The
arguments have come again and again concerning the need to have youths
as leaders in modern government. After all, as the cliché posits, they
are the leaders of today, no longer tomorrow because they have waited
for a long time and this “tomorrow” still remains elusive. If recent
events are anything to go by, Nigerian youths will have to wait for as
long as they have to because the present crop of leaders has yet to get
tired of governing. We are still operating a recycled system of
governance or democracy in the country.
It will not be
surprising to some that the Senate President, David Mark, will be
returning to the Senate again after being elected four times previously
and spending 16 good years in office. Many are of the view that having a
senator of this calibre increases the level of debate in the upper
chamber and it produces good decision making, as the wealth of
experience of long term serving senators like him is put to bear.
However, I don’t need to remind anyone that this senator was once a
military administrator in this country. He is gradually ageing into
office and many of us have yet to see how the likes of Mark have brought
development to their immediate constituencies or the country at large.
But
this write-up is not about the Senate President. No, it is about the
geographical landscape called Nigeria. It is about our youths who are
busy discussing about Jose Mourinho of Chelsea Football Club and Arsene
Wenger of Arsenal and Manchester United while our leaders continue to
sing the same song in a different tune. It is about our youths who are
busy with “Big Brother Africa” and Nollywood and dancing “Skelewu” to
the extent that they have lost political consciousness that our elders
have decided to take us for a ride. We have given up on ourselves and on
our country thinking – It is not our business.
But that is not
true. Government is the business of everyone. It was Aristotle who said
that man is a political animal because, according to him, man is
politically inclined by nature. Most of our present- day youths are
apolitical. Yet, they crave for change. Where will the change come from?
Certainly not in our sitting rooms! We must not allow our elders or
leaders to continue to ride on our backs like donkeys. This should not
be allowed to continue anymore as they do not really care about us.
Truly, they don’t. To them we are just pawns to be used for their mind
games.
Listening to the television the other day, I was able to
confirm this fact myself. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence,
George Sekibo, was having a meeting with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.
Gen. Kenneth Minimah. This was after bombers had killed and displaced
many people in some northeastern states. It will amaze you to realise
that the first question the senator would ask the general was how safe
and conducive was the region for campaigns and elections. This was
ridiculous! It was not how the displaced persons were doing? Or, what
efforts can the government do to ameliorate their burdens? This will
show you the level of the disconnection between the government and the
people.
In saner climes, Senator Sekibo will be made to resign
but not in this part of the world, where anything goes. We are a country
of millions of people anyway, so what is the big deal if for instance
46 boys lost their lives? Minus 46 from our population figure, you still
have a great figure, don’t you? So, why should anyone be bothered? It
is even more irritating and worrisome to see governors at the expiration
of their tenure jostling for a place in the Senate as If it is their
resting place after the “hectic burden” of being governors. A trend that
if allowed to continue will see many of us youths in the sidelines of
political governance for a very long time because most of them will be
collecting their pensions as former governors and at the same time
collecting allowances as senators. This amounts to one having one’s cake
and still eating it. In a country of abject poverty and unemployment,
this is the height of selfishness, insensitivity and wickedness.
The
Yoruba have a saying that: “Agbalagba kin wa loja ki ori omotuntun
woo”. I do not know if I got my spelling right. If not, my apologies to
the Yoruba people but the message behind the proverb is that an elder
cannot be in the market place and watch the head of the child go down.
This has not been our lot in this country as our elders or leaders have
not only allowed the head of the child to go down, they have also
trampled on the head of the child. They have refused to fund education
but instead send their children abroad so that we will not be liberated;
they have refused to make our roads motorable but they themselves fly
with private jets, so that death will catch up with us in our prime. It
is usually the child that buries the father but our leaders have turned
it the other way round. As a result of this negligence, the society is
now plagued with hunger, poverty, unemployment, prostitution, armed
robbery, kidnapping and even Boko Haram.
As if our woes are not
enough, some youths just because they have been offered “messengerial”
soup dumplings, decide to sell their blue ribbon. At least it shows that
Ayo Fayose’s “stomach infrastructure” in Ekiti State is gaining
acceptable wisdom in other areas as we saw with the bags of rice in
Bayelsa State recently. Youths must learn to show dignity of character
and purpose. We must tell our leaders what we expect from them instead
of carrying placards and singing their praises when they have done
nothing with the hope of getting 30 pieces of silver which amount to
selling our conscience because at the end of it all, we could have
benefitted nothing from our foolishness.
We must begin to take
ourselves seriously, if ever we want our elders or leaders to respect
us. There is nothing stopping a youth from becoming minister for youths
and sports in this country. After all, we know and follow sports better
than the older folk. Heaven will not fall if a youth is made a minister
of education. We understand education in this country because we go to
schools here, so we know the challenges the sector faces. But will the
government be reasonable with us? No, our leaders will prefer to have
someone who went to Harvard or a politician that instead of improving
the sector will end up fighting clan battle with the governor of his
state. Even the ministry of ICT needs a youth to head it. We are the
masters of the jet age. Aren’t we? The minister for information is also
within the purview of the youths. Our leaders/elders cannot place a
heavy premium on years of experience during our search for jobs when
they do not make any conscious effort to make us gather that experience.
That is hypocrisy.
Unfortunately, none of the political parties
takes any serious effort to accord the youths any prominence. Yet, you
see our youths joining the bandwagon and address themselves with
political slogans. A few examples will suffice here: TAN, Buharists,
Ebelites, Atikukites etc. We can’t negotiate our future from the
position of weakness but that of strength and intensity of purpose. And
we must realise quickly that this country belongs to all of us and not
just a selected few who keep knocking on our doorsteps seasons after
seasons. It has all dawned on us that anyone can aspire and become
whatever they want to be in this country.
...Chekwubechukwu is a graduate of Mass Communication, based in Lagos.
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