The All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth and Students Council has assured the youths across the country that when elected, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s administration would be inclusive and fair to all Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic religious and political affiliations.
The Director-General, APC Youth and Students’ Council, Mazi Ezenwa Onyirimba, said this during a sensitisation visit to the Connected Development (CODE), on Tuesday in Abuja.
Why APC was punished in Osun – Soyinka
Insecurity: Govt clears dilapidated structures, bushes around Ogun prison
He said Nigerian youths should adopt Tinubu as consensus candidate for the 2023 presidential election for youth and national development.
According to him, Tinubu’s antecedents indicate that ran a government that was highly adjudged as inclusive in terms of the demography, the religion and the background of political appointees.
“When he (Tinubu) was the governor of Lagos, the greater percentage of his cabinet members were under the age of 40. It was a good development for the youths of Lagos at that time. The structure of his cabinet also showed that he picked people from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. At the end of the day, they collectively succeeded,” Onyirimba said.
Responding, the Chief Executive of Connected Development (CODE) and founder, Follow the Money, Mallam Hamzat Lawal, upbraided the nation’s leaders for embezzling the commonwealth of the people, thus plunging the nation into deep woes.
“The current script is not working. There is a global campaign by the UN SDGs which talks about flipping the scripts. I think that it should even start from Nigeria. Our current script is not working, if we look at our current challenges which insecurity and unemployment,” Lawal said.
He, therefore, urged all presidential candidates to reserve at least 50 percent of all intended cabinet positions for the youth in the spirit of inter-generational equity and national development.
“It is important that as we grow as a people, we must stop the blame-game. The older generation continues to see the youths as the problem and vice versa. Honestly speaking, Nigerians want a president whose cabinet is made up of under 40’s. Because we are an upwardly mobile and technologically driven generation.
“It will only be fair that if we constitute over 50 percent of the eligible voters, we should also make at least 50 percent of the cabinet members,” he said.
Also, Deputy Director-General, APC Youth and Students Council, Alhaji Taoheed Ozigi, said that statistics and INEC register showed that youths were more than half of the nation’s population and were the highest registered group in the voter register.
Ozigi said that the group searched the candidate to use the numerical strength of youths to support based on their plans for them and found Tinubu qualified.
