Ace musician and activist, Charly Boy has reiterated that young Nigerians are ready and qualified for leadership. The singer who is an advocate for young people running for leadership roles made this known in an article he published hours before the Senate passed the ‘Not Too Young To Run’ bill on Wednesday.
The bill’s aim is to amend the constitution and reduce the age qualification for the office of the president to 35 years; governor to 30 years; senate 30 years; and the house of representatives to 25 years.
According to him:” It is highly encouraging to learn that the Not too young to run (NTYTR) movement embarked on a national day of action on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 at 8 am at the Unity Fountain, Abuja to mobilize support for the passage of the proposed amendment on age requirement for running for elective office.When the bill passed the first and second reading, there was an outburst of emotions across the nation, particularly among the youths.It felt like our lawbreakers were beginning to take their job seriously, though they would later prove themselves as irrational, unserious, and greedy”.
Charly Boy added that the best memories of Nigeria were when young people embraced nationalism.
“The best memories of our nation were when young people embraced nationalism and fought for the liberation of their enslaved country.A succinct look at global leadership trends today shows that the role of leadership is tilting towards the younger persons; France, Belgium, Qatar, North Korea, Tunisia, Greece, Canada, Poland, Georgia and so on. Economy-wise, these countries are doing great, too.The big question, however, is – are the present crop of Nigerian youths qualified for leadership?
“To that, I say a big YES. When we talk about our youths, all focus must not be on the youths residing in Nigeria alone.Globally, many young Nigerians are doing the country proud and excelling in their different fields of endeavour. And YES, I have met some exceptional young Nigerians within the borders who have qualities of good and visionary leadership.
“Young people both home and abroad need to know that they are at war, the nation has been captured and the fate of our nation now lies in the hands of our exceptional youths. To sit down and hope that the freedom of young persons will be given is just like hoping that Dollar to Naira will fall to one to one. It will never happen. Not with the type of impunity that is now on public display”.