The first session of the North Central Youth Parliament, on Thursday, holds its inaugural sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
The North Central Youth Parliament is an offshoot of the Nigerian Youth Parliament that is modeled after the Nigerian Parliamentary system.
The North Central Youth Parliament is comprised of 7 states and 50 honorable members representing various respective constituencies within the North Central geo-political zone.
The activities of the parliament include protecting the interest of youths, particularly within the North Central and contributing to the progress, peace and development of the region through constructive deliberations, policy formulations, seminars, workshops, symposiums and summits on leadership training, career building, skill acquisition and youth empowerment.
Speaking during the inaugural sitting, the newly elected Speaker, Hon. Jeremiah Friday Ohomah addressed insecurity ravaging the North Central zone and youth inclusiveness in politics.
He said, “Today, the North-Central has outlived the era when silence is golden. The conceptualization of our silence in the name of national unity and continuous synergistic benefits as one entity has no doubt resulted to a regional hegemony with the North-Central conspicuously left out of the political equations and calculations but shrouded with inexactitude identify; Ceremoniously conscripted into the Northern region during electioneering process and ungraciously ascribed middle belt once elections are over.”
On insecurity, he said, “The supposition that the North Central has turned into a battlefield serving as the largest national reservoir harbouring innocent blood has no iota of falsehood. The irrepressible activities of the killer herdsmen vis-a-vis bandits and the deafening silence of the government laid credence to the surmise of an attempt to exterminate the North Central from the Nigeria Map for the reasons yet to be ascertained.
“Needless to say, a willing government who believes in the sanctity of lives and the wellbeing of the people of the North Central would have no objections to the proposed ban on open grazing rather assist in the best ways possible as the ban is a right step in the right direction towards resolving farmers-herders glitches that has served as the bane of insecurity in the North Central region.
Speaking on marginalization of the geo-political zone, he said, “As a student of history, Nigeria has so far produced 16 presidents from the time of independence. Amongst, is just two from the North Central: General Yakubu Gowon and General Ibrahim Babangida. A figure considered infinitesimally insignificant to be considered for national inclusiveness and a supposed reason to continuing to espouse the notion of national integration in all sincerity considering the roles of the region towards attainment and sustainment of political and economic stability of the country.
“Therefore, we stand in total opposition to the current arrangement of preposterous rotation of power between the North and the South with no distinct reference to the North Central in an engulfing attempt to continue to subject the region to the predominance of the Northern region vis-a-vis an attempt to politically excommunicate the North Central.”
“The atavistic aphorism that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow is no doubt a tragic lullaby with an endless ryhme sang to assuage the embers of frustration of the Nigerian Youth. The sit-tight syndromes and homogeneous rotation of power within the same class of old leaders have no doubt continued to asphyxiate the youth from all the relevant corridors of power especially where dexterities and innovative thinking are required,” he said on youth inclusiveness.
“This redundant failure to gainfully and intellectually engage the youth in all positive spheres of the Nation’s building accounts for the endemic state of insecurity in all forms and guise in Nigeria.
“Today, we joined the existing voices and critical minds to drum louder the need to be intentional and more proactive in reengaging, reorienting and repositioning the minds of the youth towards National integration through holistic inclusiveness so as to dissuade them from all actions and inactions that denigrate and debase our cherished identity as the true giant of Africa.”
Meanwhile, as part of the maiden session, the young parliamentarian demanded that the presidential ticket be consensually ceded to the North Central region by all political parties.
They urged President Muhammed Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, give maximum priority to the degenerating security situations in the North Central region.
They requested that the Federal Government constitute a North Central Development Commission (NCDC) that will oversee activities and empower the youth of the North Central region.
Also, they asked Governors of the North Central region to do more in educating, empowerment the youth of the region and most importantly gives the youth a leveled playing ground in the governance of the region.