Nigeria
A renowned clergy in North Central Nigeria, Bishop Benjamin Kwashi, has said it is not enough for Nigerian youths to seek to take over political power through vying for political offices in elections, but to also strive to occupy sensitive positions like the judiciary and other government agencies.
Kwashi said if youths pursue education and become lawyers, accountants, engineers, etc, they will frustrate corrupt politicians’ efforts to always set the nation back through their corrupt practices.
The Bishop was speaking on Saturday, at the Maiden edition of Youth National Conference on Social Justice organized by the International Organisation For Peace Building and Social Justice (PSJ), held in Jos.
The seminar was a 3-day event which ended on Saturday with youths drawn from all over the country to listen to schoolers on how to become change agents and good ambassadors for a dying nation characterized by bad politicians.
The goal of the conference was to provide a platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration and networking among civil society organizations, academics, government representatives, and other stakeholders.
The seminar also seeks to deepen the understanding of the role of civil society organizations in promoting social justice and transformational leadership, our correspondent reports.
However, speaking to journalists on the sideline, the clergy said the present day politicians have not only destroyed the country but have also divided citizens among religious lines to further actualize their aim of perpetually occupying elective positions.
Kwashi noted that one of the tools to break the circle of these wicked politicians is to get the youths educated and informed of these evil devices, insisting that education remains one of the positive ways to liberate the youths.
He said when today’s youths become lawyers tomorrow and occupy the judiciary, even when marchant politicians rig elections for their children and cronies, the orientated judiciary will sack them from office.
On his part, one of the keynote speakers at the event, a Vice Chancellor at the University of Mkar in Benue State, Prof. Zachary Gundu, said it is time for the youths to begin to think for themselves rather than allowing the present day politicians to think for them.
Gundu said the country is where it is today because those who are supposed to chart a new course for the country are filled with greed and selfishness.
According to him: “We are allowing people to think for us and when we allow them to think for us it is certainly not in our interest.
“We must get the youths to begin to imagine the type of world they want to live in. A world that will be fair to everyone.
“When we get the youths to think, they will begin to create the foundation they want to see in their families and the country at large”, he said.
Skynewsafrica