Human Beings Are Led By Ideas, Good Or Bad
Channel: Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
Date: 22/06/2021

REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE APC NATIONAL PROGRESSIVES YOUTH CONFERENCE AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE ON THE 21ST OF JUNE, 2021

 

PROTOCOLS

 

I am especially pleased to have been invited to make a few remarks at this very important conference. And this conference is important indeed because it is a gathering of the demographic majority of our party-the youth. So this is a conference of those who by the natural order of things will be in this party long after folks like me and many of my colleagues are long gone.  So we have the present and the future of our party rolled in one here today, rather modestly described as the Progressives Youth.

 

Permit me, therefore, to take advantage of the strategic importance of this gathering to share a few thoughts with you. Most of the issues I will raise cannot be resolved in these few remarks, and I do not intend to. All I hope I can achieve is to agitate and encourage further reflection on some of the issues.

 

Let me begin with the issue of political participation or political citizenship. It is evident just from voter turnout alone that the vast majority of young people either do not register to vote or do not vote. Those who even participate at all would rather engage within the very constrained space of social media platforms or join pressure groups. Neither of these is necessarily bad, but while media engagements and pressure groups may draw attention to the issues, they cannot transform the lives of millions for good or ill. But  Political parties can, it is political parties and actors that can transform the lives of people. No amount of social media engagement, no amount of pressure group activities, and no number of NGOs can do what political parties in office can do.

 

Because they come to power and it is the government that can most profoundly affect the lives and fortunes of people. So if you are keen on how the future will turn out, you must be involved in politics.

 

Growing up, I was also in a number of pressure groups, concerned with corruption, human rights and democracy.  As a young lecturer, I wrote papers and argued at conferences, but it was only in 1999 when the AD won elections in Lagos that I was able to serve as Attorney General and working with several colleagues, we carried out a major reform of the justice sector in Lagos State. We had to participate politically, otherwise, all our great ideas would have ended nowhere. With all the best ideas, if you don’t participate politically, very little can be achieved.

 

Seating here today, we have Senate President Ahmed Lawan, former governors  Tunde Fashola and Rauf Aregbesola and Boss Mustapha,  the SGF, started their political journeys when they were under 40. Boss Mustapha even started before he was 30, they all had to function within political parties. And you may say that it took them a while to get here.

 

So while you all must be commended for joining and remaining a part of this great political party, the major numerical force in our society and which you represent is not engaged as yet. In order words, the vast majority of young people who you represent here are not engaged.  You have a duty to persuade, evangelize and recruit them. No matter how bright your ideas, they can only be implemented by politicians in public office.  But also you must also note that being involved cannot mean public office immediately, it could take a while.  There are young people who you may have to speak to who say that politics and politicians are so dirty and that one is best as far away from them as possible. Well, I agree that the political party really does have all sorts of characters, from priests, outlaws, scientists, idealists and demagogues, good and bad people, and every shade in between. But that is the reality of our world. A political party is only a microcosm of society, with all its features- good and flawed.  Just as you cannot reasonably opt-out of society because of some of your flawed neighbours, so you should not abandon the business of shaping your present and indeed your future because you don’t like the profiles of some of the characters you have to deal with.  So being involved and getting others involved is crucial.

 
 
****************



The official YouTube channel for Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON.

Oluyemi Oluleke “Yemi” Osinbajo is a Nigerian Lawyer and politician who is the current Vice President of Nigeria, in office since 29 May 2015.

Follow Prof. Osinbajo online
Facebook: Professor Yemi Osinbajo
Twitter: @profosinbajo
Instagram: @profosinbajo
Website: www.yemiosinbajo.ng