HOW THE YOUTH WILL ENJOY OUR GOVERNMENT -- PRINCE BALOGUN

By Razaq Adedeji Jimoh

Photo of Prince Balogun reading a copy of Civics Weekly magazine

"WE ARE NOT GOING TO RUN A GOVERNMENT OF TRIAL AND ERROR"

Prince Idris Balogun, has given the breakdown of his policy for youth empowerment by his administration. He said it would be "First of its kind" in grassroots governance because he would be guided by reliable data of their needs.

The Chairmanship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the July 12 local government elections thus advised the youth of his LCDA not to see the election day as a day to play football, but a day to determine the path to their future. "It is a day they should go out to mobilise their community residents to vote APC.

Fondly called 'Oluomo Kaafata, by his admirals, the Crown Prince of Isheri Olofin explained this to Civics Weekly magazine in an exclusive interaction with the Editor, noting that the analysis should also be seen as an example of how he would run a "responsive and transparent government" by listening to the complaints of the people.

He said: "I follow trending issues, comments and complaints on our various social media platforms. Through that, I have seen and read many cases where our youths always asked questions on what is Oluomo's plan for them. I want to tell them now that our administration is one they will testify to have enjoyed at end of the day because it is youth-centerd.

"First of all, we are not going to run a government of trial and error. Rather we shall be guided by available data at our disposal. For instance, I understand that Nigeria is a nation of young generation according to our census figure. This shows that the country has a huge youth demography. This is national data as we know.

"Going by that, as we come into government, we shall now generate a data of the unemployed youths in our LCDA. We will do that in categories of the skilled (as artisans and graduates), the unskilled (as school certs holders, first school leaving certificate holders and possibly school dropouts).

"After generating the list, we will now conduct what we call Needs Assessment Evaluation (NAE) for them. That way, we want to know what you actually need to stand on your own economically. This is not the usual one size fits all empowerment type. Are you a tailor? If yes, do you have sewing machine already? If yes, then your need might probably be a shop to practice your trade. From there, we want to see how we come in".

ADVERTORIAL: COUNCIL CHAIRMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD, JOIN KSO AND OLUOMO ON JULY 22, AS PRINCE BALOGUN HANDS OVER THE LAUREL OF EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE TO KSO AT THE "TRANSITION GALA LUNCH

Oluomo went further to explain how his government will explore all emerging opportunities at the two tiers of upper governments to empower Egbe-Idimu youths. He said a special office of Intergovernmental Affairs might be created to ensure that the opportunities are maximized. He explained:

"In another view, that is especially talking about the graduate class now, the young class of Nigerians are actively mobile, they are ambitious and they have a global mind set. My understanding is that Egbe-Idimu has a significant share of them. So, the first responsibility we have to them as a government at the grassroots is to expose them to emerging opportunities at the state and federal government levels. By this, I mean a governance system that will facilitate their connections to progressive and empowering policies at these two levels of government.

"The vital questions to guide us quite often are: 1) that with the strong dynamics of the digital economy sector, what are the new opportunities for our young minds in Alimosho, to wit, Egbe-Idimu? 2) What plans are the state and federal ministries of youth cooking up as the next development policy? 3) What are the youth oriented policies can we sniff out from other ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) of the state and federal?

"Now let me cite an example of one we are bringing in immediately. It is in the Climate Change sector. In Lagos State, it is under what is called "Circular Economy". Mark you, it is not under the Ministry of Youth, but it is a youth oriented programme. Our government would want to join the train of global campaign on climate change awareness. This is with the aim to empower our youths with the right knowledge to explore the values in taking inclusive action for their involvement.

"To be on track of all this, we might have to create the office of Special Assistant on Intergovernmental Affairs (SAIA). The duty shall be the trailing of upper governments' unfolding policies for Egbe-Idimu to aptly grab its share of them. He already has his job cut out for him because within a duration of one year, he must have had a number of youths that have been fixed in this regard".

He therefore enjoined the youths to see the coming elections as a joint responsibility they owe themselves for APC victory.