshrine in their party constitution the specification that qualification for occupying the office of the youth leader must be within the youth age (18-35 years) as specified by the National Youth Policy and African Youth Charter. wide campaign against such party, as of course being anti-youth.
The parliament vowed to leave no stones unturned to doing all that is required and in engaging the right resource, strategy, stakeholders and groups to ensure the possibility of a peace, prosperous and strong Nigeria.
Senior members of the parliament pose for a photograph after their meeting. Photo credit: Nigerian Youth Parliament
Meanwhile, there is division among two major northern youth groups over who to endorse as a northern candidate in 2019.
The 2019 purported presidential ambitions of incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, have created a gulf between the groups.
The division reportedly started after one of the youth group leader granted an interview, asking Buhari and Atiku and other northern political leaders above 60 years of age to perish the thought of seeking elective offices in 2019.
READ ALSO: No old politician will leave stage for you – Obasanjo tells Nigerian youth
Watch the video report on how Nigerian youths organised a protest at the National Assembly recently.
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