A People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senator, Chimaroke Nnamani, has claimed that Nigerian youths vote for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2023 election.
Nnamani, a former two-term governor of Enugu state, who represents Enugu East in the Senate, said Tinubu’s policies were youths friendly.
He said, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, that the former Lagos Governor has what it takes to come up with youth friendly policies.
Nnamani recalled that Tinubu on assumption of office in 1999 enunciated sustainable policies which addressed the high unemployment rate, instability, and youth bulge that were unusual challenges for the class of 1999.
He said Lagos at the time attracted youths looking for better livelihood, adding that Tinubu recognised that it would have been disastrous if the youths were “left unattended, and therefore launched waves of reforms that re invigorated the economy and ensured that the vast majority of the working population, who were primarily youths, were employed”.
The APC Presidential Candidate, according to the former governor, established the Anti-Drug Misuse Campaign initiative to inform adolescents about the risks in illicit drugs use and the pervasive drug abuse epidemic that successfully destroyed many young people.
“To further address the challenges, Tinubu distributed over one million Naira in grants to each of the registered voluntary youth organizations as tokens of appreciation for their helpful efforts at reorientation and to encourage them to be more productive.
“Tinubu also increased the annual funding for the rehabilitation agencies to over three million Naira and subsequently created youth centers so that people would participate in educational and recreational activities that would help them develop healthy self-esteem in a secure and well-supervised environment.
“Vocational training centers were developed by Tinubu’s administration in March 2003 to rehabilitate hoodlums, neighborhood boys, and the homeless who were desirous of making a turning point in their lives by economically empowering them through training in professions like carpentry, shoemaking, hair dressing and tie-and-dye”, the Senator said.
Nnamani and Tinubu were governors from 1999 to 2007.
