2024 World Youth Day: Abure, Edeoga Charge Nigerian Youths to Compete for Leadership Positions

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

As Nigeria joins other nations of the world to commemorate ‘World Youths Day,’ national chairman of the Labour Party, LP, Barrister Julius Abure, and other party chieftains have challenged Nigerian youths on the need to prioritize leadership roles in Nigeria and beyond.

According to a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh, Barrister Abure, made the remark on Monday in Abuja while addressing the youth wing of the labor party, insisting that the Nigerian youths have failed to challenge for leadership positions in Nigeria, unlike their counterparts all over the world.

He said: “The Nigerian youths have failed to be role models in Nigerian politics. The Nigerian youths should be able to show capacity and tenacity in the character of leadership.”

The LP national chairman, however, suggested that leadership should make policies to be able to harness the energy and potential of the Nigerian youths.

He said: “Bye and large, it could only be the Labour Party which can achieve this and we are not resting on our oars. But I still challenge the Nigerian youths not to resort to instruments of violence and destruction but viable tools for good governance.”

While corroborating, the 2023 Labour Party governorship flag bearer in Enugu State, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, said that there is a need for youth idealism in Nigeria with an emphasis that being a youth is a mental disposition.

According to Edeoga, “We need to define what youth stand for. So, our support for the youths must be a project that equals building the next generation of our country. So, identifying with the youths is a creation of mind which bothers on how the country survives.

“It also bothers on those who have the capacity and energy to pilot the affairs of the country. I agree that the government and other agencies need to put up youth policies to drive youth focus in Nigeria, maximize their potential, and make it the main driver of the nation’s economy.

“We know that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe started as a youth, General Gown also ruled this country as a youth, and General Muhammadu Buhari was also at the age of 30 when he ascended the leadership”.

Hon. Edeoga, while admonishing the youths, warned that #Japa syndrome is not a solution to the immediate hardship being experienced in the country.

His words: “It is a sign of surrender; the Nigerian youths should be able to stay back and fight for their rights and save their country. Do not surrender to a bad government; the Nigerian youths must have hope and, above all, say no to drug abuse and other vices that shame your images”.

Also speaking earlier, the national youth leader of the party, Prince Kenedy Ahanotu, said that days are gone when the Nigerian youths are regarded as tools for political violence but time for self-discovery.

He said that the 2024 International Youths Day, themed “Harnessing the Energy of the Youths for National Economic Development”, is apt as the energy in the youths around the world is what drives the national economies.

“For us in Nigeria, we feel that the youths have not been given adequate opportunities to express themselves politically and to exhibit the potentials that God has given to them. For instance, I believe that Nigeria was at its early stage when the likes of Yakubu Gown, General Muhammadu Buhari, and others were allowed to lead the country, and that was even when the country was doing well, but today, the case is different.

“It is a situation where we have people who are supposed to be retired and watch their children lead the country, still agitating to be in government. I don’t see the reason why we have people the age of 70 and above still in government and the same people attend international meetings and have handshakes with the presidents of other nations between the ages of 30 and 40 years.

“I feel ashamed when our leaders at the age of 70 and 80 at the international meetings have a fun time with youth leaders from other countries. So, you can say that the Nigerian youths have not been exposed to showcase their energies”.

Meanwhile, he said that his leadership seizes this year’s World Youths Day to call on policymakers and all opinion molders to think about how to begin to introduce the Nigerian youths into leadership positions, stressing that there is no political position that a Nigerian youth cannot handle.

According to him, “What they need is the opportunity, and I can tell you for free that they did not fail with the little opportunities given to them. What they need are opportunities to showcase what they have and exhibit their potential.

“And I think it is the time for such and I can say enough of using the youths for political thuggery”.