Youth empowerment and their economic emancipation in the march towards nation-building will be my priority, if elected as a senator.
Mr Kolapo Kola-Daisi, the senatorial candidate of the Accord for Oyo South Senatorial District in the 2023 elections, made the declaration on Thursday while featuring on the “The Podium”, a personality forum of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council.
He said he ventured into politics to give quality representation to the youths, knowing that they are very critical to nation-building.
“As far as I am concern, we need to realise, as a nation, that we have to start prioritising our young people. I am getting into politics not only for myself, but to be an inspiration for young people.
“I hope when I get there, I will be able to provide that role model type inspiration to young people,” he said, adding that youths constitute more about 90 per cent of the total population of the country.
Kola-Daisi lamented the negative effects of the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the youth population, and urged the Federal Government to resolve the impasse
The 2023 senatorial hopeful described the teaching profession as the most important profession in any country and, as such, should not be taken for granted.
“I am not saying that particular demands have to be met, but what we are saying is that we need to try and redirect a lot of our resources as a nation to start focusing on what is important.
“We need to look at resource allocation and dedicate a lot more of our budget to help those children in school,” Kola-Daisi said.
The renowned banker said an addition of jobless youths with students who are not going to school would no doubt bring lot of unrest to the nation.
“As a government, I think that it is high time we started looking at how we allocate resources when we do our budget.
“Find those things that are unnecessary and redirect them to ensuring that we keep our children in schools. Let them have education.
“Let them have the best education. Let’s give our teachers also what they need to be able to teach our brothers and sisters the best,” he said.
Kola-Daisi said such was the only way the students can graduate to contribute meaningfully to human capital development and nation-building.
He said his experience and professional prowess would be brought to bear in his activities as well as nation-building, adding that he would also ensure that Bills aimed at empowerIng youths were adequately and quickly passed into law.
“I have experience in fund raising; I have experience in mentoring; I have experience in working with young people to help them achieve their goals. These are some of the things we plan to do when we begin to serve our constituents,” he said.
Also speaking, chairman of Oyo NUJ, Mr Ademola Babalola, congratulated Kola-Daisi for being the first person to appear on the new platform created by the NUJ ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He assured that “The Podium” is open to all politicians across the 18 registered political parties in the state, adding that journalists are for all the parties and their candidates.
“For us in the exco of Oyo NUJ, we are planning a special programme, ‘The Podium’, for the 2023 general election. This platform is available to all candidates from the 18 registered political parties to showcase their manifesto, irrespective of their gender and age,” Babalola said.
