By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
Arrangemwnt has reached its crescendo by the All Progressives Congress, APC, Youth Lobby Group, in Cross River State, to gather 30,000 individuals for a Youths Summit, scheduled to hold at the U.J Esuene Stadium, Calabar, on February 19, 2021.
At an interaction parley with ournalists in Calabar yesterday, the Chairman of tye APC Youth Lobby Group from the Local Organising Committee, LOC, Mr. Oden Ewa, stated that the planned youth summit shall provide opportunity for youths in the state to find a way forward on how young people can be given opportunity to have a stake and add value to the polity and governance, rather allowing themselves to be used to distabilize the system, only to be dumped after elections.
Ewa said that the planned mega rally is going to be like a festival that would attract importantant personalities fro all the nooks and crannies of the state and outside to participate in the youth event.
He stated that the time has come when youths of the country have to rise up to participate fully in electioneering process, so that they can participate in reaping the benefits when the time comes and not to only sit down, watch, and criticize.
The youth organization leader stressed that the mega rally, which has been keenly planned, shall provide them with an opportunity to celebrate the good gesture of the state governor, Sir Ben Ayade, who has demonstrated that he is a lover of youths by including young people in his administration.
He maintained that the state APC Youth Lobby Group, inaugurated in Cross River State two weeks ago, is meant to promote youth inclusiveness in governance.
He lauded Governor Ayade for running a youth-inclusive government, adding that “participants in this summit will be drawn from all the 196 wards in Cross River State.”
He further stressed that the event is for youths, calling on youths in the state to be part of the ceremony.
Top on the agenda, according to Ewa, would be speeches of motivation from notable individuals whose names Ewa refused to disclose; adding that lessons would be learned from the event.
He said, “It’s like a festival of sort where notable public speakers are going to come to speak and motivate the youths on how to better their lives.
“Its an opportunity for men and women who had made giant strides in business and politics to come and speak on some of the good things that Governor Ayade has done and still doing.
“We are also going to be inspiring ourselves. We are expecting up to 50,000 individuals who would come from far and near to gather for the youths summit.
“We have taken cognisance of the fact that we may have an overflow, in the eventuality.”
In his remarks, the Director General, DG, Cross River State Primary Health Care Development Agency, CR-PHCDA, Dr Janet Ekpeyong, stated that the crowd that they would mobilize would be a large one for the young people to speak in one voice.
She said, “Ayade has given us opportunity which we have leveraged on it. We are going to be having the largest gathering of young people who will be drawn from the swamps of Bakassi to the hills of Obanlikwu for the mega youths summit.”
