Mr. Abdul Abiola, son of the late Chief Moshood Abiola, the alleged winner of the June 1993 Presidential election, had yesterday urged that the Federal Government should declare June 12 as Nigerian Youth Day.

Abdul Abiola made the call at a rally organized by the Nigeria Youth Leadership Group in Lagos, to mark the World International Day of the Youth, which was fixed on August 12 by the United Nations.

According to Abdul who is also the son of the late Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, the youth contributed greatly to the electoral success of the late Chief MKO Abiola and needs to have a day in which it will be recognized and celebrated by Nigeria.

He further asserts that the youths who are the future of the nation will be gingered up if a special day as June 12 is set aside for them, adding that incident of June 12 cannot be swept under the carpet.

He commented that that June 12 can be celebrated as Democracy as well as Youth Day without any contradiction

Supporting this view, Mr. Onyekachi Eze, the National Coordinator of NYLAG, stated that June 12 should be declared Youth Day to honour those that lost their lives, especially the youth, pointing out that some African countries such as Cameroun, Republic of Congo and South Africa among others have special dates to celebrate and discuss issues that are central to the existence of their youth.

Meanwhile, another group, Strategy for Mentoring Initiative and Leadership Empowerment, has charged leaders in the country to rekindle the hope of the youth by addressing their challenges.

President of SMILE, Mrs. Bimpe Gbamgbose-Martins, said this in Lagos at the 2013 International Youth Day organised by the group in collaboration with United Nations Information Centre with the theme, Youth Migration, Moving Development Forward.

In her speech, she said that for any nation to drive meaningful progress and change, it must keep its focus on the youth.