By Nimi Princewill.
The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon. Yakubu Danladi Salihu has lamented the exclusion of youths in President Muhammadu Buhari’s list of ministerial nominees, which was recently transmitted to the Senate for screening and confirmation.
Hon. Danladi, registered his displeasure at the omission of capable young hands in the president’s cabinet while receiving a delegation of YIAGA Africa, a Civil Society Organization renowned as the initiators of the #NotTooYoungToRun advocacy.
The youthful Speaker whose emergence to power was contingent on the rigorous advocacy of the group, appreciated them for championing the cause which he’s a notable beneficiary of.
He prayed the group to encourage educated youths to be active in politics, while stressing on the troubling voter apathy bedeviling the bulk of educated and exposed young people, who ironically are very active on the social media.
Danladi reiterated the promises of the Kwara State Governor Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who had vocally zoned a significant percent of his yet to be formed cabinet to the youths.
On the legislative agenda of the State Assembly under his stewardship, the Speaker said: “9th Kwara Assembly has a legislative agenda and every member has constituency offices. Our case in Kwara is peculiar, we are starting from the scratch and building new foundations, aside addressing infrastructural deficit, facilitating sustainable empowerment of our people takes a place of pride in our hearts.”
In his address, the leader of the YIAGA Africa delegation, Dr. Ernest Ereke described their visit as a clarion call to the Speaker to prove to the world that young people are wired with the capacity to lead.
Ereke added that “it is not enough for us to campaign for young people but also rally round, support and encourage them so they don’t fail, for us to prove the naysayers wrong.”
