June 12: Youths Should Engage Leaders On Accountability – LEAD Network

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Winner of the June 12 1993 Presidential election in Nigeria.

News Investigators/ An NGO, the Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Advocacy (LEAD) Network, has urged youths to engage leaders and hold them accountable as the nation marks 2020 Democracy Day on June 12.

The Executive Director of LEAD Network, Chukwuma Okenwa, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Enugu.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2019, recognised the outcome of June 12, 1993, Presidential Election and declared June 12 as national Democracy Day.

According to Mr. Okenwa, young Nigerians should live up to their responsibilities by getting involved in governance and by asking relevant developmental questions.

He said that youths must stand out as symbol of the future, radiating zeal, strength, innovation and vibrancy, especially on issues of governance and leadership.

He added that “youths are leading the way in new development and ideas everywhere in the world.

“Young Nigerians should be weary of the status quo tagged: `the Nigeria factor’, they should embrace only the dream of a Nigeria that they can be proud of.

“Democracy in Nigeria should not just be ‘of the people’, because the mandate is given to leaders by their people.

“Democracy should be by the people and for the people, through youths’ active participation in governance and citizenship engagement.”

Mr. Okenwa also called on the legislature to stand its ground as the hallmark of democracy, while creating legal frameworks and laws that are people-centred and people-oriented.

He, therefore, urged lawmakers in the country to carry out their legislative businesses with due recourse to their constituents, “which are co-stakeholders in a democracy.

“There is the need for legislators to carry their constituents along while sponsoring or supporting bills so as to get their opinions.”

“This is because the legislators are there for their people and not for themselves.

“That makes a good case why young Nigerians should engage political office holders, especially their representatives”, he said.

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