Stakeholders have advised youths to shun politics of stomach infrastructure and embrace good governance that would guarantee adequate infrastructure development in the country.
They gave the advice during the Badagry Corridor Development Dialogue event, organised by Ovi Kuponu, the publisher of DeVoice Magazine in Badagry.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that ceremony tagged: “Conference of Badagry Corridor Graduate Youths” with the theme “Beyond The Wave of Youth Protests”.
A social media analyst, Peter Dansu, said stomach infrastructure was a plot to deny Nigerians of their real infrastructure such as good roads, education and accessible hospitals.
“There is no other ambiguity on stomach infrastructure, than a plot or gimmick to suit some kind of politicians’ ideas.
“This was coined by former Gov. Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti, to campaign in 2015.
“It is time we moved above this. What do we stand to gain from stomach infrastructure; the only thing we gain is denial.
“When your wife gives birth and you go and meet the chairman of your council to ask for money, definitely, you must know that you will not have mouth to ask for basic infrastructure you need.
“When you collect money during elections, our political class will just deny us basic infrastructure like good roads, affordable education and access to healthcare,” he said.
Dansu urged youths to task the leaders on the provision of social infrastructure.
Also, Hannah Adeyemi, a lecturer at Samuel Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, urged youths to look beyond rice and soup politics.
Adeyemi said, “If you are voting for someone who will not do anything, how do you want development?
“Youths need to look beyond themselves, like what do I stand to gain? We need to look at what the representative can do for the system.
“We should vote for someone that will impact on the development, rather than stomach infrastructure,’’ she said.
Earlier, Mobolaji Ogunlende, Pioneer, Real Act of Kindness, an NGO, said the idea of stomach infrastructure was to collect money or cups of rice to vote for a candidate.
Ogunlende said if youths want development, they need to push themselves away from the idea of stomach infrastructure.
He said this was the right time for youths’ attitude to change, urging them to be more supportive, rather than destructive.
Commenting, Abayomi Amosu, a petroleum engineer, one of the keynote speakers, said aftermath of youths protest had brought about the development dialogue among youths in Badagry.
Amosu said rather than going to the streets, exposing the poor masses to sufferings and pains, youths had resolved to come together in a hall for development dialogue.
He, however, urged the government to reposition the rule of law and social justice in Badagry to forestall protest among youths in the future.
Speaking as the Father of the Day, Oba Oladele Kosoko, the Oniworo of Iworo in Badagry, urged the National Assembly to stop the issue of toll plaza on the nation’s highways.
Kosoko said reintroduction of the project was another way of corruption since there was an alternative to the project.
He called on the government to establish a kind of roads maintenance surcharge to be paid by all vehicles plying Federal roads annually instead of buildings toll plazas.
In his remarks, Kuponu, Convener of the event, said youths had realised after the EndSARS protest, that they need to move a step further to dialogue with leaders.
“We want to send signal on our position to the government and those representing us.
“This dialogue is for youths and community people to come together and decide on things that we want our representatives to do for us.
“Whatever is our position today will be passed to the appropriate quarters, and this will be used as yardstick or scorecard for them,’’ he said.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
