The Action Democratic Party (ADP) says the poor representation of women in elective positions in the country was a huge set back to the nation’s democracy which had created an imbalance in the polity, saying that urgent steps must be taken to address the ugly trend.
The party condemned the increasing trend where many youths were now concentrating their energies on internet fraud and other crimes rather than nation-building.
Sani Yabagi, ADP national chairman, stated this in Lagos while speaking at the 2019 National Youth Summit organised by the party.
Speaking on the theme ‘Building Bridges among youths across continents,’ Yabagi noted that the youth were the bulwark and strength of any society and that they were indispensable in nation building.
The party chairman, however, said it was disturbing that a large number of youths in the country were taking to negativities instead of channelling their energies in things that would make the country better
According to him, “The Nigerian youths are not just the bulwark of every society but the embodiment of the strength, dignity and aspirations of Nigeria in its 59years as a sovereign independent nation.
”The values, with which the Nigerian state builds socio-political, cultural and economic vitality, are represented in the profound energy of the Nigerian youths.
”That is why at different times in the Nigerian political history, youths had played roles for the uplift of the nation.
”Today, rather than focus on things that could promote our nation and make it a potent force to be reckoned with globally, the youths are concentrating their energies on things that could defame us.
”However, an ugly streak appears to be enveloping the Nigerian youths. Many youths these days spear to dwell more on the negative.
”Most of those carrying out insurgency and insurrection in the North East, banditry in the North West, session in the South East, kidnapping and robbery in other geopolitical zones are youths.
”Most disturbing is the recent trend of events in our nation, where cases of cybercrime, fondly branded ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ is gradually becoming a fad.
”To our consternation, youth engaging in this demeaning business are doing it overtly. Some are even proud enough to flaunt their wealth around and could boldly pronounce themselves as ‘Yahoo’ boys wherever they go.
”This substantiated further the level of degeneracy in our youths and the well-entrenched decadence in our society”, he said.
Speaking further, Yabagi charged governments at all levels to provide jobs and opportunities for the youth to substantially address the problem.
The party chairman urged the youth not to find excuse in the economic challenges in the country to take to crime, urging them to strive to do anything legitimate to better their lives.
He pointed out that the likes of late Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe and Yakubu Gowon (rtd) and others made great contributions to the country as young people, urging the present generation to draw inspiration from them.
The party chairman urged the youth to take charge of the future by participating more actively in the political process, stressing that the summit was organised by the ADP to raise the consciousness of young people to the need to play the expected role in nation-building.
Yabagi said ADP was a party that firmly believed in the youths; hence it encouraged many youths to contest under its tickets in the last elections.
A member of the Conservative Party in the UK, Jaymey Mclvor said young people were the real movers of the society.
Mclvor, who was the guest speaker, said Nigeria was a land of opportunities and urged the youths to do their best to take the country to where it should be.
The guest speaker, himself a youth said he was at the summit to share ideas on how youths could define the future of the country, using the UK experience.
”The young people need to stand up and participate more in nation-building. e youths are the movers of any society; they should take charge and define the future of the country,” he said.
Mclvor said in making the kind of change needed to move the country forward; the youth should not anything that could threaten the peace and unity of the country.
He said the ideology of the Conservative Party centred on building a better British society and said he saw some correlations between the values of ADP and those of the Conservative Party.
The British politician said every country had its own challenge and urged Nigerians to work to fix the country.
In his welcome address, Lagos Chairman of the party, Bolaji Nasir said though the summit was the first edition, it would be organised on a periodic basis across all the geographical zones.
He described ADP as a party for everyone, saying no party had provided more opportunities for the youths than ADP.
Speaking, Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Adelaja Adeoye said the party did well in the last elections despite being relatively new.
