A member of the House of Representatives from Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/Iwajowa Federal Constituency, Oyo State, Hon. Shina Peller has told Nigerian youths to consider joining a viable political party as the first step towards strengthening the country’s leadership institution and building a new generation of leaders that will govern the country rightly.
Hon. Peller stated this in Ibadan on Thursday 25th February 2021 whilst responding to questions as a panelist at a Progressives Youth Summit themed – A Political Party Without Active Youth Participation: The Soro Soke Generation – which was organized by a group of youths in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Oyo State.
According to Hon. Shina Peller, the task of rebuilding Nigeria starts from strengthening and rebuilding the institutions through which leaders are elected, which are political parties.
He said, “Before we talk about building a new Nigeria, we must first of all be ready to roll up our sleeves and rebuild our political parties because of the kind of political system and government we practice in Nigeria. So, without rebuilding the political parties, we cannot rebuild Nigeria.”
In addition, Hon. Peller stated that it is important that the youth, who crave for a better Nigeria, join political parties and strive to reposition them rightly. “How could you talk about rebuilding political parties if you’re not a member of any?” He asked rhetorically.
He continued,
“Now, a governing political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has given a level playing ground opportunity to everyone to go back to their wards and register their membership with ease, and the party says it is targeting 100 million membership strength.
“As Nigerian youths, let us prove to all that we are not lazy by empowering ourselves with political membership cards and then our PVCs.”
In the same vein, Hon. Peller lauded President Muhammadu Buhari and APC leadership’s effort in ensuring that the party employs a bottom-up process of registration at ward, local government, state and national level, including the FCT, which gives all a level playing ground to revalidate or register their membership with the party.
He said, “Like President Buhari had said ‘Our party style and structure should no longer be Abuja downwards, but from the ward level upwards so that people can defend the party and its policies even at every level.’ So let us seize the opportunity to go back to our wards and build the party from the grassroots and encourage internal democracy by giving everyone a sense of belonging and allowing the will of the majority to prevail.”
Also, Hon. Peller expressed his satisfaction on the introduction of unique number on each member’s form which restricts registered members to a particular local government. He added that the new strategy will help guide against rigging and fraudulent membership.
Hon. Peller is the Chairman, Board of Trustees of Lead Generation Initiative (LGI), a non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit organization which focuses on training and developing a new generation of leaders who contribute to the growth and development of the country right from their immediate localities.
LGI, which has successfully trained thousands of Nigerian youths in four states namely Oyo, Osun, Bauchi and Gombe, plans to hold its next Get Involved Leadership Training (GILT) in Niger State next month.
