The Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, on Wednesday charged the youths to get involved in politics ahead of 2023 general elections.
Dabiri-Erewa, who made the call at the 14th ǼLEX Annual Lecture with the theme: “Illiteracy, Migration and Insecurity: Nigeria’s Population Time Bomb,” advised the youths to turn their tweets to votes in 2023.
She said Nigeria’s population of over 200 million, half of which is made up of young people, was an asset to drive economic prosperity and political change in the country.
The NiDCOM chief said: “For the youths, please join politics, be on the table. Now is the time for the youths. Get involved now, make a difference. Be at the House of Assembly, be at the House of Representatives, Be at the Senate. Don’t wait. That is the solution to #EndSARS.
“Most young people going out there are not illiterate, they are actually educated but they are lured that there is a better world outside. They paint them a picture of buying houses for their mothers, fathers, which turns out to be fake. It is not about illiteracy but it is about more awareness out there. But there are some people that no matter what you tell them, they have to go.”
She also urged Nigerians living in other parts of the country and eager to relocate to Lagos to stay in their states and develop them to the status of the country’s economic capital.
Dabiri-Erewa added: “We all don’t have to be in Lagos. Look at what is happening in Lagos because everybody is coming to Lagos. Everybody develop your state. When we go to America, the United Kingdom, every state is developed. Lagos receives over 3,000 people every day and they don’t leave. Let every state develop so that everybody can stay in their states. Build industries, go into manufacturing, develop agriculture, and develop the enormous human resources that we have in this country.
“So, let everybody develop their states. That is the solution. Too much pressure on Lagos; everybody is coming to Lagos. That cannot continue.”
(Ripples Nigeria)
