Thirty-seven contestants from the 36 states of the federation and FCT will slug it out in a Reality TV Show grand finale tagged “The Next President Show” to elect a youth president for the country for 2022. Mr Daddy Kris, organiser of the event and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Superior Radio and Television (SRTV), told newsmen in Abuja that the grand Finale of the show would take place on Dec. 17 in Abuja. Kris who was represented by Mrs Shirley Ashiaku, a management staff of SRTV, said the 37 contestants regarded as Youth Governors in their various states and FCT, were already in Abuja the vie for the youth president’s seat. He said the essence of the show was to groom youths who would begin now to plan for the future of the country. “Young people representing different states across the federation are here today deliberating on issues of national importance in their quest to be voted as the Youth President of Nigeria,” he said. According to him, Nigeria does not have shortage of natural resources or human resources but it lacks the effective mechanism to coordinate the human and natural resources to the benefit of her citizens. “If it is true that we are not getting things right, then, we need to plan for our future and our future are the youths. “The Next President Show is to engage young people in our democratic processes and groom them as future leaders.
The show is designed to give young people a voice in governance and move politics out of the polite drawing room to the clamour of the street. “This show started from the Local Government Areas to the states and then, President; all aim at constructively engaging young people in governance and thereby grooming future leaders,” Kris said.
Mr Kenneth Paul, Head of Operations, SRTV, said plans were in the pipeline to replicate the show in South Africa, Ghana and Zimbabwe. Paul also said that they have designed a trust fund to support viable young leaders in the country.
“The Next President Trust Fund will be one of the pet projects of the Youth President when elected.” Mr Deji Adebayo, the Youth Governor representing Oyo State, said their leadership skill had been tested and that they were able to show their capacity to lead from their various states. Adebayo who doubles as the Chairman of the Youth Governors Forum said that each contestant had a mentor from their various states, and that they have been interacting with different political leaders. “We have been given topics on the challenges facing our country today, security, economy, agriculture, and so on, and everybody has been presenting their ideas and proffering solutions.
“Before now, some of us had reservations for some states because of what we have been hearing, but now they know that whatever they have been thinking or hearing was not the fact. “This is beginning to prepare us for leadership positions because we are aware that leadership is not given, it is taken, and we must be prepared to take it. “If this was in place before now, by now youths must have taken over leadership positions. “However, now that we are here, we know that we have a responsibility to propagate what we started and we will do everything within our capacity to support whoever emerges as president,” he said.
SRTV reports that some Nigerian leaders who have shown integrity and character in the discharge of their duty will be honoured at the grand finale of the show.
