PRESS STATEMENT PRESENTED AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF JOINT YOUTH FORUM HELD ON 22ND JANUARY, 2015 AT 7 SEIDU AJIBOWU STREET, IKEJA. Gentlemen men and ladies of the press. Joint Youth Forum (Comprising: National Youth Council of Nigeria Lagos State Chapter; Majlis Khudamm-ul Ahmadiyya Nigeria, Lagos State; Omoluabi Youth Forum; National Association of Nigerian Student Lagos State Chapter; African Resourceful Leaders Foundation and Transformation by Information and Engagement [TIE] Nigeria)also some youth Organizations, institutions, and media houses have shown interest to be part of the 1st Students and Youth Governorship Debate. We have called this press conference in respect of a Gubernatorial debate we are organising on behalf of the Youth and Students in Lagos State. We believe for an all encompassing and participatory democracy to thrive, Nigeria young people must play important and active roles in determining the political future of their country by engaging political actors with demands for inclusion and equal access to political participation. It is a widely accepted view that increased youth political participation in governance and decision making process is a clear indicator of a country’s democratic development. Since democracy thrives on the ability of citizens to enforce their rights by participating in decision making, young people must be given the opportunity to contribute to the development of their communities through political participation that grants them access to structures of governance where decision are taken. We observe that the youth usually play positive and negative role in the electioneering process, especially when they choose to be partisan. It is okay if some choose to be but for us at the Joint Youth Forum, we are not partisan and we have taken the bull by the horn to engage the Gubernatorial Candidates in a debate in an attempt to ear out their plans for us and also to channel our requests. We are aware of the fact that, many of the candidates at different functions raised the issue of youth empowerment and employment opportunity as an agenda but what we want is beyond just empowerment where N20,000 will be given after some form of training, what we want is inclusion of youth in decision making and policy formulation. To prove that we are not partisan, we have invited all the candidate of all the political party who are contesting unlike others who only chose the popular candidate. We have gotten 80% confirmation from some political parties that their candidate will be available and we believe others will confirm their availability. We also want to state here that only an incompetent candidate will shun an opportunity to woe and canvas votes from the Youth because without the youth there is no vote. This debate is to facilitate the participation and inclusion of youth in the deliverables of the Lagos Gubernatorial candidates and it is scheduled to hold on Tuesday, February 3, 2015; from 4 pm. To make this event accessible to all, the debate will be streamed live online and updates on our social media platforms. We have also developed a mobile app which is available on our website yscgd.org.ng for download for the world to have access to real time information in respect to the debate. We thank you all for your time and attention, may Almighty God makes this 2015 election a new beginning in lives of every Nigerian. Long Live Lagos State! Long Live Nigeria!!
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 20:03:03 +0000
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