Youth Participation In Governance and Policy Making

Youth Participation In Governance and Policy Making

The youth and young persons are indispensable ingredients of our today's democracy as they represent at least two thirds of the votes. The voices of the youth is the mandate political office holders enjoy at all levels of government. Days are gone when young people are only recruited during election to create violence and terrorise those opposing their pay masters. Youths are now the engine and again drivers of our democracy as they determine the tune and dimensions of the political space.
A value added quality that can't be denied of the young people is their dynamism, creativity, talent and energies that can be channelled into policy formulation which directly or indirectly affect them. The optimism of young people in ensuring that the newly elected government get things right can not be over emphasised as the feeling of having the ownership of the states and the nation at large is growing in geometric rate. Hence, the need to lay the right foundation for their future as they prepare to be the civic leaders, parents, employers or employees through the next decades.
The general notion that Policy Making (formulation, implementation and evaluation) is duty restricted to 'Aged Professionals and Experienced' persons while young citizens even with the professionalism are still considered to have no necessary skills or experience continues to have grounds even in an 'information and knowledge worker age' where what you knew actually matters less. Equally, there is a persistence of stakeholder attitudes which frustrate the participation of young people in policy-making forgetting that the same young brains are Key Stake Holders in formulation of Policies that Directly affect them. These include but not limited to job creation, education, health, social security.
There is a special need to protect young people as a group from exploitation and neglect while ensuring their economic, civic, social and cultural participation in government and governance are met. However, current state of youth restiveness, high level of unemployment even among the skilled and schooled group is a product of previous efforts to make representation of young people from amongst the perceived experienced aged. Connecting the dots as regards the real problems and aspirations of the target group is near impossible hence, formulating policies that satisfy only the makers personal imaginations.
In a nut shell, participation of young people encourages them to become active members of the society and democratic agents. By involving and empowering young brains through the political process, they tend to develop important skills, improve self-confidence and some sense of belonging in governance while taking home a greater understanding of governance that is important in both newly formed and well-established democracies.
In conclusion, I will like to borrow words from the former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan who says "Normally when we need to know about something we go to the experts, but we tend to forget that when we want to know about youth and what they feel and what they want, that we should talk to them”

Abdulkadir S. Abdulkadir is an advocate of social justice, wrote from Lagos Nigeria. @abdul003