Speech Extract of the Honourable Commissioner for Youth and Sports on Youth inclusiveness/engagement in Governance and the parallel effectiveness of the #NotToYoungToRunBill signed at the Calabar International Conference Center (CICC) on the event of Cross River State Emerging Political Leaders Forum.
 |
| Honourable Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development CRS, Comrade Asu Okang |
Protocols
I bring you goodwill message from First, myself as the number one youth in Cross River State and Secondly, His Excellency Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade who is naturally adjudged the most youth friendly Governor in Cross River State.
Let me say this for the purpose of emphasis that I like to thank McDonald Ayangbe for trying to package this beautiful outing.
But beyond this intellectual engagement in this hall, beyond the rhetorics, beyond the political verbosity and all what we have tried to put together, can we all look into our actual engagements as young people in the field practically?
What’s the level of patience we exude as young people when we gather?
This hall was probably filled to capacity earlier on. But you find a youth to youth engagement of this nature, many who came with political big wigs left this hall when they left, that’s the extent to which we have sold our political future to other people.
So for those of you who are still here till this time, thumbs up for your level of patience because it truly shows the spirit that we want to move forward.
However, my appeal to us is that we should learn to support fellow young people.
Let me take a typical example and I round up, the Kogi example.
You find a young Governor who was 40years old at the point of swearing in, his biggest challenge is perhaps another youth Leader in person of our own Dino Melaye.
A situation where the would have naturally taken advantage of their age bracket, build synergy and take over the political leadership of Kogi State.
Today, older people who were on their way to retirement will certainly come back to try to settle the young people who ordinarily would have taken advantage to take over.
To what extent have we taken to the fact that we have the larger population of over 70% of the entire population of Nigeria?
Mr Speaker is seated here this afternoon, he is a young person with all the intellectual capacity, he wants to run for House of Reps having being House of Assembly member twice and now Speaker.
If you go to him privately, his biggest challenge and drawback is from amongst our contemporary even with supposed endorsement from the bigger class.
How well have we acknowledged ourselves?
How well do we support other young people in government?
I know my challenges as I sit here as Commissioner for Youths
I know the extent to which we try to please young people, yet you find that unholy gang up constantly.
A young person would ordinarily prefer to support……(you know the story), rather than support a fellow young person.
That means that we start up with attitudinal change.
We need to understand and believe much more in ourselves.
On the issue of the #NotToYoungToRunBill, let me announce to us especially for those visiting that for us in CRS, we do not celebrate the bill because in Gov. Ayade’s Government of over 4,000 over 70% are younger than 40 years.
In terms of proper engagement, if I go back to give you my history on my emergence as Commissioner in this government, it will shock you that I refuse to keep quiet.
One of ours here was asked to submit a list and our names were not there, my name was not there. But in a forum where an opportunity was given, I took up the microphone, spoke my mind the way it should be and the Governor said, “I will announce you Commissioner”.
I became the first to be announced Commissioner and I was alone as Commissioner designate for three months before any other person knew his fate.
A closed mouth is a closed destiny.
However, we must build synergy as young people and take our futures in our own hands.
Nobody will give you power, power is taken, power is not given.
Thank you so much and God bless you all.