Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila has decried political conversation centred around division and derision by the youth.
Gbajabiamila said this at a Youth and Social Development summit, organised by the Gbaja Professional Volunteers Network (GPVN) to commemorate the 2022 International Youth Day on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, it is unfortunate that the political conversations about the forthcoming elections have become dominated by the loud voices of division and derision.
This according to him, are for whom politics is a contact sport, designed to inflict the greatest harm on the individuals and the body politic.
He said that the voices had elevated fake news over facts and the politics of grievance and victimhood over studied consideration of the policy questions and answers.
He added that this would determine the fate of the young people who made up the majority of the population, while urging the youth to resist such.
He said that it was time for the voices of reason and compromise, whose manifest desired was to be part of the solution, to seize the debate, and make their voices heard.
He said that the summit was part of the effort to refocus the public debate on matters of substance and consequence, adding that he was honoured to be part of the summit.
He urged friends of the country at home and abroad to send in their ideas about the changes they wished to see, and their recommendations on making those changes possible.
He also said that a policy faculty would be established to collate, review and collate the ideas and suggestions into practical policy proposals.
Mr Lukman Lawal, the National Coordinator, (GPVN) said that the team was driven by the body of aides to the speaker, adding that its primary objective was to activate volunteerism as a model of development.
He added that joining forces, as volunteers; with members of government, private sector and household to improve socio-economic well-being of the mass of the people was their priority.
“We strongly recognise that all hands must be on deck to actualise the quantum of positive impact we all desire in our country.
“And we are poised to identify with the cause of good governance as exemplified by the person of Gbajabiamila, whose mantra of ascension and daily conduct remains “Nation Building, A Joint Task’. (NAN)
