Nigeria Must Prepare Youths For Leadership Roles- Abbas
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has declared that Nigeria can no longer afford to treat young people as “leaders of tomorrow,” insisting that they must be deliberately prepared to assume positions of leadership and influence the country’s future now.
Speaking on Tuesday at the unveiling of the Leadership for Equity, Advocacy and Development Fellowship, organised by the Gender Mobile Initiative at the National Assembly, Abuja, Abbas said Nigeria’s democratic future depends on raising a generation of ethical, competent and institutionally minded leaders.
Represented by the Chairman of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, Kafilat Ogbara, the Speaker said leadership is not merely about occupying public office but about responsibility, accountability and respect for democratic institutions.
“It is high time we prepared young people for power. As the trustees of our tomorrow, they must understand how government works and how to use political office to change society for the better. Without this preparation, they risk squandering the opportunity to effect real, lasting good,” Abbas said.
He stressed that with Nigeria’s youthful population playing increasingly active roles as voters, entrepreneurs and innovators, they should no longer be confined to the future.
“The youths are no longer merely the leaders of tomorrow; their time has come. As voters, innovators, entrepreneurs and community leaders, they deserve the power to influence the decisions that shape their lives today,” he added.
The Speaker also reaffirmed the House’s commitment to expanding women’s participation in politics through the proposed constitutional amendment seeking reserved seats for women in the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly.
“Let me be absolutely clear: we are not attempting to lower the standard of leadership. We are attempting to remove the barriers that prevent capable women from even reaching the starting line,” he said.
He identified inadequate campaign finance, exclusion from party structures, cultural stereotypes and electoral violence as some of the barriers limiting women’s participation in elective politics.
The LEAD Fellowship is an 18-month programme designed to train 1,000 student leaders drawn from 10 tertiary institutions in ethical leadership, public policy, democratic governance and public service.
Executive Lead of the Gender Mobile Initiative, Omowumi Ogunrotimi, said the fellowship was created to bridge the gap between student leadership and opportunities for meaningful participation in governance after graduation.
She said the initiative was inspired by a female student leader who questioned what becomes of ethical student leaders after leaving school.
“Even if I survive all this, if I graduate and maintain my integrity, where do I go next? That single, courageous reflection became a mirror held up to our entire national governance ecosystem. It became the catalytic seed for why we are convened here today,” Ogunrotimi said.
According to her, Nigeria faces a “democratic formation deficit,” where many young people are introduced to transactional politics early in their leadership journey, as well as a “transition deficit” that leaves capable student leaders without structured pathways into governance.
She said the fellowship would expose participants to policymakers, democratic institutions, academics and civil society leaders while equipping them with values rooted in ethics, constitutionalism and evidence-based leadership.
On his part, House spokesman, Akin Rotimi, described the fellowship as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s democratic future, urging participants to place character above political ambition.
“If we want better politics, stronger institutions and more accountable governance, we must invest in leadership development long before individuals seek public office. The LEAD Fellowship is part of that investment,” he said.
Rotimi urged the fellows not to confuse popularity with leadership or political office with service, stressing that sustainable leadership is built on competence, discipline and integrity.
Also speaking, the Director-General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Prof Abubakar Sulaiman, represented by Dr Shuaibu Danwanka, said ethical leadership must be cultivated from the formative stages of civic engagement.
“Strong democracies are built not merely by strong institutions but by leaders who possess the intellectual capacity, ethical discipline, emotional intelligence and patriotic commitment to strengthen those institutions,” he said.
The LEAD Fellowship is being implemented by the Gender Mobile Initiative in partnership with the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Student Engagement, with support from the Open Society Foundations.
Organisers said the programme is intended to create a pipeline of ethical leaders capable of strengthening democratic governance and public institutions in Nigeria.
