Youths Must Play Larger Roles In Policy Formulation – Azeezat Yishawu

Youths Must Play Larger Roles In Policy Formulation – Azeezat Yishawu

Speaker of the 5th Nigerian Youth Parliament, Right Hononurable Azeezat Yishawu, has said that the parliament is youth oriented and she is calling on Nigerian youths to get involved in policy formulation and implementation for youth development in the country.

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Speaker of the 5th Nigerian Youth Parliament, Right Hononurable Azeezat Yishawu, has said that the parliament is youth oriented

Right Honourable Azeezat Yishawu said this while responding to questions from newsmen after the 2nd sitting of the 5th session of the Nigerian Youth Parliament on Wednesday at the National Assembly.

Nigerian Youths Parliament is a Legislative and Development Institution established by the then President Umaru Musa Ya’Adua in 2008 to promote inclusion and development of young Nigerians in leadership and governance, empowering them as an intermediary body between the government and the Nigerian youths.

According to her, existing policies for youth development are yet to yield wide spread measurable result for young people, explaining that the reason why it seems the policies are ineffective or inadequate is as a result of poor inclusion process in the implementing, monitoring, evaluating and feedback phases of such polices but she is happy coming on board.

She said “policies for youth development are yet to yield wide spread measurable results for young people because of poor inclusion of Nigerian Youths.

“this parliament is youth oriented. It is a new experience and I am happy that we have members of the parliament, who are taking conversations that are quite relevant to Nigerian youths. This is our second sitting in a year. We are test running and learning what it means to be a parliamentarian.

“However, I am very happy to hear from the parliamentarians who brought up discussions which are relevant to Nigerian youths. So, I am hoping that tomorrow, we will go in-depth into those issues that affect youth people and come up with resolutions that can help in the development of Young Nigerians”

Speaking on how to get the government’s attention to carry out their resolutions, Azeezat said, “The good thing about the parliament is that it is a government program. Part of the recommendation goes directly to the National Assembly and to the Federal Ministry of Youth and sport, all the way to the President.

“What happens is that when these recommendations get to those agencies or government parastatals, they are redefined. Of course, if they’re going to go into a bill or a policy, or an Act of Parliament, they will be well refined, but the main objective of such a policy or such engagement will be to achieve what we’ve discussed here. I’m fully optimistic that by next year, we’ll be having one or two policy proposals that we have advocated for, as a result of this sitting that we’ve had here today.

Making notes on the dissenting voices during the session, she emphasized that it is the beauty of the parliament ” as the first female Speaker of the NYP, it was an experience that I was really open to having and it is politics as well. And it is something that’s understandable. This shows you that we are trying as much as possible to practice.

“Not once, nor twice has members of the opposition, grieving members walked out of the office of the chambers, both the Senate and the House of Reps, to express their opinion as well.

“After this sitting, we will go back to our drawing table, have the conversations and see how to bring harmony. So, it is the practice, it is what is expected for leadership as well.
Part of the session, witnessed the swearing in of the principal officers, who took oats to service.

Speaking about the yardstick used in the selection of the principal officers, she said “the selection was done according to our standing order. The only position that is elective is the speaker and Deputy Speaker position, which was done last year.

“So in respect to the appointments, we considered young people who have been very productive in one way or the other to the previous Presidents, our coordinators and the governing council of the Nigerian Youths Parliament, young people who have shown themselves worthy or who has shown the differences we have within the parliament, whether by state, region or opposition.

“But the process is not just by selection, first of all, we carry out consultations at the caucus level and the state level. To alert us that some of these positions are now open for election. The selection process is not a one man selection process. Caucus leaders are consulted. They are the ones that provide the means for nominations. State members also are consulted as well” she said.