The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Solomon Dalong, on Wednesday inaugurated the third session of the Nigeria Youth Parliament in Abuja.

Dalung, while inaugurating the session at the National Assembly complex Abuja, blamed past leaders of the parliament and other youth leaders for the many crises in the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN).

“Our responsibility in the ministry is to make good these policies that are contained in the youth policies and policies of the federal government.

“But the Nigeria youth must be ready to create environment conductive for us to discharge these responsibilities’’, he said.

Dalung frowned at the leadership crisis currently rocking the NYCN, adding that the youth might not be able to contribute to nation-building with the crisis.

The minister charged the incoming members of the parliament to take up the responsibility of achieving peace in NYCN, adding that there was need to restore sanity into the council.

He said that the fragmentation of NYCN which has lasted for some time has resulted in six people laying claims to the leadership of the council.

Dalung expressed concern at the way and manner the ideals and virtues which used to endear the organisation to the public had been eroded.

This, he said has give way to blatant pursuit of personal interest and unabashed materialism by the present day self-acclaimed leaders of the council, at the expense of Nigerian youths.

Dalung said that the parliament was a major stakeholder in the change agenda of the present administration and called on the members to do everything possible to restore sanity.

Earlier, the outgoing President of the parliament, Mr Hussaini MaiBasira, urged members of the parliament to see their selection as an honour and service to the nation.

He urged the incoming leaders to uphold the sanity of the parliament while calling for the support of the National Assembly in achieving its goals and objectives.

Mr Abba Waziri, the outgoing Speaker of Parliament, said the essence of leadership was to groom good leaders that would replace the ageing ones.

He said that the parliament was breeding quality leaders for a better Nigeria.

The Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Council, Ahmed Adamu, urged the parliament to deliberate on issues of youth development targeted at improving the lives of the Nigerian youths.

He said youth development targets and indicators must be the aim of the parliament if success must be achieved.

(NAN)