Only Nigeria Can Solve Its Own Problems- EU
The Deputy
Head of EU Delegation to Nigeria and West Africa, Mr. Richard Young, made this
known yesterday at the youth-organised May 29 Democracy Day programme tagged:
‘#FixingNigeria #Democracy Day,’ in Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.
Young said
outsiders can only make suggestions but the ultimate solution to Nigeria’s
challenges lies with Nigerians and stressed that youths have a great role to
play in this regard.
According to
him, the youths are the future and this fact is at the centre of next month’s
joint meeting of the EU and African Union (AU) in Abijdan, Ivory Coast.
He said “We
think the young men and young women are the future of what we stand for both
here in Nigeria and Europe. This is also what we will be discussing at the
meeting of AU and EU in Abidjan.
“On the
subject; ‘Fixing Nigeria, Sustainable Democracy and Imperatives’, it is only
Nigerians that can solve their problem. Instead of telling you how to fix
Nigeria, I am simply going to tell you two simple things.”
The EU envoy while quoting the popular CNN
anchor, Mr. Fareed Zakaria, said democracy is a “system marked by free and fair
elections, freedom of press, rule of law, protection of individual rights and
religion, association i.e constitutional democracy.
“It’s when
these rights are abused that people resort to extremism to challenge an affront
to their rights.”
Young
however, noted that true federalism is one of the best structure of government
best suited for a country like Nigeria to enjoy the full democratic values.
He cited a
Noble Prize winner, Mr. Roger Milson, who postulated that, “Decentratlisation
and democracy can improve governance. He is a strong advocate of federal
institutions.”
Earlier, the
youth activists, participants and panelists called for active mobilisation and active
political participation of over 70 million youths in the nation’s leadership
and democratic governance.
The
thousands of youth who stormed Yar’Adua Centre also demanded for open and
genuine discussing on Nigerians future including the issues of restructuring
and fiscal federalism.
One of the
youth panelists and Executive of Access Enterprise Mr. Walter Okoye, noted:
“The mindset of depending on people’s to do something for them has permeated
every facet of our youths. I think no matter what you do everyone should be
involved in politics and youths make up of 70 per cent of the population.”
In the same
vein, another youth activist and political researcher, Ms. Josephine Itoyah,
called for a thorough prognosis into the country’s problem starting from how the various hitherto independent
tribes and kingdoms were forcefully fused together to form the union.
Itoyah noted
that failure to understand this and create a workable union amongst these
naturally competing groups would present a huge challenge for leadership,
democracy and good governance in the country
“Do we
really understand what it means to create a state, being a country… what I see
is different Kingdoms being forced together … since then we view our country
from our own enclaves and perspectives. This made us to think of what to get
out of the country and not to contribute,” she remarked.
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