European Union on Thursday decried the shortage of Nigerian youths participating in partisan politics.
Mr. Ketil Karlsen, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said this during the Independent National Electoral Commission Continuous Voter Campus Outreach at the University of Abuja.
According to Karlsen, for democracy to be representative, it must represent all the demographic population of a country, and the youths are an important case in point.
“There is a shortage of youth’s participation in politics in many countries including Nigeria.
“And I wonder why is it because of disempowerment? Is it because of alienation?
“Is it because of fear of participation? Or because there is a perception that participating will not matter or because they feel they are unworthy, that I am not so sure of.
“But I think we need to ask some questions, that is the reason for this outreach today.
“Another question to be taken into consideration is to ask what it takes for youths participation in politics; we have to look at funding, political parties and campaigns,’’ he said.
