Rep. Olamijuwonlo Alao-Akala (APC-Oyo) has urged Nigerian youths to take advantage of the 30-day youth conference announced by President Bola Tinubu to address their demands, including those that led to the #EndSARS protest, the Obidient movement, and other youth-driven movements.
Alao-Akala, the chairman, Youth in Parliament in the House of Representatives, made the call in an interview with journalists on Friday in Abuja.
He said that the plan of the confab was to address all the youth demands that led to the Occupy Nigeria protest in 2012, the #EndSARS protest, the Obidient movement, the End-bad-governance protest and the Oct. 1st protest.
Mr Alao-Akala, who represents Ogbomoso North/South and Oriire Federal Constituency of Oyo, urged youths to believe and participate in the process.
“What we are expecting from the youth is participation, and in their participation, we are going to ensure that their voices are being heard.
“We hope it will quell and address the demands of all these movements; the confidence we have is that this conference is being initiated by the government.
“You see, all the youth movements mentioned above put the government on their toes, gave them a scare, but this one is now being organised by them.
“It is the government saying let us sit and let us listen to you; there is no force; no carrying placards; this is all sitting down under the same roof and listening to each other.
“It is about government knowing what we want; we articulating it in a proper way and putting it into a document and presenting it to them to work on, that this is what we want.
“So, I want to make the youths to understand that, please, if you have never had confidence in the government before, please have this one confidence, just this one, and let us push this together.
“I assure you that you will see that this conference is going to be for you and by you,” he said.
The chairman said that he had started talking to genuine youth groups, young industry players that could contribute meaningfully to participate in the confab.
He said that measures would be put in place to ensure the confab was not hijacked by politicians and plant their stooges.
According to him, intended participants will be asked to register, prepare, and submit papers on topics of interest ahead of time.
He said that by so doing and in addition to other measures, politicians would not hijack the confab.
The lawmaker urged youths to have faith in the process.
