 As a nation gears for another round of elections, a number of young people have stated their interest in running for various offices. One of such persons is here today. He is Ayodeji Olonimojo, also known as Awalawomojo. Ayodeji is vying to be the youngest ever member of the Yogyun State House of Assembly, Ikenne Constituency. He joins us here today to discuss the importance of youths in politics. Thanks for joining us, Ayodeji, on plus politics today. Thank you for having me. All right, let's really talk about this. Young people, youth inclusive, that's social inclusive, that's when it comes to politics in Nigeria. Would you really say that over time the young people have been given a voice, or have a voice that they've heard? Well, young people are trying to take their voice because we know that we should have a voice, but we don't have it. It's not being listened to. So that's why people like me are starting to stand up and be counted and at least run for office so that it's not said that we didn't run and that's why we are not being represented. So that's why, for instance, I have stood up to run and got a lot of people that are running, so many. Which is a good thing really. He said young people don't really have a voice. What could be the reason for this? Is it a thing of the fact that some say that they don't have the pedigree day and they are inexperienced or they don't really have all that it takes to champion the nation to where it should be going? I don't believe experience is one of the major things to look for in government. One of the major things to look for is passion and that's one thing you can find in most young people. So you can run a government with just sheer passion? Not with just sheer passion. You obviously have to take the experience of the old people. That's why you have advisors in governments. That's why you have people, personal, permanent secretaries and all of that. You have to look at the old ways before you move forward. What are the mistakes that they've made? How do you build on it? But the world is changing. Young people are beginning to do things that old people cannot even comprehend. So it is best to let us take charge of the nation while you advise us on where and how to stare. Is it a fact that they are not really going about the right way? In as much as you have said rightly that a lot of people are going to be sent this time around in this dispensation, vying for different political offices. But over time you find that there is a whole lot of advocacy and it ends on social media on election days. That is, you don't get to see much young people coming out to cast your votes and exercise your franchise. Well, I understand that. But at the end of the day all we can do is hope and beg them to actually come out and vote. Because a lot of people, regardless of what I believe or you believe, they believe or think that Nigeria has failed them, do you understand? And they don't believe that their vote counts. And it is really a lot of people's mindsets that if they vote it's not going to be counted. And that's one thing that a lot of people are trying to change. There's even an organization, they call them Yerga Africa. One thing they are pushing for is for young people to run, for young people to vote and for young people to be elected into office. They were the ones that even championed the not too young to run movements. I'm not a part of it, but I'm definitely a, I have gained from it, do you understand? Because that's why I'm able to even say that I want to run today. Okay, fine. It's a good thing you mentioned the not too young to run. It is actually a law right now in Nigeria. But over time the young people have also complained that in as much as they've been given a platform to contest for elections, there's still this issue of money politics, which most of them find as barriers to contest in and of course to do the proper election. How do young people surmount that particular challenge? Well, I believe that we are pushing a lot of people, a lot of state governments, a lot of states parties are pushing for a cut in the electoral form price. Do you understand? A lot of people are pushing for 60% cuts because at the end of the day, if you look at the minimum wage and a lot of things that we earn in the country, you can't expect someone like me for instance to bring out five million or one million to drop just for the form. Let's forget campaigning and everything else just to buy a form one million. I think that's a lot. Do you understand? So I believe that a lot of these things need to be revisited. Do you understand? And also one of the things that I was very happy about was the direct primaries being a permanent or a being by force. So every party would have to conduct direct primaries. I was very happy about that. But the fact that the new act was passed without the close of direct primaries, I was, it was very, it was a little disappointing. Because most people, most young people are counting on the vote of masses rather than the delegates picked to represent them, which is what? Do you really believe in the electoral process or the young people believe in the electoral process? You just talked about the new electoral act, which has been amended. You talked about direct primaries and of course consensus primaries. You are vying to get into the state term house of assembly specifically in a Kene constituency. Do you really think with this new development, the young people are actually going to be channelled out and presented before they electorate? Because that's another thing to want to vie, then another option, another stumbling block might be the primaries. Well, I wouldn't lie to you, a lot of people that are coming out believe that there's a chance to understand. But at the end of the day, because we're younger, we have less experience. We have less relationships with the people that are actually in the party, with the leadership of the party. Now, if it's by consensus, all the people that are going to vote are the leadership of the party. So you can't compare someone that has been in politics for four years to someone that has been in politics for 40, 50 years, do you understand? So it's not the process that we have an issue with, do you understand? We just think that maybe some things should be changed and it's getting better if you look at it. It's not the same way it was in 2015. Laws have been passed for the 2019 election and laws have been passed for the 2023 election. It's getting better slowly, but surely. Okay, fine. You want to be a lawmaker in the state and specifically want to represent your people in Kenya. And you come from a background pedigree from a name which is actually a household one in Nigeria. That's the Awoloa dynasty. But what would you be doing differently? Because I don't know, your grandfather or great grandfather had passion. He had great vision for Nigeria. And you talked about him aside from having political experience and passion is another factor that should drive any young person who wants to vie for political office. What's your passion for Nigeria? What does the development of Nigeria mean to you? The development of Nigeria is everything to me. At the end of the day, we don't have another home. This is our home. This is our country. And I say one thing that I don't want my children to live in the same Nigeria that I live in. I live in a united cross Nigeria that can work for you. And if we cannot make that happen, our children are going to suffer for it. If you heard during the NSAS protest, there were a couple of people that were saying they are fighting because their parents did not fight for their country. I don't believe that my children would say that about me because I would fight to the best of my ability. I say one thing sometimes to some people, say I don't want to die, but I would gladly die for my country. All right, fine. Good thing. It's really also an interesting development to find that young people are also in a decision making process in Nigeria. You can mention a lot of them. I know there are some in your state and of course, even our minister of sports development, Sunday Dine, is also a young person. But then again, the issue would be that some young people are saying that the older generation as it were would not necessarily give them the opportunity. How would they actually solve that particular stumbling block? How would they wrestle power away from the people who have been there almost for a lifetime as it is? Well, at the end of the day, we're not trying to force power out of anybody's hands. What we're trying to do is make it work for you and I, work for everybody to understand. But I understand that obviously there are people who are gaining from it being only in their hands. But at the end of the day, this is a democracy, majority calories and votes. So what we're trying to do is work for the democracy or work for the majority, sorry, so that everybody realizes that, oh, this is actually possible and they come out and vote. If you think about it, when our president was running for office, he was running against an incumbent, but he made people believe in him and people came out and voted an incumbent party out. So it's not that it's impossible, it's a possibility. Even though he was old, but if we can't strategize properly, it can be used for us young people. Let's talk about your constituency, Kenne, that you actually are. What would you say would be your major strength and if you have threats, what are the opportunities you see there? My major strength is the fact that I've been in, I've been there forever, for a while now. You've been in politics forever, or how? Politics, in Ikenne. I schooled there. I went to Babcock University, which is in addition in the Kenne community and they are the biggest institution in the entire place. I was the director of socials, so I did a lot of work there and I also did social work. Based on my course and my office in school, I had a lot of outreaches to the community. I would say I'm very popular in the community. Now threats, I would say that I'm running against an incumbent to understand and a lot of other, I don't think I can discuss that on air. Fine, I understand. Let's talk about one other issue that also creeps up. We'll talk about young people, inclusion, getting into the whole machinery of government and all of that, which is that of godfatherism. It's been there for like four, almost four. Would you really say it is a good thing and should young people also go that way of having godfathers who may believe in them or do you actually believe in godfatherism? Is it a good development in Nigerian politics? Godfatherism is taking to an extreme in Nigerian politics. Godfatherism is just meant to be mentoring, which happens in every other sector. Business, Christianity, Islam, do you understand? You have someone that you go to for advice and all of that, no matter what it is you do. But in our climate, it's taking to an extreme position. So I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, but we need to be smart if we need to pick godfathers in picking our godfathers, not just to get to the post, but what would they actually help us with? Would they help us lead the nation better or would they help us bleed the nation dry? Do you understand? You need to get your values right while picking a godfather. All right. Over time, the young people, the ones who use the stuges by politicians, by unscrupulous people, over time, because of issues of unemployment, they have somehow taken to useful vices, such as crime and other terrible things that are happening in the country. What would you say to the young person who doesn't believe in the entity called Nigeria, who feels that and there is no hope, and feels that in as much as people like you are coming out to say that and there is hope for tomorrow, there's still some element of doubt within them? Well, I would love to speak to a lot of people one on one, because there's not one message to every Nigerian to make them believe in a better country. But one thing I would say is, even though our parents are ancestors, everybody has been fighting for a better country, it has become better than it was, do you understand? And once we don't stop the fights someday, eventually, we would win this fight against corruption, against whatever it is we're fighting against, against unemployment, we can't win it, and we would. As long as there are people to fight that good fight, we would eventually come out on top. If you were to propose solutions to the main issue, but in Nigeria right now, what is that of insecurity? Insecurity. How would you go about it? Well, if I wanted this to that house, it would be a lot, but I would just give you a few points. But if you want to go through it intensely, I think you should go to my website, iodigimuyo.com, which you should do. It's one of the things I think this helps. Yeah, iodigi goes promoting himself. Specifically now, if you were to talk about, I know they have been some court issues in some states in the southwest, and of course, over the time, the young people are the ones I'm involved in. How would you address the issue? How would you ask them? Or what would you tell them to do to channel their energies into other positive ventures? Well, insecurity-wise, I think the major thing we have an issue with, I believe, we need to start doing community policing. Community policing. Yes, I don't think it makes sense that we have the federal, states, and local governments, and we just have the federal police. It doesn't make sense to me as a person, and it doesn't make sense to a lot of people, a lot of, a lot of people have pushed for state policing, and I don't understand why it's, we are still where we are, do you understand? It just, for instance, I was talking to a general yesterday, because when I'm coming up with agendas, I don't just say it's off the top of my head. I need to consult with those that have been in the system, those that have suffered from the system, if you get what I mean. And he was telling me how, if there's a, for instance, if there's kidnappings all of a sudden, somebody that's in the community that's policing would be able to fish out that this person doesn't belong in this community, do you understand? Maybe if the person has come back from somewhere when he was there before, he would be able to recognize that, okay, this is one of us, do you understand? And that way, they would be able to channel their energies with, obviously, there will still be a federal police and make the states or wherever safer. Alright, thank you so much, Ayodeji. We wish you the best and we hope that young people, you know, get all the limelight and the attention and of course, the recognition that they indeed deserve, because I'm also a young person. Thank you so much for the four-term show today. Thank you very much. Alright, thank you Nigerians. Up next, Nigerians tell us what they think need to be done for more youths in the country to go into politics and when we return, I'll be giving you my take. Stay with us. For us to involve youths, I'm telling you it's not right yet. They're not right for it. The only people that could get involved, when you say youths, get people who are really interested in the politics. They could be the youth of middle age, people who are knowledgeable, people who are very, very, they have a wide scope of experience at their place of work and they could start from their local governments. If there can be a conducive environment that youth can participate without gorgeous and if government can create a good platform, platform in the sense that it will not be money-driven, people that have vision, that have mission, that articulate, that have passion for change in this nation will be, will have that to join political parties. Now they are saying it as a joke. A joke in the essence that best brains are not being attracted to politics now but if there is a conducive environment, if there is no enmity, things are working in order. More youth will participate in politics. One of the things we can do to improve or to involve youth in these days politics is one. First thing is to bring down the age barrier which youths can be eligible to be listed for positions and then two again the old generations or the old people now should know that they have missed their home time because this time is actually for the youths. Like people do say during the Abbasan Jaws era that youths are the future leaders of tomorrow and because of a lot of things that are going on now, because you don't have money to sponsor the political career and there's something I do advise the youths. You have to learn, you have to start from somewhere. They are not training, they don't want to bring the younger ones up but you have to put your head in. Like I have to give the kudos to the others, some of the state government, some young ones are now getting themselves involved in the health assembly post and advise us SPA, SPA this is better. From then you can raise small funds to sponsor your political career. And that's the voice of the people there. The Nigerian youth has since our nation's return to democratic role in 1999 been kept on the wings and fringes of leadership. All the problems have been definitely lost today in Nigeria and indeed Africa around court on leadership. It is time for the Nigerian youths to be involved in the decision making table of our country, with youthful, vibrant and dynamic political leaders piloting the affairs of governance across all member states. No doubt Nigeria and Nigerians will sing a new song of progress, development and a peaceful country. My name is Justin Acadone plus politics returned again tomorrow. Bye for now.