The Minister of State for Transportation, Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki, has advised the nation’s youths to be more serious about having representatives at the seat of power by participating in the election and ensuring that the youths are well represented in the government.
Saraki said the youth need to fear the consequences of non-participation more than the participation in politics.
The minister stated this on Friday while delivering keynote speech on the theme The Quest for Youth Engagement, Involvement and Inclusion in Nigerian Politics: Political Structure Conundrum at the University of Ilorin.
She said, “The university campus can be and should be a good training ground for actual political life in the world beyond the campus. It is usually at this level that most leaders begin to fine tune their ideals and how they can use it to address issues of national concerns.
“All students need to have opportunities for civic and political participation; they need opportunities and space for deliberation on public issues.
“Youth engagement and inclusion often starts at the level of youth clubs, political parties’ youth wings, national causes. This is where identity with the ideology of a particular political party begin. Hillary Clinton was the head of the Young Republicans Club in Wesley College between 1966 – 1967.
“At the university level, there should be clubs, associations of the youth wing of national political parties, like the Young APC Club for instance, which should comprise young men and women in the university who identify with the ideology of the APC party. Youth caucuses within government and within political parties are effective.
Meanwhile the University of Ilorin Postgraduate Students Association has honoured the minister with awards of excellence.
In attendance on the occasion were Vice-Chancellor University of Ilorin, Prof. Sulaiman Age AbdulKareem represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Technology and Innovations), Prof. Mikhail Olayinka Buhari; Dean, school of postgraduate, Professor Clement O. Bewaji.
Also at the event, which was chaired by Professor Oba AbdulRaheem, was the Institution’s deputy Vice-Chancellor (academics), Professor Sylvia Omonirume Malomo, and Saraki’s mandate office director of projects, Engr. Olayinka Otukoko, among many other dignitaries.
