By Similola Awolusi
The Corps members of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Community Development Service groups held a noncompetitive debate on the Not too Young to run bill on July 12, 2018 at the Osogbo Local Government Secretariat at Oke-Bale, Osogbo.
The Not too young to run bill which is a constitutional amendment movement led by young Nigerians seeks alteration in Sections 65, 106, 131, 177 of the Constitution of Nigeria.
The bill which was signed into law by the President of Nigeria, Muhammed Buhari on May 31, 2018 reduces the age of running for elective positions for House of Assembly and House of Representatives from 30 year old to 25 year old, Senate and Governorship from 35 year old to 30 year old and office of the President from 40 year old to 30 year old.
The signing of the bill into law has however been met with a lot of reactions from Nigerians.
The speakers of the SDG group supported the notion that the bill passed is relevant and important to Nigeria. They stated that the bill goes a long way to admonish youths to get involved in political participation and it should serve as a propelling factor to make youths great giant strides in politics.
They cited an instance of Emmanuel Macron, the French President who is just 40 years old. They also talked about the fact that the leaders during the military rule were all youngsters and implementing different policies in Nigeria.
However, the speakers of the FRSC group on the other hand, opposed the notion stating that the bill is just a form of distraction for youths. They went on to say due to the educational situation of Nigeria, it is hard to gain full experience because some youths get to graduate late and cannot gain the required experience before running for office.
They also stated that the youth are not ready to rule because of the vices they are involved in. They emphasized that leadership isn’t easy because it entails sacrifices. They also stated that since the bill was passed, it hasn’t really taken evident implementation in the present elections.
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