A lot has been said about the age of African leaders and the sit tight syndrome they all suffer from. While the rest of the world presents young, charismatic leaders, Africa produces old tired men who find it hard to leave power after several years of holding on to it. Co-incidentally, these old African leaders who strive to shut out the young and vibrant citizenry from politics have no problem bowing before the young leaders of the West. Now, even though age is not a prerequisite for good leadership or government, it is no doubt necessary if new ideas will be implemented to drive change. During the last election that brought president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan into office, a lot of people cited his age as enough reason to cast their votes for him. The idea of a PHD holding president who had a Facebook account and carvoted with young musicians was enough to sway people against the other candidates who were older. Suffice to say, Nigerians had reached the point where they wanted a new generation leader who understood the times. If he couldn’t match Barrack Obama’s charisma, at least he had to know what Twitter was used for.
A few days back, Friday to be exact, a youth focused e-conference by a coalition group called “We The People Constitution” was held on twitter and young passionate Nigerians were invited to contribute to the debate about the ongoing constitutional reforms in the National Assembly. Issues like who could be rightly termed as “youth”, what age was appropraite for public office, the need to engage young people in political affairs of the country, 30% affirmative action for youths as suggested by Justice Uwais led committee, revenue sharing, state creation as part of the refoms, reduction of government expenditure, federalism and so many others were brought up. As usual, Nigerians had a lot to say. Salient points were raised, solutions proferred and issues analyzed. On the issue of affirmative action, popular civil rights activist and lawyer, Ayo Obe was of the opinion that youths needed to talk about topical issues instead of looking for a special classification for themselves. She went on to advocate engagement by the youths in national issues. To an extent I agree with Ayo Obe on the need for the youths to be more proactive and engaged in issues of national interest, however, I wonder if that is possible where the current system allows for old men to be classified as youth for the purpose of holding certain political positions. A classic example of this, is the present national “youth” leader of the ruling political party, PDP, Alhaji Garba Chiza who is about sixty years old. How do young Nigerians with a passion for service, break the jinx of “old is always better” and contribute meaningfully to the political development or general development of the nation?
In my opinion, the only way Nigeria can move ahead is to allow young people in strong leadership positions. There have been what I will call feeble attempts by past governments to appear as if they are pro-youth through the appointments of young ministers like Chukwuemeka Chikelu who was one time minister of information and culture under the administration of President Obasanjo and Nasir El-Rufai who was also minister of the Federal Capital Territory under the same government, still I believe that these appointments did not answer the need to involve young minds in the governance of the nation as these ministers were still subject to the whims and caprices of the old men who controlled power. This neglect has caused a chasm to run between Nigerian leaders and those they govern as the Nigerian youth make up about 70 percent of the population. So in ignoring the Nigerian youth, the government has ignored more than half of its population. This has caused a large disconnect that has consequently paved way for decadancy, archaic and obsolete political practices and meaningless constitutional reforms.
If the government of president Goodluck is serious about leaving an indelible mark in the consciouness Nigerians, he must bridge the gap between the people and the government by giving room to reforms that will allow for participation of young people in politics. It takes more than owning a facebook account or a twitter account to understand the challenges faced by the Nigerian youth. The best way to reach the youth of a country is through young leaders. In the Nigerians case, the average Nigerian youth is more open to new ideas and better at looking past tribal politics to identify with issues of national concern as he is more exposed through interaction with friends from other tribes. Are these not the type of leaders we need at this crucial point of our national history where mutual distrust has cut deep divisive lines between tribes in Nigeria? A leader who is Nigerian first, before anything else? A leader who knows the right reforms that impact positively on the general populace? Our present crop of leaders need to release their stranglehold on power because we cannot be held down by old rules that no longer apply to modern times. As Japheth Omojuwa said during the e-conference, “youths just don’t matter. They are the matter”. I agree. Nigerian youths have shown tenacity, creativity and progress in the most difficult and dibilitating circumstances one can ever imagine. They are pivotal to change in Nigeria and must be allowed to contribute their quota to the motherland.
Bridging The Gap: Why Government Must Involve Youths
Was Published On Omojuwa.com on August 27, 2012