 It's four days to elections and tonight we take a look at youth participation in the February 20th polls and the role they will play in determining a new Nigeria. This is cross politics, I am Mary Annickle. Now since the commencement of campaigns last year, Nigeria's political space has been bustling with life. The national discourse is now centred on politics and the media field with all kinds of narratives. The coming 2023 general elections in Nigeria could arguably go down as the most exciting since Nigeria's 1999 forced democratic journey and youth can significantly impact on the outcome of the 2023 elections if they are intentional about what the future holds and means to them. Now considering INEX figures and the age distribution of voters, it is obvious that youth or the youthful population will likely determine the outcome of this election. Joining us to discuss this tonight is Ambassador Nicholas Omumere. He is a youth ambassador and a political scientist. Imanu Omuka is a broadcast journalist. Okwemi Oryonowo is a project lead for Nigeria Youth Futures Fund and Kadija Okunu-Lamedi is a former presidential aspirant for the Social Democratic Party, SDP. It is so good to have you join us, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Thank you, thank you for having us. Thank you guys for being here. Thank you, thank you very much. Great. I'm going to do the honors to the lady in the house before we go to the gentleman. I'm going to be a bit biased tonight. For you, you ran for the highest office in the land and you decided to go for the president. A lot of young people have said that they never really stand a chance when it comes to those very revered offices like the president's senate's house of representatives. But how were you able to break into the SDP being one of the oldest political parties in the country? Thank you again for having us. Breaking into it, there are really no barriers, I believe. We generally think that they are reserved for a certain few and it's very important that we actually take the stand and stand up. Power is only given to those who show up and so it's important to show up as a youth, as a woman. However you want to show up, you have the right to as long as you're over 35 years of age and you're a Nigerian citizen, you do have the right to run for these offices. Many people would say for the women, especially for women who are young women who are in political parties, half the time your positions are limited. You are either the financial officer or you are the woman leader. And half the time those offices that you really want to get to, you never get the opportunity. But then the SDP considerably has some clout now as opposed to last time when we had just two, it was more like a two-horse race. As a woman, you sound more like it was very easy for you compared to every other woman who has been trying to contest in different, I mean we know about the 35% derivation that everybody's asking for, the women are saying we need more representation. But then it looks more like it's not as simple as you make it sound. It definitely, it's not as easy as, I hope I'm not making it sound easy. It does sound, it sounds easy. I'm still in the walk and it's actually an uphill battle. However, it's important that you have a concrete, how do they call them, concrete floors. It's important for anybody going into politics to ensure that they're part of your life that you've developed and you've created value. So going into politics, it's not going into politics to make money, it's not going into politics to survive, it's going into politics for value, for service. And I think whenever you do go about anything in your life that way, you will have doors open for you. There are people who will criticise and say, well you have a very famous last name. That could have also opened these doors that you're talking about compared to an Emmanuel or let's say Nicholas who's out there. Did that play a role in any way? Well that would have played a role in it and I don't take that for granted. Like I say, privilege is responsibility. However, what do you want to use your privilege for? How do you want to be a service? Where do you want to stand when the chips fall? So that's generally what it is. I'm going to come to the rest of them but I just want to push you further. For you now, like you have said, what do you want to use that privilege for? Because there are several other young women who would say politics is not a place for me. I'm not sure I want to be playing in the centre. I'd rather just sit on the fence or wait for election day to cast my vote. How many young women have you been able to draw into political parties? Because you see young people say, oh we don't like the people that the primaries throw up but how many of us are participants at the grassroots level all the way into the party to make sure that we are part of those who determine who the party throws up? It was quite, that's one of the reasons that I've been around the field for quite a while. I grew up in it. I saw things, how they emerge. And I also saw the gaps in how the leaders or the people who flag bearers are thrown up. So I hope my candidacy and I think it did inspire people. I think it did arouse people's interest in taking an interest in politics because it's like, okay who is this young woman doing this? So more women have gotten involved and we can do more than being the woman leader. You are naturally the woman leader. You can be more than, there are certain positions that you can and we have the votes in numbers in terms of how many women actually come in to vote. So it was important to get in so that what I realized growing up is, I guess it's been difficult but seeing women or seeing people generally who inspire you to get into politics is quite difficult. So I want to be that one of those people. I want to be one of those people that takes the hits as they come. However, you are making sure that you are creating a level playing field for the next generation and generations to come. So the women that are coming in, it's important that you join parties, not just votes. You bring parties at your ward, ward level, where their positions are taking maybe 10 in each ward. You're part of that. So when it's time to pick the delegates, these are the people that they pick. So two from every ward or three from every ward. So if you're part of that then you're going to, when you're going to go to your convention, you're going to cast your vote for a reason. You have something to say. You have a person that you have reason to vote for. You're not just going there, freestyling, whoever pays money. No, you now know because and most of the time in these wards, you have both driver is the chairman, his girlfriend is the ward, is the woman leader and these are who constitute the wards. So you can imagine who constitutes the delegates. So if it's not magic, being a delegate, you have to be part of that. So just join a ward. It's quite easy. Every once in three months you have a meeting. It doesn't take much from your personal life. I'm going to come to you, Nick, because you're a youth ambassador. It's interesting because she's saying it's very, it's important that people join political parties. I'm going to start from there because a lot of young people would say, Oh, these politicians, the boys club, they don't pay attention to us. And then there are those who will say we want to face them out. But how do you face them out? Just as I asked that, if young people are not necessarily interested in grassroots politics. Okay. Thank you very much for having me. I agree with her as to more young people need to actually join these political parties because aside from the fact that we are out there voting, we actually kick and choose who we choose as the front person that will govern our society. Now, when I say more young people in more political parties, we actually need more people to actually join at the word level at the senior levels and at the top level, so that we can actually create these political parties because now we have 18 political parties running for election. And then if more people were diverse in different ideas as to where they wanted to join could really shape out the kind of leaders that we choose. So pointing on what she said, she's actually correct. We need more people to join at the lower levels so that we can actually start projecting because being the president is not enough. We actually need more people at the Senate level, at the representative level, even at the state level. We need representatives there as well. So how do you get these people to be involved? Because- So like right now, like you said, I'm a youth ambassador. What we do is summits. We call youths different people within the ages, both from 16 to 24. And you know some member states take to 30. So to 30, you need to actually indulge that political activation in people. Let them know the reasons why we should actually be involved in politics. We need to actually educate younger people who are still even in their secondary schools to join politics because when we host events, we actually need to gather a group of people that need to come forward and say, okay, hey, we're looking towards this particular candidate. We're looking towards this based on the party's ideologies. We're looking towards this kind of person who would need us. So as you said, how do we get people to join? It's more of having friends, peer groups, churches, just having the idea to speak politics or to speak inclusion of more people at our age into the political stand that we are in right now. Okay, I'm leaving you right now for later because he's a journalist. He's going to give us a journalistic perspective. Okay, the average, I mean, looking at Nigeria's population, we have more of a useful population and our percentage is high. But again, you talk to the average person on the road about, I mean, first things first, I mean, the basic question is, do you have a PVC? And I've heard so many young people say, they know the people that they're going to put there. But then that's a different discourse. The other person is telling you that these political parties, they know themselves. They're the ones that even if you go there, you cannot affect any change. So the challenge is convincing anybody to join a political party. But then just as Nick said, there's so many summits. We're having summits. We're going for leadership trainings every now and again. We're going on exchange programs to other countries. But how does that translate to getting more young people included in the civic space? All right. Thank you, Marine. And I think Katija and Nicola has already kind of touched on this. For me, I think that we can at least refer back to some recent experience that we've had. There is direct linkage as it stands now between the NSAS movement or the NSAS protest and the significant number of voters or interests that we've seen. Some of the young people showing interest and wanting to participate. And I would say or argue that voting as the case may be is the very bare minimum of participation, like you voted. So Katija did talk about getting involved in political parties. So that's another level of participation. But even for us as voters, voting is also just an exercise. You voted based on certain principles, based on the fact that it stood on certain things to deliver certain deliverables for the people. So we must continue to ensure that we hold them accountable, ensuring that that vote that you give to them, you did not sell your veterans, it was the trust. You must continue to validate that trust because of it. So I would say that all of the work that Nicola has talked about in terms of sensitizing, continuing to educate people, continuing to have these conversations, they eventually would pay out. Just the same way we've seen that there's been a significant number of young people right now who are interested. What I would argue for sure, and I think that the jury is out in five days to determine the validity of that, is the number of people who would eventually show what, basically right now going by what the fact is. If we go by the number of voters that INEC registered between June 2020 and within June 2021 and July 2022 in the space of one year, over 9.5 million new voters were registered. And over 7.5 million of those 9 million were students. Right? So that already says something about the fact that there is definitely an awakening. We can't dispute the fact that we have more young people interested in the electoral system, interested in governance, and we need to participate. What my concern now really is about the fact that how we are going to maintain that momentum. Because in reality, which is that five days from now, five days is here already, we are going to vote. But we need to now begin to educate this new and awakened young people about the fact that in the participation or civic activity, civic participation, as in case may be, is in long-term care, because the reality is that only one winner would it match. So we must go to the polls with a sense of understanding that even if it's not my candidate that it matches, this is just the first step who was in Nigeria we want to achieve. So I'm really concerned about the issues around disillusionment. I don't want young people to be discouraged. I mean, I'm hoping for the best that the best candidate wins for ultimately we have to be in it. You have to ensure that young people are in it for the longer, you know, that we're not, you know, disoriented. If it doesn't go our way, because tensions are so high, people want their candidates to win. But politics ultimately is the game of numbers. Kanidja spoke to how the organization goes out. He organized with the political parties about how he drives the market to money, the market to money, why? It's about social connections. So young people will need to also begin to wake up towards, you know, even being part of the throwing up the candidate. Because at the very best, it is their interest, even the masses, the options of who to choose. It's not that they were part of the process. So until we also find out we are the other side of how Kanidja to have more of us running, where we are able to choose the people that are even eventually presented to the Nigerian people, then we begin to take power for ourselves. Great. You even went into my next question, but I'm going to come to you now Emmanuel. Yes, he's talked about the fact that the answers created some sort of an awakening. And then there's this saying out there in the streets, the young people saying that their parents, you know, had failed, you know, failed Nigeria and they're the ones who are to rescue the country. Looking at all of this and the elections, because you see I've had conversations on Twitter, Spaces and all of that. After now, whether, no matter who emerges, what next for the African or for the Nigerian young person? Because it doesn't end with the elections. Whoever emerges, we're still, just as he says, there's going to be some level of accountability. What kind of conversations are we supposed to be having in preparation for that? Well, I would say wanting. Nigerian youths lost hope in the election in politics a long time ago. You see, the end sars and the aftermath of the end sars actually reawaken that hope. The hope was lost a long time ago. I told you I was a journalist for years and I didn't want to go to register for my PVC because I lost hope in the political system. I lost hope in everything, the concerns, anything, politics. I don't even want to hear of it. You see, but then and again, something just happened, something triggered and the whole youths have put in it. But the thing we have to understand here is this. The reason why the tensions are so high is because the youths are putting their eggs in one basket right now. It's a make or mass situation. And they are really, really ready to go, you know. When you say they're putting their eggs in one basket, what exactly do you mean? When I mean putting their eggs, it's like a lot of people have lost hope and left the country. These ones that are here right now, they just want to try. That's the word. They just want to try. They just want to give it like the utmost dash for it. Let's try and change this country. If we can't change it, you know what? I'm just going to have an alternative. People already, if you check the statistics, you see that people already have their passports ready to leave the country. So it's either they make the election, the election is right, they lead. You know, when it comes to the election, they have their voices ahead during the elections or they leave. It's either of this. And it's going to affect a lot of organizations who have been trying to see how you two participate more after the election. So I think one of the things that it's going to be, and that is why you see a lot of... I had a conversation yesterday on the radio and the people that called in were youths. And I remember a very young man, Victor, I spoke to him yesterday on the radio and he said something. I said, he said he needed cash. He was trying to get cash. And I said, if you go to a pulling unit in Nando State and you offer 10,000-era cash, new notes, would you sell your vote? He said, I know better. And the way he said it, I was so pleased. He said, I know better. And he was so confident. You see? But this is like I'm giving my all. If I don't make it, I don't know, but I just want to put my all into it. If you see, every one of them, it's organic. The movement of the youth is organic. It's not spearheaded by anybody. It's not funded by anybody. Everybody's just doing what they can do. Everybody's just going there. You don't tell people to go on social media and announce it. You don't tell people. Previously, you would see politicians go to the grassroots and go there and campaign. If you see this year, or these 2023 elections, the campaign strategy changed. The campaign strategy changed. People came on social media. It wasn't like that before. The way they engaged... There was a loss of social media in 2015 and 2019. Yeah, but it's not like this. It's not like this. There was less groundwork, so to speak. They were trying to get to the youth because they already understand that the numbers from the election from INEC focused on the youth. The youths are more. So they were trying their best to see how they can get to these youths' population. And that is just the way it is. Kadija, what do you think the biggest challenge of the young person in Nigeria is today, especially whether it be in terms of the elections, voting, social life, what exactly is the biggest challenge of the young person in Nigeria today? Well, I believe that it is understanding the issues. So participation is important, no doubt. But you need to understand the issues. What issues... And you need to set the agenda. What we've been doing is we've been playing catch-up for so long. It's time for us to... And like you rightly said, Emmanuel, we youth need to understand life and life cycles. Things don't always... Serendipity might come into play and we might get our way, but life is a long life learning. It's what we're trying to achieve here. And we have to also understand that there are options. So there are 18 political parties. We need to actually listen to candidates. I mean, we're still allowed to campaign. So my candidate is Adiwole Adebayo. And he has a great grasp on the issues. All the issues that concern us, that concern our pockets, that concern our homes, that concern our education, our health. These are the issues that he speaks about. He doesn't go on the... Excuse me. He doesn't go on the podium and dance. He goes on the podium to elevate the minds of the youth. He goes on the podium to elevate the minds of the elderly, of the people living with disability. So these are the real issues on ground. These are the issues that matter to Nigerians and our growth as a nation. So we're going to put all our energies and every single avenue platform that we have to promote our solutions. However, we do not want to... We also know that democracy is the highest numbers. So we need to ensure that we organize ourselves. Organizing is the most critical part. We need to organize ourselves into laudable forms where we can actually take over. But taking over as well requires that we don't think that is make or mark. Taking over requires... Taking over power requires that we're responsible with it. It requires that we understand what it's about. We understand the issues that work. We're not just taking it. Many political parties have done that. They've come together just to grab power. It did nothing. So it's now time for us to actually understand where do we fit in? How am I going to serve if this comes through? So I tell the youth, consider all the other parties and the elderly and people who have genuine love for the country that we really need to look into things and take a different path. It's always easier. People think it's harder. When you make a new path, it's easier because there are no obstacles in front. But when we come back, we'll be talking about election violence. Yes, tensions are high. We're going to talk about vote buying and, of course, youth inclusion on every level. Stay with us. It's still plus politics. We'll be right back. It's still plus politics and we're talking youth participation and inclusion as we get ready for February polls and, of course, the ones coming in March. My guests in the studio are still Nicholas Omumere, youth ambassador and a political scientist Emmanuel Omukah, who's a broadcast journalist. Okweyemi Oreniowo, who is the project lead of Nigeria Youth Futures Fund and Khadija Okunulamidi, who's a former presidential candidate, aspirant of the Social Democratic Party. Now, before we went on that break, I did say we were going to talk about election violence. Now, I'm coming to you, Nick. You obviously are going to be participating in this election. You are an example of several other Nigerians who are going to be coming from the diaspora to be part of this election over the weekend. Now, their fears, of course, even from some of the statistics and the polls that have been taken of, you know, some sort of violence. And now this is just because in the past few weeks, we've seen people, you know, getting angry about the fact that they've not been able to get access to their monies and we've seen pockets of violence in different places and there's a fear that that might also linger up onto the elections. Now, when we talk about pre-election or post-election or even election violence, half the time, the people who are perpetrators of these violence are young people. And now that we're saying that we're somewhat, permit me to use the word woke and now a bit more awake to our responsibilities in terms of inclusion and making sure that we play a part in this election, what should be the conversation around this issue of violence? Because again, whether we like it or not, there are people who are still being paid to perpetrate these acts and these people are young persons. Thank you. So one thing I always think about and I think we really did not capitalize on was the timeline to actually engage this political thugs. That's a safe word to use, right? So we as youth, the normal people that go to school students, the normal working class individual, the normal concerned citizen have been focusing on the election. But what we did not focus on was this individuals up until I think it was last year, October that I actually saw. I and a few of my friends, we kind of engage this political thugs in different areas that we feel would be more chaotic. We've been trying to sensitize them, trying to let them know that aside from all this money that they are collecting, yes, the country on its own is, everybody is suffering. So we've been trying to basically let them know that they can collect the money, but necessarily they do not have to do what these evil people want them to do with this money. Now, why I say I think we did not capitalize on the timeline was because if we had like a good year, it would have been enough to like properly sensitize at least 70% of all these political thugs. Now, with this timeline that we have, the only thing we can always do is always still push out the same message that this $5,000, this $2,000, because if you check it, the money they paid them, it's not when they split it amongst themselves, it's nothing tangible to actually push you through a week to live in Nigeria. So we always try to push out the message that, oh, you're collecting this money but you don't have to actually do this. Like if you still ballot box now for the next four years, to take another four years before they come and meet you to say, oh, come and help us do another ballot box. So we've been making a good wave with the sensitization that we've been doing in some areas. Me, I'm from Imo State. So you already know the political language of Imo State right now. We've been trying our best to basically let them know that this Nigeria is for all of us. At the end of the day, we need to engage with these political thugs. We know them. They're everywhere. I know you everybody. I'm just curious. I'm so sorry, Nick, to talk over here. I'm just curious, since you mentioned Imo State, in your conversation with these people, have you tried to understand what is at the core of these violence because it's not just about the elections? Imo has been having a string of issues, and then we've had security issues coming from Imo State. With the eastern part of Nigeria, it's not just limited to Imo State. Yes, of course. There is what they aim for, inclusion. Like every, most people from the eastern part, we already know the whole Biafran story. Everybody desires to be part of Nigeria, and it seems like this is not just walking for the people from the east. So now they have this secession movement wanting to secede from the country. They downloaded the hearts of normal Nigerians. If you give them an inclusion part and you give them a sense of inclusion, they will not even want to secede from Nigeria. So even engaging with all these people, most of them were all put in put outs one time. Back in 2010, 2009, there was no movement for seceding from the country. All these points that you're seeing today, most of them were also put out. There's just, this is the new way, let's get on it, let's, we feel the pain of not being included in the society. So now we want to exit from the society. But I, for one, like I said, I'm 40,000, I've always been 40,000. I remember the Labour Party, we, he gives you that sense of hope. And that's why most people, if you see the tension really right now, up until last week Saturday, actually, it had always been calm. I've been in the situations in Igmo State where I see people actually saying, oh no, we don't want any party, not Labour Party. I still try to educate them, listen to everybody, don't make it a thing of ethnicity, don't make it a thing of religion, don't make it a thing of, oh, this is an Igbo man, we only want him. No, listen to everybody, or follow your mind, vote wisely, vote without being, for all I care. But the major thing is, with these political thoughts, I go back to your question. We need to basically find a way to either sensitize them, or engage right now, with our respective police units, military units, to make this election free and fair, at least somewhat free and fair. I'm coming to you, but if I am benefiting from something, I mean, if I'm part of a group of people who are cared for, because I mean, I had a governorship aspirant here in the studio with me some time ago, and he was talking to me about how these political thugs are recruited, that they have a system of sorts, like a sleeper cell, and they're given everything they need, but then they are picked at an appointed time to do the mayhem or the havoc that they have to cause. If a particular cause is paying me, what are you possibly going to tell me that would change my mind about it? Right, I think what you just attempted to explain, I think just botches is the systemic nature of political talkery and electoral violence. And I think that even the proponents of democracy, people who push democracy as the best method for people to govern themselves, have come to the realization that for democracy to truly thrive, they've identified a certain level of income treasure, is based on the fact that people are empowered, people are enlightened, and people are informed. And the reality is that for so long as you have poverty continue to thrive, you have unemployment, you have literacy continue to thrive, democracy will continue to struggle, as we have seen as we are struggling with democracy in itself. Because if we decide to just even cascade this conversation a little bit down to the grassroots, it seems like we're just a bunch of people speaking big grammar. And they're not really able to connect. And it still boils down to those existing structures, political patronage, where people are easy to identify around their ethnic lines, along their economic lines across what is feeding them. For some people in Nigeria right now, MURWU, that transport system, so you have this, I would like to call them non-state actors who are well in power. And they are the ones who are ultimately controlling society. For example, Nicholas was talking about the Nazis. I mean, sorry, I was talking about emo state. Last year, I had the opportunity of traveling across the entire six geopolitical zone, where we're listening to young people. And I totally agree with him, in terms of the agitations of young people that we've heard from the Nazis as a whole. I mean, from the Nazi era, from the Southeast, I beg your pardon. And it's really about inclusion. But you see non-state actors like iPop who can declare sit at home. And everybody obeys. And even the states themselves, the states, the people who have gone carrying and have the power of state right now, forced right now to obey. You know, so we see that non-state actors are carrying more power than the state government. These are the issues that speaks to the kind of state that we are in and how we govern ourselves. But the reality of it is that it's not a perfect process. It's not, like I said, democracy. The concept of perfecting democracy is a long journey. Even the United States of America have had their own fair share of populist agenda come and go and all that. But we must just ensure that we're building a system that is stronger than any movement, any wave of some sort, or any populist agenda. So it still comes back to going to the north, how poverty itself has been weaponized. So there's really no interest or incentives for their leaders to want to enlighten them because they've used that as a means of mobilizing them and ensuring right now that they're voting in one block or in one place. So we must beyond the electoral process, beyond the voting that will happen next week, Saturday and the one that will happen next month. We must begin to now stand for an agenda. What is Nigeria's 50-year plan? If for as long as our people continue to be held back by poverty, by electricity, our democracy will continue to be imperfect. We'll continue to elect the right people. So we must ultimately move our agitation irrespective of whatever political party or candidates in which we are supporting towards being agenda-driven. What is Nigeria's 50-year plan? Can we find a way? It's unfortunate that over the last 10 years, last 20 years, Nigeria's three bodies indicate us. We have more people, about 30 million Nigerians right now in abject poverty. We're doing way worse than that appears 30, 40 years ago. And in this time period, we've had different political parties come and lead us. So sometimes I don't even think it's a political party issue. Some of them is just, it needs to be an ideal elite consensus, where the elites of this country, irrespective of whatever parties they fall into, agree that enough is enough. We need to move our nation forward. We need to be rooted in an agenda in the next 10 years is what we would achieve. And in respect of whatever political party that comes, this agenda must not move. Or if, and we've looked at other countries, like the Asian Tigers or other countries like Malaysia, although the emerging ones, or like India in itself, look at what they've done. The only way they've done it right now is through this elite consensus. The agreement that enough is enough. We need to get our people out of poverty and whichever party that gets this power must be committed to that agenda. Talking about the elites, let's say the second class, which is almost non-existent now in Nigeria. Most, 80% of those people have run away. They've gone, because they can. And those who are left here, those who either want to stay and make a change or those who can't afford to run away because they don't have the means. But just following up from where he landed, there's a lot that we're asking for. We're asking for inclusion. He talked about the issue of poverty, addressing poverty. He's talked about dealing with the core issues that have cost-balance in all of these areas. As we get up for this election, we see young people are the ones who are part of the conduct of the elections in terms of youth core members. Young people might be volunteering in different categories. But as the election happens proper, I'm curious, as a journalist for you, what do you think will happen? Because you see, Canada raised a point and you said something to about everybody's hoping that it will turn out a certain way. Are we having conversations about what if it doesn't turn out the way we want it? How do we make sure that we don't... That situation does not become something that we cannot handle because there are fears that there might just be violence after the elections. And I don't see my dad or my mom doing that. It obviously will be young people. Yeah, whenever I think about that. And finally, as a journalist, what conversations will you be having in that direction because people listen to the radio a lot? Yes, so one of the things that I'm scared about, I'm scared about the outcome of Saturday's election. You know, just like you said, what happens after? Not what happens, you know, should it turn out the other way? What... How am I going to cope? I'll be on the field. You know, covering the elections. I have colleagues all around the nation. You know, who will be on the field? And what's going to happen? How do I prepare for the outcome of it? Now, let me make one point very clearly. You see, vote-buying is one thing. Tog... Togry, it's another thing. The people who you can buy their vote and the people you can recruit for Togry and to do the mayhem, cost mayhem and all the violence. Those persons do not need the money. As the major team. I've covered two presidential elections. I've covered governorship elections. I've covered various elections. And I'll tell you that those people who go out to cost mayhem are actually being washed, manipulated over time. It doesn't... So they have leaders. Just like you said, they have leaders. And these leaders feel... What's the percentage of these people compared to those who have joined the fray in terms of those who really want to make a change? What's the percentage? I can't give you any numbers right now. Honestly, I can't give you any numbers right now. I don't know how it is right now. But the thing I know is this. It's not just about giving out... Dulling out cash and telling people to vote a particular party. We've passed that, that. If they want... If it's going to be the violence. If it's going to be violence. It has to be people who are already manipulated. So you... Because the other... One party has the money. Let's take for instance. One party has the money. The other party has the money. So is it... Are they being sold to the highest bidder? No. That's not the case. It's manipulation. The promise of a better life. Do this. And see this life that you're living? I will change it. You people will not be here anymore. You people will be my backbone. You people will be my strong boys. Anytime I need boys. You people will really want our call. I'll pick off now. So don't worry. I will know what to do with you. Don't worry about it. And that is the promise that they give to these people. So when they are doing it, they're not doing it for the money. They're not doing it for 10,000, 3,000, 5,000, 15,000. No. They're not doing it for that. They are doing it because they want a better life for themselves. They want a better life for their families. So they are going that mindset to reach these people. And when they are causing mayhem, everything at the back of their mind is, I'm doing this for a better life. But again, back to my question. How do we change that narrative? Because the thing is, you have to be prepared. How do we prepare the minds of these people? These very people right now. Everyone. Young people. You, I, Khadija. Because I mean, we're in for a surprise. Honestly, I don't know if we can still reach those persons who most probably have been manipulated. I just hope that we're not, you know, we can still reach them. But if they're listening to me right now, one thing I would say is, whatever promises that has been given to you, it's not true. Trust me, I've seen people come and go. I've heard, I've seen people who have been used and dumped. Your case won't remain, it won't be different. Okay. So just focus on the election and focus on voting your heart. Nigerians are ready to do it. The youths are ready at this very point in time. Okay. Khadija, let me come to you. Let's look at quickly policies and programs leading up to this election, especially the Naira, the Naira situation. The government did tell us that it was for, you know, to reduce vote buying. But then of course, the CBI government has also come out to say that total politicians are responsible for, you know, the new Naira being scarce. So I always wonder, how did the money that you were trying to keep from them get into their hands? And then the average person is suffering. All of these programs and policies the government have put together, what role does it play in making sure that we have free-for-incredible elections again? Because people have said that there might be more vote buying now that we hear that these ones haven't found their ways to the hands of politicians. Well, you know, the whole situation there is so obscure, to be honest, because we don't know the party in power, the party trying to take over power, the parties that are contesting in all this. I think we should, we're making it, apart from my concern, to be honest, are the people, the Nigerian people, that are finding it difficult to, you know, go about their daily business, finding it difficult to buy food, you see elderly people, I see videos where they're crying and complaining. So that's actually the politicians would always set an agenda for themselves and find a way to go about it. But these are the people that matter and I think we need to actually speak to banks and bank managers and to ensure that money flows to the people. It comes out, you know, the ATMs, I don't know what other plans. What are the, what sort of speaking? Because I'm guessing that, I mean, even politicians, leaders of thoughts, they've all been talking about. Even the PDP presidential candidate has made a U-turn and he's also talking about the fact that this is bringing some form of hardship. So what amount of talking is going to change anything? Well, that's, the thing about it is I'm, I'm just going to have, tell the people, we have to be patient. We have to see how this policy plays out. We have to find ways. Now, this gives you an opportunity. But you know, it's also quite difficult because when you mentioned where violence and these things come into play, the Nigerian youth that go into the violence part of politics have, then I don't know if they're really seeking a better life. I'm not sure that that's the goal. I'm not sure that I do think that they are being manipulated. It's not, it's not towards a better life. You don't think that maybe at the back of their mind, they think they're doing this for a good cause? No, I don't think so. I think it's, first of all, we have loads of children coming out of, that out of school. So many. We have now 10, 20 million or 10 million. They are looking, they're looking up to the ones that are causing mayhem now. If we do not, if we do not arrest this situation now, this is, these are the people they look up to. And like my party, our theme is farewell to poverty. Poverty has given birth to insecurity. So you have a whole army, these children that are out of school, that's an army. An army waiting to be triggered. An army waiting to be, you know, given directions on where to go. So it's, the elite consensus is important. We need to get, we need to get to a point where we, voting when you say vote your heart, people really do not know what they need to vote for. People, so we need going, telling people vote your heart, do this, this, it's, it's relative. Because you think that people are educated like you are, or people have information to, at their fingertips. But is that not also a failure on the part of political parties? Because you want me to vote for you, but you've not educated me enough to want to vote for you. Shouldn't that not be enough to what political parties concern? Because INEC does have its duty, but then political parties constitutionally should be doing the work of voter education. Definitely. And this is, this is something that has to carry on after the elections. It's something that has to keep going on. But you have to also understand that most parties don't have their hands in the cookie jar. Those who have their hands in the cookie jar are going to propagate us faster. They're going to propagate further. And so it's almost like you need to, we need to get to the point where Nigerians are just like, you know what, no, we need to change direction now, change course now and, and take it from here. Okay. Ok, and Nick, we just have a few minutes. So I'm just going to ask a two-pronged question. So the issue of voter apathy, because you see, we're always very excited when we hear that a certain number of people have registered to vote. But then on election day, and I'm using statistics from 2015 and 2019, and also the Lagos State local government elections where almost nobody showed up. How do we, how certain are we that, you know, with all that's happened, this will not put a dampener on, you know, people showing up for election. Second question is, in terms of the policy direction of all the politicians who were supposed to vote for, because again, I asked people on the radio, do you know what to do when you get to the, you know, the polling units? Do you know how to press your finger so that you do not make your votes invalid? Most people don't have that information. So again, for, for, I think this question will be for Aquae. What's your level of optimism for Saturday and of course in March? So Nick, yeah. Sorry. Nick, we'll go with the first question and Aquae, you'd answer the last one. Okay. Okay. So Aquae, are you taking it or are you going? No, please go ahead. All right. You said both, we're both not happy. We've already registered for, the people that have their PVCs, they've already registered. What we try to do is let people who have their PVCs, channel their PVCs towards voting on election day. I don't see any reason why anybody who has gone to get their PVC in this 2023 election would not be using it. If you've gotten your PVC, I don't see why you would not use it. But the people that have not, It's very far from me and I have to transport myself or I haven't eaten. Why would I go out to vote? I'm just giving you an instance. Yeah, we also understand that this 2023 is a different election. This is an election where people, especially the youth, are interested in seeing what the outcome would be. So if I have gone through the suffering of going to gun queue, I like telling me that they cannot find my PVC and still go back there on the third day to go and collect my PVC one more day to go and vote would definitely be necessary too. Now for the people who, yes, not necessarily not interested, but just feel like, oh, they already know the winner. We try to encourage them now that, okay, since you don't have your PVC, go and watch and make sure that this election goes free and fair. Just go there. Where there's strength in numbers, just go outside, be there. Who will play music, who will dance, who will watch the election, who will count it. Okay, very quickly because we're out of time. Right. So I really do have concerns around the preparedness of INEC. I yesterday, I think I was saying that INEC was saying that, I mean, or CBN was saying we're going to make money and really impact the financial policies going to have on the INEC process. Right. So I have concerns around logistics. I still saw that the labor party took any United States of the United States to court. That's the MSU no more branch in terms of the logistics of transporting INEC materials. So there's few pockets of issues right there that are pending and it's just by this election. And whereas there's still no clarity on how some things are going to be transported as far as what this is. So I do have some concerns I think that the financial policy was not it's not it's not it's not a good time as well intended might have been. So I do have concerns skeptical around INEC's ability to really deliver within this circumstance. I'm just hopeful. However, I'm optimistic also that young people are going to participate in the numbers. Of course, we're not 100 percent but I know that we have an unprecedented turnout. You know, that's going to be similar to perhaps the MPKO time. Right. Young people are going to are going to come out and hold. And we can only just encourage INEC to ensure that they meet all these or cover all the loopholes and ensure that the elections happen. And the unfortunate part is that I still continue to hear people talk about the fact that the election might be postponed. I find that very surprising. So I mean, so they need to boost confidence. There's a lot of confidence poster that still needs to happen. You know, people are still thinking that perhaps something's going to happen that's going to make them move that election. Well, we still have a couple of days. You're still going to be anxious. Yeah, we still have a couple of days. We have to go, guys. I'm so sorry. But we have a couple of days to convince people. So there's a lot of work for people like Khadija and you guys to do. But I want to say thank you for being part of the conversation. Nicolás Múmera is a youth ambassador and a political scientist. Emmanuel Nguyen-Kai is a broadcast journalist. A Kweyemi Orenio is the product lead for Nigeria Youth Futures Fund and Khadija Okunolamedi is a former presidential aspirant for the Social Democratic Party, SDP. Thank you so much, lady and gentlemen, for being here. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Well, we're looking forward to Saturday and that's the show tonight. But before I go, I would quickly like to give you my take. Now, as the old saying goes, children are the leaders of tomorrow. Children grow up and become young adults and on their way to becoming wise or foolish old men and women. Now, along that journey, there is a small window where the world looks at you and asks whether you are ready to take on the battle. Now, in that window, the world labels you a youth and it asks of you to fulfill the prophecy of yesterday by making tomorrow's promise a reality today. Now, leadership doesn't have to only mean holding public office, it also means leading the charge for change. The youth are a valuable currency every party chases during an election cycle. So know your worth and spend it well. Youth affords you the advantage of not being disillusioned and it also allows you the privilege of hope. It is one currency no bank can withhold from you. So, be fearless in spending it and build a better tomorrow for the use of a future Nigeria who will ask you what you did with your chance when destiny called upon you. Now, when they ask how you responded to the awesome responsibility of the opportunity of this moment, what will you say? Well, that's my take. I'm Mary Anna Cohn. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good evening.