With less than a year to the 2027 general elections, Nigerian youths have launched a campaign to secure at least 50 per cent of seats in the National Assembly and state houses of assembly, describing their current representation as “grossly inadequate and unsustainable” for a country with a predominantly young population.
The Youth in Parliament Forum (YIPF), an initiative of the House of Representatives Committee on Youth in Parliament, made the call in Abuja while unveiling its Take Action Campaign (TAC) 2025, a nationwide programme combining political mobilisation with large-scale skills development.
Director-General of YIPF, Hon. Tony Nwulu, said the Forum was engaging youth wings of all registered political parties to present a unified demand for increased youth inclusion in party leadership, candidate selection, and elective offices ahead of 2027.
Nwulu, a former lawmaker and sponsor of the Not Too Young To Run Act, lamented the near absence of young people in Nigeria’s legislature, warning that decisions affecting millions of youths were being taken without their input.
“In the Senate today, we have just one young person. That reality alone tells you how far we are from inclusion. Young Nigerians cannot continue to be spectators in a system that shapes their future,” he said.
According to him, the Take Action Campaign is designed to move youth engagement beyond political slogans to measurable outcomes, linking governance participation with economic empowerment and employability.
Under the programme, one million youths will be trained in information and communication technology (ICT) skills, while an additional 100,000 will receive technical training in electric vehicle (EV) technology, bringing total beneficiaries to 1.1 million.
The ICT training will cover cybersecurity fundamentals, data protection and privacy, data analytics, cloud computing, data governance, and other in-demand digital skills aligned with the global labour market.
Implementation will be decentralised across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with 20,000 ICT training slots allocated to each state for indigenes or residents applying through state-based platforms.
In addition, Zonal Development Commissions across the six geopolitical zones will each receive 20,000 slots, while 95,000 slots have been reserved for political parties, with each of the 19 registered parties allocated 5,000 slots. To promote inclusion, the programme has set aside 45,000 slots for persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups.
On electric vehicle training, Nwulu said each state would train 2,000 youths in EV diagnostics, battery systems, safety, servicing, and emerging mobility technologies, responding to Nigeria’s growing interest in sustainable transportation.
He urged young Nigerians, particularly those who feel excluded from political and economic opportunities, to take advantage of the programme, stressing that participation is free and open through the official application platforms.
