‘Youth inclusion key to national growth’

The Minister of Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, has re-emphasised the importance of including the youths in governance and other leadership positions if the country must grow.

Dalung stated this Thursday in Abuja at the round table on politics organised by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy on the theme: Politics with Values with and Youth Inclusion in Decision Making Processes of Political Parties.

Represented by the deputy director, Rights and Leadership Division in the ministry, Aliyu Sule, Dalung said it was unacceptable that youths still occupy less than 10 per cent of the nation’s political office and position of policy making.

“It is unacceptable that young people who are the catalysts of Nigeria democracy till date, saying they still occupy less than 10 per cent of the nation’s political office and position of policy making.

“The roundtable could not have come at better time when Nigeria through the enactment of the Not Too Young To Run Law. You will agree with me that before the enactment young people are often excluded or overlooked as political candidates,” he said.

In his remarks, the chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Sunday Ameh, it was time youth inclusion “is properly deliberated on, adding that there should be a mandatory 35% inclusion of young people in governance at all levels.”

Earlier, the deputy chief operating officer, Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Prof. Sola Adeyanju, said politics “is too expensive and many youths are not economically buoyant enough to operate in politics.”

He urged youth to equip themselves with right values if they “want to guarantee their future in politics.”

In his welcome address, the country representative of WFD, Adebowale Olorunmola, said the roundtable was aimed to form a network of young persons in politics with values that would drive the course of participating in politics with right ideologies and principles within the political party system.

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