2019: Dalung urges Nigerian youths to shun electoral malpractice
The Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, has implored Nigerian youths to eschew electoral malpractice and being used as political thugs before, during and after the 2019 general elections.
Dalung gave this advice at National Youth Summit and Merit Awards organised by the National Youth Council of Nigeria(NYCN) in collaboration with the IYKON Global Foundation on Thursday in Abuja.
The theme of the summit is “Peaceful Election, Good Governance and the Role of Nigerian Youths.’’
He said that money politics was being curbed as witnessed during the APC primary election where the greatest selling point of an aspirant was his integrity not money anymore.
“Nigerian youths should denounce all kinds of electoral malpractice during the 2019 election.
“The youths must never allow any politician to use them for thuggery as it is only for their selfish interest but only avail self as critical partners.’’
According to the minister, President Muhammadu Buhari, has great plans for youths and will continue to empower them.
He said that Buhari’s Social investment Programs had been rated to be the highest by any leadership in Africa.
Dalung said that through the N-power program, Buhari-led administration had empowered more than five hundred thousand youths in one fell swoop and was revisiting infrastructure and completing several projects abandoned by the previous administrations.
He said that the anti corruption war embarked by the administration was yielding the desired result going by the huge success recorded through conviction of corrupt persons and the amount of money recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC).
On his part, the Chairman of the Summit, Sen. Aliyu Wamako, urged youths to support the current administration so that it could continue with the laudable projects it had embarked on which had a direct impact to the youth constituency.
In his speech, NYCN’s President, Bello Shagari, said since his assumptions of office, the council had been repositioned to achieve its mandate.
He thanked the Federal Government for its intervention in bringing the crisis that bedeviled the council to an end and appealed for government’s support in sustaining the new pace.
The NYCN president pledged youths’ support to the war against corruption and urged the Federal Government to assist the council with facilities to enable it to operate effectively.
“Just like other agencies have benefitted from recovered property, we also want to appeal to you to facilitate one of those property for the NYCN’s usage so that the council will have a conducive and enabling environment to work for the progress of this country.
“There is also need to create a proper synergy with the NYCN to assist the government in policy formulation and implementation as mandated by the National Youth Policy, especially, in fighting corruption and jobs creation,’’ he said.
Shagari said that Nigerian youths would synergise with all relevant agencies to ensure a hitch-free, peaceful and credible elections in 2019.
