The youth wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lampooned President Muhammadu Buhari for not putting any youth policy in place after more than two months in office.
Speaking via a statement issued in commemoration of the World Youth Day, the National Youth Leader of the PDP, Abdullahi Maibasira said his party understood the plight of the Nigerian youth.
The statement read:
“As a constituency within our party, we have allowed for sufficient time for reviews and deep reflections. We have also observed with sufficient pride; the dynamism of our party and the untiring spirit of our new role as the Nigeria’s leading and most formidable opposition party.
“Today affords us an opportunity to appreciate the support of our youth members, congratulate Nigerian youths for the generally exemplary conduct during the 2015 general elections and commend young people for their solidarity and belief in democracy and one Nigeria. This work must continue because democracy is not an event, but a process – aimed towards nation building, good governance and pursuit of prosperity.
“To our teeming youths; we also restate the strong commitment of the present NWC on the restructuring and reorganization of the party, which has already commenced in earnest. These series of exercises are aimed at repositioning our party, retracing our founding ideals, reconnecting and returning the party to the people, providing a strong, objective and virile opposition and preparing the grounds for future elections. We should not be deterred and we cannot be intimidated at this time in our political history. After every historic disappointment comes another historic opportunity and discovery. We must rediscover ourselves and take advantage of this opportunity.
“We are examining each and every policy of the present ruling party with regards to youths. So far, we are yet to see none. When eventually they are unveiled to Nigerians, we shall put in place a PDP Youth Think Tank Team to objectively and dispassionately x – ray these policies and make our views known.
“As vanguards of democracy, we are ardent and dying believers in the rule of law, transparency, doctrine of the separation of powers and the independence of democratic institutions especially the electoral body, political parties, the press and the judiciary. We shall never compromise on these ideals. We also believe and shall continue to advocate for a free and fully inclusive Nigeria for all Nigerians. We will now fully and willingly deploy our strengths to advance the cause of a strong opposition.
“The National Directorate of Youth Affairs will in due course inaugurate a PDP Youth Restructuring Committee. The Committee will be mandated to review the operational, institutional and administrative regulations / frameworks that guide youth activities, mobilization, inclusion and mainstreaming in the party and to further suggest contemporary means for expanding youth inclusion in the party.
“As we in Nigeria join our counterparts across the world to celebrate the International Youths Day, the history and results of various youth empowerment, leadership development and integration programmes of previous PDP led administrations are still very fresh in our archives.”
