L
LequteMan
Guest
Nigerians are starting to take action in a bid to better their plight in Africa's most populous nation.
Hundreds of youths on Tuesday stormed the buildings of the Nigerian national assembly and demanded that the 'not too young to run' bill, which was recently proposed by lawmakers, be passed into law.
The bill opens government offices to younger Nigerians. It seeks to reduce the age qualification for those aspiring to office of president from 40 to 30 years, office of governor from 35 to 30 years, senate from 35 to 30 years and the federal and state houses of assemblies from 30 to 25 years.
Chidi Odinkalu, a former chairman human rights commission, addressed the coalition of youth groups at the Unity Fountain before they marched to the national assembly.
According to him, the future of the country is in the hands of the youth.
“We are in a country with thhe median age of 19 but people who want to save Nigeria’s unity have an average age of over 60,” Odinkalu said.
“Who are they saving the country for? People are being invited across the country as leaders of thought, who are they thinking for? At our age, average age of the Nigerian youth given our life expectancy, we are already in the middle age and life expectancy for women is 51 and falling, for men, it’s 49 and falling.
“So, if you are in your 20s, you are in your middle age. People like me are already in injury time and people like us should be seeking to replace ourselves with the kind of people who are leading the Not Too Young to Run movement.
“Because we are going to die and life expectancy is short, we must replace ourselves with better people, when I look at young Nigerians I’m reassured that this country has a future. That is one promising thing about us. So, today let us go and take the national assembly asunder if we must.
“We need to create inconvenience, if we don’t create inconvenience, nobody knows you are demonstrating. Let us cause some inconvenience, let Nigerians know young people matter. For the sake of this country, we need young people in office, we need young people in power, we need young people taking control.”
They then proceeded to the national assembly where they were prevented from entering.
However, after being refused form gaining entrance, they shut down the main gate and blocked the roads, refusing vehicles from entering or leaving the premises.
Hundreds of youths on Tuesday stormed the buildings of the Nigerian national assembly and demanded that the 'not too young to run' bill, which was recently proposed by lawmakers, be passed into law.
The bill opens government offices to younger Nigerians. It seeks to reduce the age qualification for those aspiring to office of president from 40 to 30 years, office of governor from 35 to 30 years, senate from 35 to 30 years and the federal and state houses of assemblies from 30 to 25 years.
Chidi Odinkalu, a former chairman human rights commission, addressed the coalition of youth groups at the Unity Fountain before they marched to the national assembly.
According to him, the future of the country is in the hands of the youth.
“We are in a country with thhe median age of 19 but people who want to save Nigeria’s unity have an average age of over 60,” Odinkalu said.
“Who are they saving the country for? People are being invited across the country as leaders of thought, who are they thinking for? At our age, average age of the Nigerian youth given our life expectancy, we are already in the middle age and life expectancy for women is 51 and falling, for men, it’s 49 and falling.
“So, if you are in your 20s, you are in your middle age. People like me are already in injury time and people like us should be seeking to replace ourselves with the kind of people who are leading the Not Too Young to Run movement.
“Because we are going to die and life expectancy is short, we must replace ourselves with better people, when I look at young Nigerians I’m reassured that this country has a future. That is one promising thing about us. So, today let us go and take the national assembly asunder if we must.
“We need to create inconvenience, if we don’t create inconvenience, nobody knows you are demonstrating. Let us cause some inconvenience, let Nigerians know young people matter. For the sake of this country, we need young people in office, we need young people in power, we need young people taking control.”
They then proceeded to the national assembly where they were prevented from entering.
However, after being refused form gaining entrance, they shut down the main gate and blocked the roads, refusing vehicles from entering or leaving the premises.
