 Okay. Today on the run-up, we're focusing mostly or primarily on youth participation in politics. So our next guest is also going to be talking about youth participation in politics and some other issues. It is our pleasure to welcome Mr. Demola Sanyolu to the program. He is a media consultant and a public affairs analyst. Welcome to the program, Mr. Sanyolu. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate my coming on this show. I should have added ambassador to it. Your titles are mean, so I had to cut them. Actually, one of my guests on the show actually said, Demola, you end it. It's not the title everybody picks on the street, so add it to your name. I usually don't like all this appellation, but what do I know? Well, let's add something to you. It has to be a long list. Anyway, welcome to the show. Well, like we said, we're focusing on youth participation in politics, and we've seen a tsunami as it is of youth's excitement or I don't know the adjectives to even use, but what would you describe the level of participation of youths in this electoral process leading up to 2023? Let's begin from there. All right. I'm not surprised. The level of information sharing and information dissemination has changed from times past, and a lot of young folks dominate that information superhighway called the Internet. So I'm also an IT person, and I do a lot of feasibility study and interact with a lot of young people, and the level of information that is being shared, you know, level of information that is being shared is really, really high. So the awareness is now high. All the meandering, political meandering by the elders is being demystified by the younger generation. So they know that some of the things they claim to have done or that are doing some of these things are lies. So people within a trinket of an eye, somebody will say, oh, debunk a story or do a verification. The level of participation, level of awareness right now is quite, quite high. And that would be my first line of thought concerning youth participation in politics. Awareness is higher, and a lot of people want to participate because they are tired of the system. There seems to be no hope. There seems to be no light at the end of any tunnel. If there was a tunnel in the first place, but people are really discouraged and want to also participate and ensure that their own will is also enshrined. Okay. I know that Bayer wants to ask you a question, but you know, the veterans say that this social media you're mentioning will count for nothing in 2023. Do you also believe in that? Okay. A lot of people would say the social media will count for nothing. But I would say the reason being that a lot of conversions are coming in from the social media, a lot of awareness about Gayo PVC, the campaign gimmicks is changing. Social media is not where your voting starts. Please Gayo PVC. And if you check the INEC record in the recent times, you'll discover that the state of registration has changed compared to what it was some years back. Why? Because a lot of young folks who are social media savvy, who believe in ranting online, are also saying, I need to also play my role. So, conversion of social media participation to real participants in the election is getting higher, and their awareness is real right now. I mean, I belong to so many groups doing journalism work and consulting for so many people. I was the director of media and publicity for Dr. Shinofa Mero Byron during the 2019 elections. And we tested that area. And we discovered that a lot of young people do not participate because there's a high level of apathy, disenfranchisement, frustration in trying to Gayo PVC and things like that. So I love who they are. They vote has already been counted. They know who they want there. But right now, a group of dogs surrounding a snake will intimidate the snake, even if the snake was poisoned. Before the snake would eat two or three of them, the others would bite it to death. So the awareness has changed, and I can tell you the conversion rate from social media to real participation is awesome. Thank you for that perspective. I was just wondering what your comments would be to the question as to whether the political parties themselves realize the potential influence and impact that the younger generation can make going towards 2023. And to what extent they have created room to accommodate these young people or restructure either their political machinery or the political party themselves to be able to give a platform to young people? That question is asked several prongs. But I will talk to you from one point of view. Poverty is being weaponized in Nigeria, and a lot of older people who we feel or we seem to view as tired or worn out do not want to part the bait and to the younger generation. So most of these political parties use the social media when it's campaign time, but they do not want to convert the social media critics to followers. The reason being that a lot of social media followers actually do background checks to confirm what they claim to have achieved or done in the past. Most of the people who the politicians or the political class want to vote or want to meander or manipulate to vote for them are the illiterates as it were. Sampling from opinions are the illiterate. Those who don't really know they are left from the right. The population of those masses is quite high. So the social media people or the IT savvy people, we only use that to share information. They use that to share information but not to convert them because poverty is being weaponized and they weaponize it to use it for the masses. Those whose population is high and they are those who don't even know anything about the internet. But I believe that this narrative will change over time in Nigeria. Okay, just a final word in a very short space of time. What would you have the youth do if you were to advise them leading to 2023? Because some people say the momentum with which the NSAS was carried out died after NSAS and now it is just a commemoration every year on October 20. So what can they do to maintain the energy till 2023 in order to make the desired impact in the political space? Just briefly, please. Okay, briefly. NSAS did not die actually. NSAS was just a sampling testing the waters and the young people know that we can actually start around the economy by ourselves. They tested it but some people hijacked it and changed it. The major advice to young people is they shouldn't give up. The trend is changing. The current is moving and it's going to move to their turn. But like one of my fathers would tell me, Dr. Shinofa Mirobari would advise me, when you see someone who is older than you doing something wrong, learn from them and don't repeat the same thing. My advice is don't copy those things you hate seeing them do because the band were going to effect is that some of these young folks would even be worse than those they claim are not doing any right. So learn from them and plan to do it better when you get the bait in. Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Sanyo Lou for coming on the show. I would like to invite you so many times before the 2023 elections but for now we just say thank you to you for being a part of our show this morning. Alright, I appreciate coming on the show. Okay, that was Mr. Demolat Sanyo Lou, media consultant, IT guru, public affairs analyst. Like I said, his titles are very, very long. But you know, youths don't give up. Youths don't go back and relax. Youths don't do this. Youths with deliberate and all that. Is this narrative really sitting with the youths or there's more that we need to do to put it in the minds of the youths that they hold their own destiny in their hands so that they can be more deliberate? Because not all of them are like Richard for instance. No, no, no, definitely. If we look around, I don't know if I should mention names. If we look around, let's take Etiusa here, which is mostly part of Victoria Land, part of Leckie. You would see that there are two young people running, at least clearly two young people. One is incumbent for the Farah House of Representatives. One is incumbent, the other is a challenger and they are young people. One is very well known, is a Nollywood star. The other one is not, but is the son of a politician. But they are young people. And frankly, I like that. When I move around, I see their posters. I like that because I think indirectly they are speaking to other young people. But now these are two young people that are to be considered as privileged. One being the son of a politician. The other one having been given a platform to be popular through what he does. So some of the young people might say, no, I mean these ones are known or these ones. But Richard is a good example of somebody who didn't have that kind of, at least to the best of our knowledge, that kind of exposure before. And he prepared properly. He put his money aside. He was focused. He was determined. He challenged for the position. He didn't get it. But he's not undaunted. And he's looked at many, many references. Okay, the president ran several times. This other person. And I think this is the philosophy. And from what Mr. Asuniaulu has added to the whole of this, is that learn from what the other ones are not doing well. But don't repeat it. You learn from that. You know that to do it better. And then to organize better as well. Because this has been one of the major challenges. Proper organization, proper thinking. I think slowly we are getting there. For the next elections, it's all about actually coming to influence the outcome. So we are hoping that beyond the next elections, we'll see a lot of young people not just seeking to influence the outcome, but actually be the deciding factor by becoming candidates. You know, by influencing the electoral policy and things like that. So I think the space is opening up. It's just that we need to learn the right lessons in order to be able to do a lot better. Okay, whatever or whoever you are, there is something you can do to contribute to society. And maybe not just politics, but that thing will give you the platform to become popular. Like Mr. Bayo said, one of them was nollywood and a musician. And you know, so because of entertainment, he became popular and he's using his popularity to also gain, get political gains, so to speak. The other person, yes, was born the son of a politician, but we've seen sons of politicians who couldn't come out and be anything. We've seen millennia children or children of millionaires who couldn't come out to become millionaires themselves. So we've seen the likes of David Doe, for instance, that you cannot in all conscience say that he is what he is because of his father, no matter how wealthy the father might be, but he has carved a niche for himself. So find something you can do to contribute to the society. That same society you would like to serve because it is there, there will use to judge the kind of person you will be on the global or bigger scene. Well, we'll take a short break.