Ogunkolade Tosin
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has urged young professionals to take a more active role in Nigeria’s political process, arguing that the country’s future cannot be left solely to the older generation of politicians.
The call was made on Wednesday when the Young Progressive Professionals for Social Change visited the party’s national secretariat in Abuja to meet its presidential and vice-presidential candidates and members of the National Working Committee.
Speaking at the meeting, SDP presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, said Nigeria’s young professionals had both the opportunity and responsibility to shape the country’s political future.
He argued that Nigeria’s problems were largely the consequence of institutional and leadership failures rather than a lack of human resources.
“There is no problem that Nigeria has that cannot be solved,” Adebayo said, citing Japan, South Korea and Singapore as countries that had overcome severe challenges to achieve significant economic and technological development.
For Adebayo, the challenge facing Nigeria is not the absence of talented people but the inability to organise those talents around a common national purpose.
“What your organisation is doing, and what we are going to work together on, is selling a common philosophy to Nigeria,” he said.
He said political parties should function as training grounds for future leaders, arguing that young Nigerians should gain political experience rather than remain disengaged from governance.
Adebayo, who said he joined the SDP as a university student in 1991, recalled beginning his political activities by campaigning and putting up party posters.
He said such grassroots experiences were important to developing political leaders.
The SDP candidate also challenged young Nigerians who claim to be uninterested in politics, arguing that government decisions affect virtually every aspect of their lives.
“If you are not interested in politics and you are intelligent, it’s a contradiction,” he said.
‘Young people cannot wait for others’
The party’s vice-presidential candidate, Usman Bugaje, said the country’s problems were compounded by what he described as a lack of political will and competence in leadership.
Bugaje said the SDP was seeking to offer a different political direction through institutional reforms and a focus on effective governance.
He pointed to the experiences of Japan, South Korea and Singapore as examples of countries that had transformed their fortunes after periods of crisis.
“We have studied these countries. We know exactly what they did to get there. We know what we need to do to get there,” he said.
He said young professionals had a role in creating the political conditions necessary for such reforms.
Gombe urges youth mobilisation
The SDP National Chairman, Sadeeq Gombe, said the visit by the young professionals was evidence that young Nigerians still had an interest in the country’s future.
Gombe urged the group to mobilise young voters and participate actively in the electoral process.
He asked them to scrutinise the credentials of presidential candidates and consider their competence, character and commitment to national development.
He also urged the group to campaign against what he described as the dangers posed by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Gombe said Nigeria’s projected population growth would make the participation of young people in governance even more important.
Cost of living dominates discussion
Earlier, the Interim Chairman of the Young Progressive Professionals for Social Change, Emmanuel Fortunatus, raised concerns about the rising cost of living and its impact on Nigerian families.
Fortunatus said many salary earners were struggling to meet basic needs, particularly as the costs of food, education, healthcare and other essentials continued to put pressure on household incomes.
He argued that economic hardship could place pressure on people to compromise their values, including through corruption.
The group, he said, was seeking to engage political actors and contribute to conversations on how Nigeria’s challenges could be addressed.
The meeting comes as political parties and political groups begin to intensify preparations and mobilisation ahead of the 2027 general elections.
