No fewer than 1,150 youths drawn from the 23 Local Government Areas of Benue state are to converge on Makurdi for the first Benue Youths Summit to address among others, all issues raised by angry #ENDSARS protesters in the state.
The summit which would take place between November 25 and 27 would have in attendance 50 youth delegates from each of the 23 LGAs of the state.
Chairman of the steering committee of the summit, Pastor Dave Ogbole who made this known Tuesday in Makurdi said the summit would be one of the well-thought-out events that would for the first time bring Benue youths together from across the state.
On the criteria for the selection of the delegates, Pastor Ogbole said “we have designed it such that 50 youths from each of the 23 LGAs which will accumulate to 1,150 delegates will be converging on Makurdi for the summit.
“The criteria for selection of the delegates is such that the political party setups on ground have delegates. In each LGA Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has 20 delegates, All Progressive Congress has 10 delegates out of the 50, and then other political parties who have seats in our State and National Assembly have 5 delegates.
“The remaining 15 is spread across people living with disabilities including youths in agriculture, youths in sports, entertainment, technology, entrepreneurs and then the artisans.
“The aim is to be able to give widespread coverage to the selection process and with that, we hope that the massages and the deliberation and the line of action from the summit will be able to reach the grassroots of Benue state.
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“We are expecting that after this summit has come and gone, Memorandum will be presented by the youth-focused group to Governor Samuel Ortom and we expect that the Governor will respond to all that would be said by the youths.
“I must state that this summit is a complete departure from the normal gatherings we have had before. It is normal to gather youths and talk to them about purpose, focus, good behavior, about social order and value system.
“But this time, it is the policy actors sitting down and listening to the youths for three days and responding where and when it is necessary.
“We trust that the teeming population of Benue youths who are very mentally savvy will come and in their syndicate groups make useful contributions that we surely belief will form a part of policy action for 2021 so that we can factor these things in and see that the youths are also a part of charting a course for a new Benue.”
