By ‘Not Too Young To Run, What’s That?’Ambode Trashes Agitation, Advises Youth
Executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Oladapo Ambode may have cut shot the jamboree of the Nigerian youth after securing victory at the National Assembly on the #NotTooYoungToRun Bill as he said they should rather go and learn leadership skills.
The Governor made this known last Thursday when students from Harvard Kennedy School of Government paid him a courtesy visit at the Lagos House.
In an audio tape obtained by BlackBox Nigeria, the Chief Executive opined that rather than use rants about the not too young to run on social media, the youth should find an avenue to learn leadership as it is beyond the what is being taught in schools. He also highlighted that the political structure in Nigeria barely allows the youth to be in leadership positions.
Read his speech below (transcribed)
“So I was excited when I saw a whole lot of younger people say Not Too Young To Run and a lot of hashtag on the social media. What’s that? Is that enough? So it’s like a trend, not too young to run, but do you have the prerequisite ? What are we talking about here? Have you gone through fire before? So it is enough to go to school and so what? We’ve seen it also, beyond school, there is still another school.
“Younger people needs to equip themselves with the drive for leadership. I’ve always wanted to teach leadership. I have gone to different place about emotional intelligence even when I was a civil servant. So if you are going to position yourself for leadership, you have to find the environment to create that stuff around you and anyone that wants to say not too young to run must also create examples for people to see.
“My own advice is that as accidental as I found myself, we can change successors which is the whole idea. I don’t like young people are trying to be antagonistic, because in the Nigeria cultural palace, you are not likely to let someone as serious as yourself to succeed you, so deliberately, you cut them off. You only see things that emulate what you think can run after you.
“As much as I want to encourage younger people and you see in our team a lot of young people and we are still looking for young people to join our team because at the end of the day, I want to sit in 20 years time and look behind saying, ‘I did this’. Because that is the pride of anybody that is in leadership. The real test of leadership is being able to put people to succeed you and let them be greater than who you were when you were they.
“That’s my philosophy, that’s what I’m trying to practice, that’s what I’m trying to teach, like you said the kind of legislation have, like the old structure we have in the Nigerian politics, it is a little bit different from what you practice over there.”
