Yiaga Africa, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), has pledged to continue to engage Nigerian youths on critical thinking in finding solutions to the country’s developmental challenges.
Mr Samson Itodo, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, made the pledge at the grand finale of a debate competition on Monday in Abuja.
TheNewsZenith reports that Yiaga organised the debate for students in tertiary institutions across the country.
Itodo said Yiaga would regularly use debate to engage youths in proffering solutions to the country’s challenges.
“Nigerians are not happy with the state of things in the country. But where will the solution come from if not from Nigerians?” he asked.
The theme of the debate is “My Nigeria, Our Nigeria”. the topic for the debate is “Electioneering at local government level, who should be responsible, INEC or State Electoral Commissions”.
TheNewsZenith reports that four universities participated in the debate. They are the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Imo State University (IMSU) University of Ilorin and Veritas University.
According to Itodo, the country is going through a turbulent time and needed Nigerians to tackle it.
”We felt that it is important that the young ones share their ideas about how to solve the problems of Nigeria. That is what citizenship is all about.
”That is why we came up with this debate competition, to engage the students in critical thinking.
”Through this, they can proffer solutions to our numerous challenges especially around governance,” Yiaga boss said.
He said that Yiaga and All Nigerian Universities Debating Council (ANUDC) jointly organised the event.
Also speaking, a member of ANUDC, Mr Franklin Ubi, said the debate aimed to empower the students with tools to engage in governance, democracy and development.
On the impact of the debate on national development, Ubi said that dearth of citizen engagement in governance was the major challenge of governance.
”There is a lack of debate in our electoral processes. You don’t see critical debates during elections.
”This is why we produced leaders who just think about what the electoral offices can offer him personally.
”They get to the office without understanding what they are supposed to do.
”That is why at the National Assembly, you see a lot of legislators without quality in their expressions when defending or supporting a bill.
”Government agencies should support programmes like this and utilise the opportunity of learning, so we can have a better National Assembly.
”This is because the National Assembly is about debate,” Uni said.
In his contribution, Mr Olaniyan Sanusi, Programme Officer, Citizens Engagement Unit at Yiaga Africa, said the debate was to rekindle hope and trust amongst young people.
”Through the debates, we have seen more young people discussing topics around citizenship, governance, democracy and national values.
”They share ideas on what an ideal Nigeria should look like.
”We want them to start thinking about what the Nigerian future should look like.
”When they start thinking like that, they also start thinking towards contributing to future to reality,” Sanusi said.
TheNewsZenith reports that Veritas University won the competition with a prize of N1.5 million.
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) placed second, while Imo State University finished in third place.
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