The youth in contemporary Nigerian politics has played the role of acting the political thug for older politicians in the country. In this study, the researchers set out to examine the role and benefits of the youth in modern-day politics with specific reference to the recent Nigeria's ‘‘Not-Too-Young-to-Run’’ Bill. It is in this light that this paper adopted Role theory in explaining the role of the youth in contemporary Nigerian politics. It is obvious that with the Not-Too-Young-to-Run Bill, the youth in Nigeria can now participate effectively in the nation’s political processes, and not continue to play the dirty role of hooligan on the payroll of the sit-tight political leader who wants to perpetuate himself in power. The paper contends that the Federal government and the electoral umpire body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), should make it a priority to fully implement the Not-Too-Young-to-Run Bill, to give many more youths the opportunity to vie for electoral offices in the country. In addition, youths should be included in the nation’s political processes by enlightening them on their role and benefits in such processes; not just to function as political thugs but to aspire to run for electoral offices themselves.
Youth, Role Theory, Politics, Nigeria
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