Some Nigerian youths have expressed divergent views on President Bola Tinubu?s planned national youth conference. While some youths welcomed the idea, others disagreed, questioning the sincerity of the president.

Tinubu, during his Independence Day broadcast, announced the convocation of a 30-day national yYouth conference to address critical issues facing the country?s youths, including unemployment, education, and political participation.

?The conference aims to provoke meaningful dialogue and empower our young people to participate actively in nation-building. By ensuring that their voices are heard in shaping the policies that impact their lives, we are creating a pathway for a brighter tomorrow,? the president said.

The proposed conference might not be unconnected to the agitation among the youth across the country, which has led to public protests, including #EndSARS against police brutality and harassment in 2020, #EndBadGovernance in August 2024 and #FearlessOctober in October 2024.

Supporters of the conference argued that it would provide the much-needed platform for young Nigerians to voice their concerns and influence national policies, while those opposing it said there was no need for a conference for the government to address their challenges.

The President of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima, expressed concern that the conference might end up like the 2014 confab.

Shettima, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, expressed doubt about the programme, wondering if it would lead to real policy changes or if it was just another government public relations effort.

He argued that similar initiatives in the past had failed to produce tangible results, with unfulfilled promises.

He said, ?We have been having conferences in the country, but their recommendations have never seen the light of day. We are not expecting too much from the proposed conference because the outcomes of previous conferences have always ended up not being implemented.

?The government needs to genuinely engage the youth and discuss with them to come up with solutions. If that is the case, I think the conference will go a long way in resolving some of the issues we are having. But unfortunately, conferences we have had in the past did not yielded any results.

?We hope this conference won?t be one of those kinds of conferences where some people will just sit down and squander taxpayers? money, and at the end of the day, they go back home with nothing coming out of it. If that is the kind of conference they are planning, then they should just forget about it.?

A former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, described the planned conference as ?a ruse to confuse those who might fall for the gimmick.?

Sowore, who is one of the key organisers of the #EndBadGovernance protest, said the conference would be another glorified convention of the National Association of Nigerian Students to promote corruption and embezzlement.

He suggested a sovereign national conference in place of the national youth conference to bring about the needed political reformation of the country.

On his part, the President of the Yoruba Youths Council, Eric Oluwole, disagreed with Shettima and Sowore, describing the conference as a positive step towards youth inclusion in national decision-making.

Oluwole argued that the conference would be an opportunity for young Nigerians to directly engage with the government on issues that affect them and propose actionable solutions.

He expressed optimism that the recommendations of the conference would be implemented by the Federal Government, adding that failure to do so would attract the wrath of Nigerian youths.

?This will be different from the 2014 national confab; we will push for the implementation of the conference report. If there is no result after the conference, the youths will stage another protest to ensure that the government implements the report of the conference,? Oluwole said.

Oluwole, who is also a national leader of the Yoruba Afenifere Youth Organisation of Nigeria, urged the Federal Government to engage relevant stakeholders and youth groups to come up with strong delegates who would contribute meaningfully for the conference to make the desired impact.

The National Association of Nigerian Students also expressed concern about the implementation of recommendations from the conference, even as it commended Tinubu for the initiative.

Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the NANS President, Lucky Emonefe, said the conference was an opportunity for the youth to air their opinions before the president.

?The youth are the most agitated sector in the country. Our prayer is that whatever the resolution will be, it will be implemented.

?We know for the President to initiate this; we are sure it will be implemented. Youth unemployment and other major issues affecting the youth will be addressed there. Even if we protest, we will still come to a roundtable to discuss, but now that we are starting with discussion, it is a good idea,? he stated.

However, the Secretary of the Democratic Socialist Movement, Peluola Adewale, described the conference as a distraction, saying nothing meaningful would come out of it.

?It is a sheer waste of public resources. It is a ploy to distract Nigerian youths from the need to struggle for a better Nigeria, and the need to struggle against corruption in Nigeria. It is of no use,? said Adewale.

He added that Tinubu doesn?t need a conference to address the challenges confronting the youths, questioning the outcomes of previous conferences in the country.

Adewale said, ?No serious youth organisation should be interested in such charity. The only dialogue that is possible is to reverse the removal of subsidies on fuel and electricity, and the devaluation of the naira. We have to reverse all the poor policies which have put Nigerians at risk.

?What can we show for the previous conferences we have held in the past? Nothing! A serious government doesn?t really need a conference to address the challenges confronting the youth. We all know it.

?The President will only succeed in gathering a fraction of Nigerian youths to feed and give them money. It is just a distraction.?

Meanwhile, the Forum of National Youth Leaders of all Political Parties in Nigeria warned against playing politics with the selection of participants, stating that doing so would negate the essence of the conference.

The chairman of the forum, Eze Chukwu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, maintained that youth from all regions of the country must be adequately represented at the conference to make recommendations that will be acceptable to the majority of Nigerians.

?Majority of the problems of Nigeria will be solved if the needs of the Nigerian youths who make up to 70 per cent of our country?s population are met.

?We are optimistic that with this strategic move by the Federal Government to host the first ever national youth confab the ever-needed opportunity to be heard by our own government will come through,? Chukwu said.

FG to create implementation task force

Meanwhile, the Federal Government says it will set up a task force to implement the recommendations of the upcoming youth confab.

The Minister of State for Youth, Ayodele Olawande, who revealed this to our correspondent on Friday, noted that the task force was necessary to concretise the recommendations of the conference into executive orders or bills to be transmitted to the National Assembly.

The minister said, ?We are going to roll it out very soon, and we will have the terms and conditions, the areas, the views, and all that. And we will still plead with the President to give us what we call an implementation task force so that where we need to do an executive order, we can put it up immediately. Those (recommendations) that need to go to the National Assembly, we can take them off, and we will start having this as quickly as possible. So, it?s a done deal.?

He said last Tuesday?s announcement stemmed from extensive stakeholder consultations. Although the initial brief proposed four days for the dialogue, the President recommended one month.

?I was very happy because I?ve been telling the young people in my constituency that the president has a listening ear. Last month, we brought many young people together and talked to ourselves. After the strategy meeting, we told ourselves that we needed to get all the youths from all the parties to come together and present something to the president.

?We called it a youth dialogue. We consulted with all the stakeholders. After consulting with the stakeholders, the president listened to us and said, ?Fine, you want to dialogue within four days, right? But for me, I want to expand it; let?s see how you can come together as young people of this country.

?We believe in this country and know that it belongs to us. This is what you?ve seen today, and we are delighted with it. It?s a very good development, and we are preparing to roll out things very soon with all stakeholders involved, which the president has consulted,? he stated.

On his part, the Senate Majority Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, promised to support recommendations from the youth confab, saying such an initiative was overdue.

?The need for a youth confab at this point cannot be overemphasised. The youth, like the president, who is also duly recognised, constitute over 60 per cent of our population or demography. And I believe that the time to listen to the youth is not just when they are on the streets protesting.

?If we can hear them loud and clear when they are protesting, we should be able to hear them louder when we are all seated through a confab to discuss in a very articulate manner.

?So, it would be a welcome development. We all look forward to that. And as elected representatives of the people, we will ensure that we join in creating a conducive atmosphere for the confab,? said Bamidele. (Sunday PUNCH)

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