It is sad that in our present day Nigeria, the youths seem to
have been relegated to the background in the scheme of things. This even makes
it sadder when the supposed youths who should position themselves for the task
ahead seem to have been enmeshed in one frivolity or the other. If they are not
campaigning for a certain house mate in Big brother Naija, they are busy
calculating the weekly salary of a premiership football player in faraway
England. Our youths these days are lazy to read as they are on social media
platforms tweeting at one irrelevancy or the other, using facebook for other negative purpose. Would
you however blame them for this occurrence?
Let us go back to history. Anthony Enahoro was just twenty
three when he moved the motion for independence in the year 1956, although some
sections of the country thought Nigeria was not yet ripe for independence then.
Chief Jaja Wachukwu was already a representative at the United Nations, Mathew
Mbu, etc all had their political tutelage under the great premiers of the
western region then, I mean Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Sir
Ahmadu Bello. As at the time the democratic regime was terminated by the
military boys on 15th January, 1966, we still had crop of young
people at the helm of affairs. Gowon was a bachelor when he took over the reins
of government on 29th July 1966 and led the country for the next
nine years. One success that the Gowon administration was able to achieve was
making the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo (A man in his fifties) his finance
minister and also the vice president of his Supreme Military Council. General
Murtala Ramat Muhammed was just 37 when the mantle of leadership (through a
bloodless coup) fell on him even though he ruled for just six months with a
great impact particularly in the civil service. It was during his time he
introduced the lexicon “with immediate effect” into the Nigerian space. If a
whole Head of State was in his office by 8am, who is that “bloody civilian”
that will dare to be late? That is what a young blood can do! Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo was in his 40s as the time providence smiled on him to take over after
the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed and he handed over to a
democratically elected government. One thing about the person General Olusegun
Obasanjo handed over to (Alhaji Shehu Shagari) was that he was Federal Minister
under Sir Tafawa Balewa as a youth who learned the ropes well and was well
prepared for governance. Youths have been shown to put in fire and zeal in
whatever cause they set to achieve and that is why any organization they lead
always stand out.
But where did it go wrong for the youths? This can be traced
back to the neglect in youth affairs and introduction of corruption into our
national life. This is also traceable to the locust years of the military rule
which denied the youths their collective wealth, placed in the hands of
individuals. Unemployment began to creep in as there was no proper plan for the
population explosion Nigeria was experiencing at that time. Though the military
administration of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida did put in place some
agencies like Directorate For Food, Road and Rural infrastructure (DFFRI), Mass
Mobilization for Youths and Self-reliance (MAMSER), all this turned out to be
drain pipes where certain individuals used it to enrich their purse at the
expense of the purpose it was meant to serve. The saga of Daniel Kanu of Youths
Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA) is a sample of this as youths practically
turned to boot lickers in order to feed from crumbs from the table of the
military brass.
The error was however corrected a bit during the regime of
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo when it appointed youths in the cabinet but not in its
entirety as it seems the old political warhorse still dominated the scene. We
had the case of one old war horse then who proudly said there is no pot in
Nigeria large enough to cook him (When his party members threatened that he
will be in soup). I am pretty sure that it is owing to lack of proper tutelage
from our old men in the field that made some youths who found themselves in
position of authority, misuse the grace. What can we make of a governor in a
certain part of the Northwest geo-political zone who practically is an errand
boy of the presidency and is punishing the citizens of the state by owing them
backlog of arrears of salaries and entitlements which has led many to their
early graves?
I believe the youth should take the mantle of leadership, but
I also believe that we can vie for other offices while the ropes are gradually
learned. Take for instance, the youths can vie for position from
councillorship, chairmen of LGAs, House of Assembly, Federal House of
Representative while they gradually understand the intrigues of the presidency.
The youths can borrow a leaf from the youths mentioned above in the era of the
first republic. An experienced and elderly individual will fit in the post as
he shows the way to youths. Of course in this same administration an old
warhorse as a minister was quoted saying Nigeria will start producing pencils
towards 2020!
That is why in my opinion, I believe Atiku Abubakar is the
best for the job. One of the main reasons for decamping from the APC back to
PDP was because the present administration sidelined the youths even after
riding on their backs to clinch the presidency. We all know the rest of the
story as the administration is beclouded with men whose ideas of governance are
analogue while we are in a digital age. This is someone who means well for the
youths and is even having a youthful look.
It is my belief that APC nailed their political coffin by
endorsing the present President for a
second term. This is the aftermath of voting change where the prices of staple
foods are at an all high. A game was played on social media that anyone who
comes forward to mention a project this administration started and completed
will get a lump sum of N350,000. Up on till now, no one can come up with
anything, even with the glorified zombies defending the administration on an empty
stomach. We are yet to see one naira to equal the dollar. When I saw their
campaign promise for primary school children of one meal per day, I never knew
they stylishly told the parents that they will only afford one meal per day for
their wards by the time they will be through with them.
I want the Nigerian youths to wake up to reality and consider
a youth friendly person who can help show the way. We can take a cue from
General Gowon who made the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo his Vice Chairman of
his cabinet, and during those years, the country never lacked and it was a time
of plenty.
Let the youths put on their thinking cap as the APC is hell
bent on driving us backwards albeit with a manual type of car fit for the early
fifties while developed and saner climes are already flying high with
scientific technologies.
The Yoruba will say “aabo oro la so fun omoluabi, ti o ba de
inu re, a di odidi”. A word is enough for the wise dear Nigerian youths.
AYORINDE AKADIRI
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