The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare has identified ways to deepen the democratic process and drive sustainable development in Nigeria.

Dare, who was the keynote speaker at the Senator Abiola Ajimobi Foundation roundtable held on Friday at the University of Ibadan, highlighted the reviving of the culture of public debate of ideologies and policies, investment in education and enlightenment and continuous improvement of our electoral laws among others, as practical steps that must taken to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in the country.

His words: “Apart from having roundtable discussions and open fora on the subject matter such as this, there is the need to take very practical steps in growing our democracy in Nigeria.

“There must be the reviving of the culture of public debate of ideologies and policies in our country and eliminating toxicity, abuse and vulgarity especially at this time that the social media is helping the spread of negativity and increasingly making more people anti-Intellectual even in the universities.

“We have a challenge to find great minds of the past like Professors Aboyade Cole, Sam Aluko, Moses Akin-Makinde and Chief Obafemi Awolowo who wrote and formulated policies for the country.”

The Minister also tasked the Government, “to continue to invest in education and public enlightenment so that the mass of the people can know their roles, rights, duties and obligations in the democratic process.”

Dare said there must be the continuous improvement of the electoral laws in Nigeria to protect the ballot and make votes count during elections, praising President Muhammadu Buhari for the Electoral Law 2022, which he says has instilled more confidence of Nigerians in the electoral process while strengthening the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) as an institution.

He further called for an effective criminal justice system to deal with all electoral offenders.

“Our criminal justice system needs to be more alive to its responsibilities. Our judiciary and law enforcement agencies, especially the Police, must be able to stamp out violence and intimidation from our political space.

“There should be punishment for electoral offenders. The Election Offences Tribunals must be able to prosecute these offenders.

“We also need strong and viable political parties, who apart from being vehicles for political participations must play critical roles in deepening the democratic system and sustainable development through the propagation of their manifestos and public education of their programmes and government policies. Political parties must remain a public trust and be properly organised as such.”

The Youth and Sports Development Minister Sunday Dare then eulogised the late former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, describing him as a leader who loved his people and served them with honesty of purpose and with the determination to make positive impact on their lives.

“Some of the enduring legacies Senator Abiola Ajimobi has left us are the reforms in education, security and urban renewal.

“Without a doubt, we miss him greatly. If he was still here with us, our party, the All Peoples Congress(APC) would have been more vibrant, cohesive and viable,” Dare concluded.

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