A convergence of academics has charged Northern youths and students to mobilise and take over the mantle of leadership of the country.
They made the call at the weekend at the Kano State edition of the Maitama Sule Leadership Lecture Series held at the Bayero University Kano (BUK).
- 2023: A Christian Southerner must be elected for peaceful coexistence of Nigeria – PFN
- Magajin Garin Sokoto, patriot who spoke the truth to power
They observed that unless the prevailing leadership selection process was radically challenged and reformed, the system would continue to be unduly manipulated by the minority elite that had monopolised the total available activity in the country since independence.
Speakers at the lecture also observed that majority of those who posed as Northern leaders today were people who had strayed far away from the glorious path carved for the development of the region by past leaders.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the occasion, Prof Hafiz Abubakar, who said the lecture series was part of the mentoring process initiated by students of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), lamented that politics as it was being played in the country was dirty and thus the youths and students needed to have responsible ideas to change the narrative.
Prof Abubakar, a former Deputy Governor of Kano State, said the money politics system in place in Nigeria was a bad one, hence that youths who were the major victims, must see the need to chart a new course for a better Nigeria with progressive ideas.
One of the keynote speakers, Prof Murtala Sagagi, harped on the need to harness the potentials of the youths into businesses for self-reliance.
Another speaker, Prof Abubakar Jiddere, emphasised the need for youths’ participation in active politics to check the current system decay.