5 things Governor told young Nigerians
Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State has charged young Nigerians to get their hands dirty if they want to change their country.
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Chatham House is based in London.
As has become the norm when he speaks, El-Rufai struck a few raw nerves from London.
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Here are the five talking points we noted:
1. Young people should get their hands dirty
If you are young, you can’t change Nigeria by just tweeting, facebooking and instagramming about it, the Governor says.
El-Rufai wants young Nigerians to get their hands dirty if they are serious about righting all the wrongs that have held Nigeria down.
Here’s the self acclaimed 'certified ruffler of feathers': "So long as young people think they don't have a chance and stay away, they will never be there. I say this again and again to all the young people I talk to; politics trumps everything.
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"You can go and be your NGO, be social activist and so on, you'll never change the world.
"The way to change your environment is to participate in the political process and you cannot do so without getting your hands dirty. You'll be disappointed, you'll be frustrated, but it is your country, it is your future".
2. Cut the entitlement mentality
Just because you are young doesn’t mean you should expect power to drop on your laps, says El-Rufai.
According to the Governor, young people have been blessed with everything they require to succeed politically.
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“The platforms exist, there are no barriers to joining, but you need to come in without any sense of entitlement and be ready to serve and work hard and be frustrated.
"You have to come in to push us out, and you must."
3. With their numerical advantage, young Nigerians are shortchanging themselves.
“If you don't get involved to change the future now and shape it, we'll leave behind to you a nation you don't like.
"You're 80% of the population, seize the moment, get involved. It won't be easy, but you don't have a choice.
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"You can be social activist, but at the end of the day, you must get involved in the political process at one level or another if you want to shape and change your future".
4. El-Rufai burst bubble of Biafra agitators
In recent times, calls for an independent Biafra State have become deafening.
El-Rufai offers pro-Biafra agitators little encouragement. He says the chances of getting a referendum in Nigeria are akin to squeezing water out of the proverbial rock.
"Unfortunately, or fortunately, in our constitution, there's no room for referendum except in one case, I think, when you want to create a local government or a State.
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"We cannot put constitutional questions to referendum, we can only amend our constitution through the process I've described through our legislature.
"Referendums may appear very attractive, but as we have seen in some countries, they have led to very very dysfunctional outcomes, and in a way, I'm happy that we don't have such provisions in our constitution.
"Of course we can amend the constitutions to include referendums, but I'm not sure based on what we've seen in the Trumpian world, whether that is desirable."
5. Restructuring is fine with El-Rufai
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The Kaduna Governor heads the restructuring committee put together by the governing APC.
He told the world from London that cries for restructuring from Nigerians, will be adequately addressed.
"This is why President Buhari said all these issues about restructuring ultimately should be referred to the National Assembly.
"What we're doing now will provide the frame and guidance for the issues that will be presented to the National Assembly”, he said.
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![Polling clerks counted votes at a polling station after completing the voting process of the general election in Abuja, Nigeria, on February 25, 2023. [Getty Images]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'300'%20height%3D'172'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Polling clerks counted votes at a polling station after completing the voting process of the general election in Abuja, Nigeria, on February 25, 2023. [Getty Images]")