‘Nigerian youths need to venture into politics earlier’

Nigerian youths need to venture into politics earlier, an activist Hajiya Nana Aisha Mahmoud has said.

Mahmoud, the FCT Chairperson of Jama’a Mata Arewa, made this call while speaking at the Next President Reality TV and Leadership Award Presentation Ceremony in Abuja at the weekend.

“We have reached a stage in this country where we have to look into that [youths going into politics]. It is very, very important we engage our youth actively in the process of politics. They need to start early. The earlier the better.

“If we engage them at that early stage, we’re very sure we are going to produce responsible leaders, responsible husbands, responsible fathers in the society,” she said.

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Mahmoud said the reality show was a veritable platform to prepare the youths “to take over”.

She argued that the country kept having recycled leaders because the youths have refused to show responsibility, stressing that; “but right now things have changed. It’s like they have woken up and they have this platform SRT we have given them today.

“It has given them that hope to dream, that it is very, very possible for them to achieve that kind of dream.”

She also called for more involvement of women in politics, lamenting that society was not giving women equal opportunities as their male counterparts.

Speaking earlier, SRTV’s Head of Administration, Kenneth Paul, said the winner would go home with N500,000.

According to him, the 37 contestants would attend leadership training in the UK in 2024 as part of efforts to build them for future leadership positions.

He said the show had been productive, saying the winner of the last edition is currently an aide to a political office holder in Abuja.

Paul said the objective was to involve the youths in politics and build them to take over now, adding that “in SRTV we do not believe that the youths are leaders of tomorrow, we believe they are leaders of today.”

At the end of the show, Osun State’s Adebayo Tunde emerged as the winner while Phanuel Babale for Adamawa State took the 2nd position.

FCT’s Jafaru Yakubu came third, Theophilus Sani Obaje of Kogi came fourth and Gombe State’s Vincent Shilong came fifth.