From: Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The Arewa Youth Forum (AYF) has described the passage of the “Not Too Young to Run” Bill by the National Assembly as a positive development towards the social and economic development of Nigeria.
“As the umbrella body of all youth organisations in the north and having the interest of all the youth in the country at heart, we have received the news of the passage with enthusiasm and hope that it will have a positive impact on the political landscape of the country and engender youthfulness, vigour and energy into government administration in Nigeria,” the AYF said, in a statement, on Thursday.
According to the statement signed by AYF National President, Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, “We also wish to commend the Senate of the Federal Republic for the effort put into the Bill because for the first time, the Senate has shown that they can be on the side of good governance, on the side of positive change, on the side of the the people and on the side of efforts to reposition the country for future generation.
“As we said during the election of Emmanuel Macron of France, AYF has always canvassed for youth inclusiveness in the affairs of this country.
“Due to this development, we call on all the political parties in the country to give a percentage of the executives to the youth and make sure that they are given their pride of place in the running of the parties.
“We believe as the platform on which individuals aspire to leadership position is the best training ground for youth engagement.
“We also call on President Muhammadu Buhari to always take the youth into consideration in his appointments as that can also serve as a veritable platform for training the youth who will take the leadership of the nation tomorrow. “We want to commend the Senate and Senate President for the bold step and we call on the executive arm of government to do the needful immediately in order to give the polity a new lease of life.
“It is our belief that the time has passed where political parties elect over 60 years old individuals as youth leaders and our conviction is that this piece of legislation will soon be put into practice.
“The AYF will soon undertake a sensitisation drive across the 19 northern states to hammer home messages of what the freshness, agility and energetic drive of the youth can bring on board in our quest for nation building and charting a new course for our dear country,” the group said.