The Commissioner for Youth Political Participation in Africa at the Pan-African Youth Union (PYU), Ambassador Oladele Nihi has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerians, particularly the youths, on the occasion of the country’s 59th Independence Anniversary.
Ambassador Nihi said at 59, Nigeria can no longer be referred to as a toddler just learning to crawl or work, charging the older generations to begin to gradually yield leadership space to the younger generation as is the case in most countries at the moment.
He charged Nigerian youths to be more active in governance and nation building emphasizing that for the country to attain the desired level of stability, the youths have to be actively involved in governance.
“As the country clocks 59, its obvious that the time to bequeath leadership to the youths is now, and the set of political elites currently running the affairs of the nation needs to give the youths the chance to contribute their quota to nation building,” Nihi said.
While encouraging the Nigerian leaders to learn from other countries around the world, who are giving youths the chance to help transform and stabilize their countries, Ambassador Nihi said the time for Nigerian youths to gain leadership independence is now, and the hope of Nigeria succeeding rest on the shoulders of every the youths in the country.
Nihi tasked President Buhari on the need for the NotTooYoungToRun Law to be further strengthened and fully implemented. This, he noted, is to reassure the trust every Nigerian youths once had in the process, when the bill was signed into law in 2018.
“For us not to let the unborn generations down, I wish to encourage Nigerian youths to be bold enough, and be actively involved in governance. Youths must stop acting as praise singers to politicians and rather get actively involved in the process themselves. As we all celebrate as a great resilient people, we all pray for Nigeria to succeed.”
