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Former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai has encouraged young Nigerians to join the public sector and become interested in governance.
Mr El-Rufai gave this admonition at the Meet the Leader (MTL) series organised by the Abuja Hub of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community on Thursday. The event, which addressed the theme ‘Youth, Power, and the Politics of Nation Building’, was held at Ventures Park, Abuja, and moderated by Murtala Abdullahi, an alumnus of the Abuja Global Shapers Hub.
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In his address at the event, Mr El-Rufai talked about his motivation for transitioning from the private sector into politics, the challenges he faced implementing housing and education reforms as minister and governor, and how leaders can navigate such challenges.
He observed that Nigeria’s most pressing problems include insecurity, poverty and unemployment, infrastructural gaps, poor human development, and an absence of credible social safety nets.
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The former governor further lamented the shortage of competent people in politics and public service and encouraged more young people to get involved.
According to him, Nigeria’s politics will not change until enough educated, passionate, accomplished, and financially content young people begin to actively participate.
“You have to take an interest in public service, politics, and quality of governance because that determines everything else,” he said.
“Trust me, politics trumps everything. If your politics sucks, it is a matter of time; your society will collapse. And I think we can agree that Nigeria’s politics truly sucks. So, the first thing I want to tell you is, please register to vote if you haven’t registered. Please be interested in politics and political parties. Contest for elections if you can. But at least join. Be at the table when decisions are being taken because the decisions taken there will determine the rest of your life.
“Once I got into public service and saw what one person can do to positively affect the lives of millions with one stroke of the pen, with one policy, I realised that it is more important to be a governor or minister than to be Aliko Dangote. So this is the second reason I’m here, to preach to you to consider a career in the public sector.”
Mr El-Rufai said that while social commentary and engagements on internet platforms are good, young people can only shape the future by participating in politics and governance. He encouraged the youth to be as invested in reality as they are in the virtual world and to get their hands dirty.
In his opening remark, the curator, Ifeanyi Chukwudi, said the MTL series allows members of the hub and other young people to engage with distinguished leaders from across politics, business, and other sectors and learn from their experiences.
“Youth are always told they are the leaders of tomorrow, but oftentimes it doesn’t seem like the tomorrow is ever going to come. But we are here saying that we are not just leaders of tomorrow, we are leaders of today,” he said, emphasising that young people have a role to play in nation-building.
Mr Chukwudi also clarified that the focus of the event was leadership and not necessarily the politics of the day.
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“We want to lean into the tough conversations, we want to lean into understanding where Mallam’s values and principles have come from and how his leadership has shaped him and his worldview and what we as youth can learn from that in contributing our quota to the development of Nigeria,” he said.
Towards the end of the event, Mr El-Rufai addressed questions from participants on various topics, including youth inclusion in politics, godfatherism, and policy failures from his experience as a political administrator.
Previous editions of the Meet the Leader series were attended by personalities such as former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, Senator, Ned Nwoko; lawyer and former special adviser to the president on social investments, Maryam Uwais; and Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar.
