Osinbajo Charges Nigerian Youths to Connect With Rural Peers, Make a Difference

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has stressed that to promote and secure victory for the kind of candidates they want in elective public positions, knowledgeable young Nigerians must reach out further to connect and build bridges with their colleagues in semi-urban and rural areas, who are not as privileged and exposed like themselves.

According to him, this move would be useful in fixing the missing link in youth participation in Nigerian politics.
The Vice President stated this yesterday while interacting with young Nigerians under the auspices of the Global Shapers Community, Abuja Hub, who paid him a courtesy visit at the State House.
The Global Shapers Community is an initiative of the World Economic Forum with chapters spread across different countries and a membership of over 15,000 young people.

He told his guests that, “The vast majority of people, who are called youths in Nigeria are disprivileged, they are not people like yourselves.”
Osinbajo said only a small fraction of the youth population, who are most vocal and articulate, have impacted the political landscape.

According to him, “Our politics is still divided even among young people and the reason they cannot find the critical mass that it takes to promote the kind of candidates that they want in public office is because even among the young people, who are interested, their message is still restricted to themselves.
“To make a difference, they must cross that line and be speaking to the masses of young people in our society, who don’t have the privilege of knowledge or exposure that this other group has, which really for me, is the next stage of politics in our country.”

“Today, if elections are run again and again, the traditional candidates will win, because the people in the hinterlands, people outside of the major urban centres, are not aware of some of the individuals that you might like, and because some of them are not involved in politics centrally, it is very difficult, sometimes even just to gain recognition outside their own immediate spheres of influence.

“So, there is a need for that connection, understanding our society, understanding this country is very important, which is why building bridges is crucial, talking to people across the country is very important. Those are the realities of our politics.”

On what motivates him for public service, Osinbajo declared: “It is absolute passion, I do not have a drive. It is for me, second nature. I just cannot imagine not being involved in one way or the other in public service. Whatever the realities, whatever is going on in the world, I am still going to be interested in public service.”

Speaking on the most impactful lesson of the past few years, he said it has been “putting people at the centre of policy. It is a point that is easy not to understand that at the end of the day, whatever it is that you are doing, it is people, who are going to be affected by it, and you should do whatever it is to take them into account.

“In a country our size, and as diverse in everything, that is a much bigger issue because you got to see to it that you address the concerns of people.

“So, for example, when we were thinking of the social investment policy, one of the things that struck me then was that there are many things that have been done to affect people but they have to be at scale, on the kind of scale that will make a difference.

“At the end of the day, the people are the centre of it, so, it is not enough to have a great idea, how do you deliver it on scale to the people. It is okay to talk about executing programmes and policies, but if you want to do it and achieve results, you have to do it on scale.”

Earlier, the Curator of the Abuja Global Shapers Community, Dr Ifeoma Ike, who led the group praised the Vice President for prioritising young people in all of his engagements, work, initiatives and even policies, assuring him of their support even outside of office.