Youths in the Federal Capital Territory must be ready to take part in the political processes in Nigeria, FCT Minister of State Dr. Ramatu Tijjina Aliyu, has urged.
The minister spoke during an interactive session with the FCT youths as part of activities to commemorate the International Youth Day.
A statement by the Chief Information Officer Freda Aideyan quoted the minister to have spoken on the sub theme: “The Role of Youths in Peaceful Elections”, urged the youths to shun political thuggery, and take advantage of President Muhammadu Buhari’s policies in order to better their lives.
Aliyu who also identified the youth as instrument of nation building recalled that her last interaction with the youths during the COVID 19 pandemic yielded positive results that was celebrated across the Federal Capital Territory.
According to her, the youths are the greatest resource of any nation adding that for that reason it is not possible to leave the them out of government business. She urged them to take advantage of various policies provided by the Federal Government.
According to her, the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has provided quite a handful of programmes aimed at making the lives of the youths better, and shaping them towards becoming leaders based on good governance principles
She, however, reiterated that the Federal Capital Territory Administration has streamed down the policies through the Social Development Secretariat, Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat and the Health and Human Services Secretariat to ensure that the youths are engaged.
According to her, “You need to take charge but you cannot without information, you cannot be responsible without education, without acquisition of skills and knowledge.
“What is an election without peace? An election is supposed to be a process through which leaders evolve. But how do we participate in the process of these elections or selections if we are not card carrying members of any political party, if we do not own our PVC? This PVC is your ticket to weed out any incompetent leader.
“The role of the youths in peaceful elections transcend beyond going to cast your vote, you must put up the very best conduct that will lead to a peaceful emergence of a leader.
“When we say the strength of every economy, the strength of every government, the strength of every country is domicile with the youths is not joke but the strength is not to be misused.
“I urge you all today that the role you have to play in particular is to shun political thuggery and embrace peace”.
Earlier, the Mandate Secretary FCT Social Development Secretariat, Hajia Hadiza M. Kabir, noted that this year’s theme was in continuation of the United Nations pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals taking cognizance of the fact that the world needs to leverage the full potentials of all generation.
“The Federal Capital Territory Administration is committed to the advancement of youths to position them adequately as drivers of a sustainable economy, this is reflected in the numerous youth empowerment activities and infrastructural developments being implemented by the various SDAs in the FCT Administration.”