How we relate with government -Speaker, Youth Parliament

Other countries have had their own but last year, Mr. President, agreed and then it was approved by the federal executive council and then approved by the council of state that the youth parliament should be established for Nigeria. So specifically, on the 25th of August 2008, the president inaugurated the Nigerian youth parliament. Between […]

Other countries have had their own but last year, Mr. President, agreed and then it was approved by the federal executive council and then approved by the council of state that the youth parliament should be established for Nigeria. So specifically, on the 25th of August 2008, the president inaugurated the Nigerian youth parliament.

Between last year and now, what have been the activities of the Nigerian youth parliament can you speak on some of the challenges?

Definitely, after the inauguration, we had our inaugural sitting where we discussed some wide range of issues. We passed resolutions, and what were contained in those resolutions involved salient issues that affect us as youths of the nation. We called the government’s attention to the deplorable state of the highway in the country, and then we started the appeal for amnesty for militants in the Niger Delta.

The government incidentally came up with the amnesty plan and we thank God that today, it has become a reality. And then we also called on the federal government and governments at the state levels to set aside a substantial percentage of their annual budget for youth development  activities.

I can say that security is a second issue if employment would be created for the youths. If employment is created, it will tackle militancy, violence and other anti-social vices. So we are working with the federal ministry of youth development under the current minister to fashion out the national youth development action plan.

We have also come out with a report that we submitted to the various security agencies, to try to see how the youths of this country can relate with the security agencies without molestation. We also submitted the ones that have to do with education to the minister of education while the ones that has to do with agriculture to the ministry of agriculture. Again, we have undertaken a process to get out inputs into the constitutional reforms that is going on in the country. We have collated different views into a memo that would be sent to the different committees handling the various issues ranging from the electoral reforms, police reforms, power sector reforms etc.

Again, we have had an exchange programme with other youths in other parts of the country on how we can bring in best practices in parliamentary procedure. We have also gone into partnership with the youth parliaments in the west African sub region, that is, ECOWAS and then we have been given a mandate to host the West African youth parliamentary networks.

How often does the parliament sit?

By our framework, as being fashioned out by the ministry of youth development, we are suppose to sit once in a year, but we are reviewing the framework to make us sit quarterly. We have committee works, oversight functions that we have been engaging in, preparatory to our sitting. So the committees have been sitting, some once in a month, others once in two months. We have two special committees and then a standing committee that have been up and doing in thier work.

Given the fact that this is the creation of the federal government, have you always been able to criticise the government as expected?  For instance, in some of it’s policies and actions like the current Asuu face off with the government. Have you been able to tell the government some home truths about the state of the education sector in Nigeria?

Yes, if you look at the media, we have always been in advocacy, we have always been telling government where there are shortcomings and expectations, especially as it concerns the Nigerian youth. We don’t only criticise, but we also proffer solutions. Like in the power sector, we have made it known that there are still lots of things to be done. If we have had at least 18 hours of electricity in Nigeria on a daily basis, I tell you, most of the youths in Nigeria would be employed. Social vices would also be reduced. So we have told the government that if we cannot get to the expected  six thousand mega watts we can try maybe, 4,000 megawatts, and then build upon that year in, year out.

On the aspect of education, we have made  it known that a lot is still expected in terms of adequate funding for the educational sector and for us as youths, we are backing ASUU with their demands for better learning conditions in the universities because it would benefit us even more than  the lecturers. Then, on the issue of better salary for the lecturers, the government should be able to make the teaching job encouraging so that the ongoing brain drain can end. The nation’s educational system is dwindling because we don’t have people who are interested in the educational sector like teaching. Teaching is not attractive because of the poor pay package. So, the welfare package has to be that which will attract the best brains instead of capital flight and the current brain drain that we have. On the issue of autonomy, we want the government to implement the policy that will promote teaching and research in our universities and not the type that will increase school fess and all that. We are also appealing to the government to look critically at the issues raise for by ASUU and try to reach a compromise with them and also honour the agreements it reached with ASUU.

How will you describe the experience of the Nigerian youths in terms of vices like cultism, unemployment, violence, sectarian crisis, militancy and poverty?

I want to say that we are only defined by the environment which we found ourselves. But that does not mean that we should tilt towards what the society is offering us. The Nigerian youth should be able to stand up to all that is good. We have been advocating in the youth parliament through campaigns, public advocacy against cultism. We shouldn’t indulge in negative vices because we find ourselves in a negative environment. It is totally wrong for Nigerian youths to involve in cultism because it is morally wrong and it is against our culture. We are a generation with the energy and potential to change the society. We hold it a duty to leave the world better than we met it.

But providing solutions to the problem of youths in Nigeria goes beyond paper works and other abstract things. What is your vision or focus in using practical means to engage the Nigerian youth to contribute meaningfully to the Nigerian project?

The most practical way for us in the parliament is dialogue, advocacy and for us to get the Nigerian society to see our plights. The most practical way is for us to lay our cards on the table that this is what we need to be done for us as youths. Gone are those days when the youth resort to confrontation, because, it does not yield any positive results. We in the parliament believed that the youths are where they are in the country because they have departed from the lessons of the founding fathers of the country. The lessons of commitment to duty, honesty, hard work, dedication to duty and others. Again, the youth have a lot to offer this country, we at the parliament are appealing that the youth be given a chance to contribute to the country’s development, we have good brains among the youth, electrical engineers, doctors and technocrats who can fix the nation’s problems. The government should stop recycling old and tired hands. So our practical approach is us trying to push the government to expand the arena in order to accommodate the youths in contributions for nation building.