The Senator Bukola Saraki-led PDP National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee has asked the party to grant fee waivers on nomination forms to all young people below the age of 35.
This was contained in a one-page letter dated March 25, 2021, signed by Saraki and addressed to the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.
“Additionally, we have also recommended that the National Executive Council of our party amends our party’s constitution to ensure that only young people between the ages of 18 and 35 can vie for the office of Youth Leader – at all levels,” Saraki said.
According to the committee, the recommendations were part of efforts to ensure further youth inclusion and participation in politics.
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The committed further said that the recommendations were the outcome of a meeting with the National Youth Leader and other youth leaders across the 36 states of the nation on March 9th, 2021.
It stated that the meetings held “In furtherance of its mandate to resolve disputes, reconcile aggrieved members and foster cohesion and unity within the party.”
The letter disclosed that the youths presented some requests that were on March 22, 2021 deliberated upon by the committee.
The deliberation, it stated, led to the two-point recommendations contained in the letter.
“The implication of the recommendation on waiver of the nomination fees for youths aspiring to various offices means that where the party guidelines for instance demand that a gubernatorial aspirant pay N20m for nomination form and N1m for Expression of Interest form, any aspirant below the age of 35 years, will get the nomination form at no cost while they only pay the N1m Expression of Interest fee.
“The measure is believed to be aimed at easing the burden of participation in the political process on the youths and encourage them to purposefully and positively utilise the new constitutional provisions on the age requirements for political office holders, otherwise called the Not Too Young to Run Bill,” the letter further read.