The Executive Director of CORAFID Centre For Innovation and Research, Mr. Nathaniel Awaupila, has called for the protection of young people as a critical tool to sustainable peace and development of the country.
Mr. Awaupila who spoke to our correspondent in Makurdi said young people have special roles to play as citizens of Nigeria and so reserve the right to be protected to enable them feel safe to take up their rightful place in the country.
Awuapila who is also the Coordinator of West Africa Network for Peace Building In the North Central zone also stated that young people should also be allowed to speak up and be involved in governance process to enable them learn the robes from their young age so as to take up leadership positions in the future.
In his words, “young people are citizens and as citizens, they do have roles to play especially for those of them that are adults. They have the rights to speak up. They have the rights to express their opinions about how they are governed and also have a right to be involved in governance.
“So for a segment of a population like that, they simply should have a voice. In addition to where they comprise the largest population of the society, their voice should be heard. It is important that they be involved in the governance process.”
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He recalled what happens in the state, national Assemblies and in the senate where senators fight and throw punches at themselves saying their acts stemmed from the fact that they didn’t start learning how to be leaders when they should have started learning.
He expressed worry that the continuous exclusion of young people from governance might produce a generation of leaders that are not fit to rule. “if you don’t involve young people at the time they are young and growing and building experience, then you are going to have leaders who in their old age behave like children and will not be able to exercise the kind of leadership that those that are young at a time will be expected of them.
He noted that young people have a lot to offer in areas of ideas, expertise and innovative ways of going about things but regretted that they rather feel threatened and unsafe to express themselves because when they speak they are perceived as anti government.
He insisted that such act is not good for the society, the country and the world.
He said, “protecting young people is important, it’s key. They have always said young people are the leaders of tomorrow, no. They should be the leaders of today but the only way they can do that well is that they feel protected; protection of their rights, protection of their health, institutions that will guarantee their safety, institutions that will see to it that when they are in difficulty somebody is always there to speak for them, to come out to protect them.
“It is necessary otherwise we would have a citizenry that is going to become so fearful. That wouldn’t be good for our country,” he said.
