By Enoch Tyulen
The Students Union Government President Sidney Daman has urged UniJos students to turn out and vote in the forthcoming SUG elections.
Daman said this at the Campus Open Mic Seminar UniJos chapter organized by the Speakers Corner Trust Nigeria with the aim of promoting freedom of speech, public debate and citizenship.
The title of the program was “The challenges affecting youth participation in politics and how to overcome them” and was held recently at the ASUU Secretariat, Naraguta Campus.
While speaking on some of the challenges encountered by his government, Daman said the loyalty of students ‘is weak and it becomes difficult for leaders to lead effectively when the followership is not strong’. He explained to the students the fact that the Students’ Union Government does not control the Union’s finance. He further encouraged the students to turn out and exercise their right in the SUG election by voting credible candidates.
He concluded by saying that ‘what is right is always right even if everybody is not doing it and that what is wrong is wrong even if everybody is doing it’.
Prof. Pam Dung Sha of the Political Science Department was among the dignitaries that graced the occasion and in his address the students present, Prof Pam said they ‘must be active in bringing change and students must learn to defend their rights and that those rights must be heard’.
He said students must learn to be positive in their approach to issues, urging them to participate in politics while still in school as it serves as a training ground and a mentoring place.
He urged the students to learn from the mistakes of the past so as to work with a vision and bring positive change.
There was an open floor for participants to express their opinions on political issues and this generated a lot of intellectual contributions, which were all tilting towards to the fact that: “we are the solution to our problems, we must change our mentality and do the right thing, we must be solution oriented rather than complain oriented and that just as change begins with us, so does corruption” as described by one of the participants.
James Makpan among other participants expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the program saying it was informative and an eye opener, making youths understand the need to take their rightful stand in governance and by voting and not being violent during electioneering periods.
The participants appreciated Speakers Corner Trust Nigeria for the kind gesture and said the publicity for such programs should be improved.
They encouraged students to endeavor to participate in subsequent editions as it was a worthwhile time. After light refreshment, participants smiled home with lots of freebies.
Side attraction included spoken word poetry by Diva of Words, Pedro of Jay FM, Flessin, Jan Jan and Jerry Jnr.
Photo Credit: Enoch Tyulen
Edited by John Doee
