The Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olagunju Ojo Wednesday inaugurated the 3rd Assembly of the Oyo State Youth Parliament.

According to Speaker, the effort is meant to encourage the youths in the decision making process in the state.

The inauguration ceremony which took place at the House of Chiefs, Parliament Building, House of Assembly Complex, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan had many youths across the state in attendance.

In his welcome address, Olagunju said based on the provision of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, role of the youths in the decision making process, support of government’s policies as well as promotion of people-oriented and good governance can not be over emphasized.

He described the parliament as a powerful institution that champions the course of the people, adding that Youth Parliament is a replica of the representative function of the House of Assembly members in the state, where interests and demands of the constituents are canvassed and debated.

While commending the initiative of the Oyo State Agency for Youth Development for keying into youth’s development policy, Hon Olagunju stressed that youths, having bulk of total population in the country must always be at the fore front in engaging political leaders on critical issues of national interest.

The Speaker, who was accompanied to the occasion by the Minority Leader of the House, Honourable Akeem Ige and the Chairman, House Committee on Youth and Sports, Honourable Fatai Adesina enjoined the newly inaugurated parliamentarians to be good ambassadors of the state by always promoting the pace setter status which the state is known for in all their engagements.

He also implored the youths to shun every unethical behavior such as thugerry as witnessed in the recently concluded general elections, where issues of electoral violence such as ballot boxes snatching and other electoral vices were perpetrated by the youths.

In his message at the occasion, the State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Barrister Abayomi Oke who was represented by the Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on Youth and Sports, Mr Afeez Bolaji disclosed that the present administration led by Senator Abiola Ajimobi has in the last eight years given proper recognition to the youth as principal stakeholders and foremost drivers of the nation’s growth and development.

He pointed out programmes like Youth Empowerment Scheme of Oyo State (YES-O), Oyo Ajumose Business Leadership and Entrepreneur (Oyo-Able) Scheme, OYO NISE, OYO LEKO as major strategic and systematic youth empowerment programmes embarked upon by the state government to ensure that youths are sufficiently equipped to compete with their counterparts at the larger World.

He commended the Federal Government initiative for approving the laudable youth programmes which enabled them the opportunity to contribute their quotas in the decision making process both at the State and Federal levels.

During the first plenary of the newly inaugurated Youth Parliament, two Principal Officers were elected to be in charge of the newly inaugurated parliament.

The two Principal Officers are Honourable Adegoke Abayomi from Ogbomoso South State Constituency who was elected as the Honourable Speaker while Honourable Taoheed Adebayo from Irepo State Constituency was elected as the Honourable Deputy Speaker.

The two Principal Officers and other thirty Parliamentarians were later sworn-in by the imaginary Clerk of the Youth Parliament.

The thirty two members of the Oyo State Youth Parliament who were selected from the thirty three Local Government Areas of the state are between the ages of 15 and 35 years old while the new Speaker is an Electrical Engineering Graduate of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree.

Among important dignitaries that graced the colourful ceremony are the Iyaloja of Ibadanland, Alhaja Iswat Ameringun,the Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Alhaja Ololade Agboola as well as the Acting Clerk and Permanent Secretary, Oyo State House of Assembly, Mrs Foluke Oyediran.