…wants 2014 Confab report implemented to curb cost of governance
National Leadership of the Nigerian Youth Union (NYU), has called on President Bola Tinubu to cut down the cost of governance by implementing the recommendations contained in existing documents from past national conferences, rather than converge a new one.
President Tinubu on Tuesday during his Independence Day address, had announced plans for a National Youth Conference, set to take place over 30 days, as part of his administration’s broader agenda to empower Nigeria’s youth.
According to him, the conference aims to tackle key issues such as education, employment, innovation, and security, giving young people a platform to contribute to national policy discussions.
However, President of NYU, Comrade Chinonso Obasi while addressing newsmen on the State of Nigerian Youths 64 years after independence, argued that Nigeria already has too many documents with rich recommendations that if implemented, would put the country and citizens on the part of development, better livelihood and wellbeing.
He said: “The outcome of the 2014 national confab, the content of that recommendation is so rich that any government that signs to fix Nigeria can just dust that document and implement some of the decisions that are there. But you find out that some of the recommendations are being picked without giving credence to the source.
“Recommendation of the National Confab is one thing that we are recommending. The President today said he is converging a National Youth Confab for 30 days and that National Youth Confab is gathering people to keep them for one month and at the end of the day everybody goes what becomes of it?
“Why not dust other documents, other recommendations that are already existing? Why do we always want to converge? Why are we always looking for a means to spend the little we have? What happened to other policies of the government that are already existing that execution and implementation is the problem?
“On behalf of Nigerian youths we are calling in the President, let’s reduce the cost of governance by every standard and look inwardly on already existing policies and documents of government to give Nigerians a better life
Contrary to Tinubu’s list of achievements for Nigerian youths, Obasi maintained that “we (youths) have not experienced any transformative youth empowerment. The stipends given as palliative are perceived as an intentionally calculated measure to mortgage the future of the youths.
“The only way to empower the greater majority of Nigerian youths is by creating an enabling environment for everyone to strive. Revive the moribund companies like Ajaokuta steel company Kogi State, Nigeria refineries, Nigeria Cement Company Nkalagu Ebonyi State, Nigeria textile companies etc.
“We thank the President for the appointment of young people to some government positions however, we frown at the constant use of youth-based positions to settle political stakeholders and actors.
“Contrarily, in appointing youths into positions of power sort for the best through resume, antecedence in leadership and academic performance. This claim is evident in the poor performance of some youth appointees who cannot give what they don’t have.”
Obasi, a one-time President National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) regretted that the increasing level of hopelessness and a lack of an enabling environment was making the survival of youths in Nigeria difficult.
Criticising failure of the Tinubu’s administration to credit the set up of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to recommendations of the 2014 CONFAB report, Obasi who represented Nigerian youths at the CONFAB, said the government failed to implement the recommendation for the loan fund in full.
According to him, part of the recommendation was for beneficiaries to be provided with employment by the government upon graduation, to monitor, and make payments easier.
“The Nigerian students loan, It’s a national confab recommendation. They couldn’t give credit to that source. But the implementation is not done the way it was recommended by confab. The student loan fund of the National Confab recommended that the beneficiaries will have a job upon graduation from the government so that as they are working already, there will be deductions made from the loan given.
“But the state of the current loan is one that you’re given a loan and you will be left to go and look for a job and after two years upon graduation, that is when you begin to track. But the question is: what if you dont have a job? How will they get back the money? And we hope that the money being given won’t be part of the national cake that will be shared without any means of recouping it!”
Obasi added, “While we thank President Tinubu for the novel Nigerian Education Loan Fund, it becomes imperative to remind Mr. President that N500,000 thousand loan to students in an economy where a litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is over N1,500 in some parts of Nigeria universities raising tuition fee to over N400,000, students hall of residence being a death trap and lack of job opportunities upon graduation, all of these make a mess of the good intention of the NELFUND.”
Speaking further, the NYU president who alleged that most of the insecurity in the country was politically motivated, raised concerns that youths are forced to make special budgets for exigences such as payment of ransom if kidnapped and other related terror on the road while travelling.
“The kidnappers are just Nigerian youths who were armed during the elections and after the election, the politicians failed to deliver their promises to them and also failed to retrieve the arms given to them during the election and in turn, resorted to self-help through crimes and other social vices.”
