The Youths of All Progressives Congress (APC) have called for a an ammendment in the party’s constitution that will mandate all elected and appointed leaders to go back at least twice in a year to their wards for consultations and youths mobilization, as it will to sustain and further strengthen the party.
Speaking to Journalists on Monday at the Party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, the Youth Leader Barrister Ismaeel Ahmed meeting with the youth leaders from all the 36 states of the Federation, urged for more partisan interest geared towards creating more awareness by mobilizing more youths into the party nationwide.
He further suggested for the establishment of a youth directorate in the party in order to fully engage more youths for a better participation of young people in the party activities.
He also encouraged regular visit to the party members at the grassroots level by leaders in elected or appointed offices as it will go a long way at “building a stronger bond between the leaders and the led; build a bottom-up party structure and enhance better inclusion of members in the party process”.
In his words he said: “It is high time for our leaders to go back to their wards and meet our party members at least every six months. You can imagine how a party member will be anxiously waiting for Mr. President or Senate President or Governor or Minister attending ward meetings.
“This will help to energise our people and build the faith of party members at the ward level on the party and our leaders. It will also help educate and inform party members at the grassroots of policies and programmes of the government. I have discussed it with Mr. President and he is freely disposed to the idea. He welcomes it and I think we have to ensure this through constitutional backing.”
In a bid to get more response from the youths in participating fully in the party activities, the leader further made some recommendations towards amending the constitution.
“We proposed some vital recommendations for changes in the APC Constitution and guidelines for congresses and primaries which we believe would see to better participation of young people in the party activities and process. We also looked at are presenting a draft for the APC Youth Policy Agenda and including certain items into the APC manifesto that cater to the welfare of the Nigerian youth.”
On the call for the establishment of Youth directorate, the youth leader said, “we have various directorates in the party. Our party has about 15 million members out of which about 11million are youths. This is a critical group and it requires attention. The youth own the party, but unfortunately while in our constitution we have other directorates, we are calling for a constitutional amendment for a robust and functional directorate for youth.”
