Thread by @MoghaluKingsley

The Future of Nigeria’s Youth: The Promise of a Kingsley Moghalu Presidency

Press and Public Statement by Professor Kingsley Moghalu OON, Presidential Aspirant and Member of the African Democratic Congress @ADCNig

(Oxford, 20 October 2021).

A year ago, Nigerian youth organized themselves in the peaceful #EndSARS protests to demand freedom from police brutality. Quite sadly, the bravery of the young compatriots was met by even more brutality. Like millions of fellow citizens, and indeed our youth, I especially

remember those who paid who paid the ultimate price for freedom during the protest. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten or in vain.

Nigeria’s young men and women face many fundamental challenges. The strength of their numbers (nearly 70% of our population) is supposed to be

the country’s most productive asset. But the failure of governance has turned this into a threat, and the #EndSARS movement has witnessed efforts to silence the voices of our young people, physically and on socially media including the “Twitter ban”.

What Nigeria’s youth stand to inherit is a bloated public debt of N35 trillion and still rising. The national youth unemployment rate is above 40%. Nigeria’s young people are leaving the country in droves (the “japa” phenomenon) in search of greener pastures.

I note in particular the difficult conditions facing young people in Northern Nigeria where economic opportunities are even more stifled, millions of children of school age are out of school, ( a potential breeding ground for recruitment to terrorism) and a drug pandemic poses a

serious social threat. And, despite their dominant number, the youth are grossly under-represented in government.

In solidarity with their struggles, today I unveil my agenda for the youth. If elected as President in 2023, I plan to execute the following plan:

1. Start-ups funding scheme. My administration will establish a venture capital fund of an initial N1 trillion capitalization in partnership with the private sector, which will manage the fund. The Fund will provide equity investment for start-ups and businesses owned by young

men and women, invest in massive skills training for them, and fund the process of taking the products of innovation into the marketplace through mass production of such products. This, with competent management of the economy, will create 20 million direct and indirect,

sustainable private sector jobs over a decade, stem emigration, and inspire diaspora return to the country.

2. Transitional unemployment support. We will provide transitional youth support for six months to one year for job seekers on the condition they undergo skill training

if required, as a condition for accessing the temporary support package.

3. Inclusive governance. Youth representation in my government will be 50%. We will implement this in a manner that achieves the policy of our party, @ADCNig , to have a minimum of 35% of the cabinet as

youth and women respectively. My administration will strive for a cabinet that is 50% youth and 50% women at the same time by combining both gender and age demographics.

4. Leadership mentoring. I plan to offer leadership mentoring to the youth as part of transitioning to a

competent, youth-led government in Nigeria.

5. Inter generational equity council. My administration will establish an Intergenerational Equity Council (IEC) as a policy advisory body that will be tasked with embedding the youth in the economy and governance of the country.

The Council will work to bring into reality the promises of the National Youth Policy. As part of its responsibilities, the council will memorialize the 2020 #EndSARS protest and restore civic engagement and the right to protest as provided for in the Nigerian Constitution.

6. Increased education budget. From the current 5% threshold, I plan to increase the budgetary allocation for education to 20%. The increased funding will provide better remuneration for school teachers, reform the curriculum to foster science, technology and entrepreneurship

education, fund research and provide infrastructure and teaching/learning equipment. We will ensure that @ASUUNGR strikes become a thing of the past. Our root and branch reform of Nigeria’s education system will equip the youth with the skills and spirit of patriotism to colonize

the future.

7. Police reform. My administration will undertake a comprehensive and constitutional police reform that will properly establish state police, train the police to respect and protect human rights, ensure internal accountability against excessive use of force and

extrajudicial killing, institute specialization within the police force which is absent today, increase the number strength of police officers and improve the remuneration and welfare of police men and women.

One year after the #EndSARS protest, hundreds of youth who participated in the peaceful protests are still being held in detention. This is a violation of constitutional democracy. I therefore call on the authorities to release the youth activists without further delay.

A systemic resolution of #EndSARS will be achieved only through the election of a competent leader that sincerely has the interests of the youth at heart. Therefore, like the youth of Zambia successfully did with their “Take It to the Polls” campaign, Nigerian youth should get

their PVCs and deliver 50 million votes votes in the 2023 elections for a different kind of leadership in Nigeria than one that is oppressive and lacks any vision for how the youth can take charge now, of a future that rightfully belongs to them.

Kingsley Moghalu OON
Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow
University of Oxford

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