I want To Rule My Tomorrow Today -By Yaji Ibrahim

The recent bill sponsored by Hon. Tony Nwulu representing Oshodi/ Isolo Federal Constituency II of Lagos on the 26th May, 2016 has become an interesting topic of discussion in the polity of Nigeria as this subject has resulted to a lot of controversy and intellectual argument as to whether the passage of the Bill would bring a turn around in the fortune and current socio-economic status of Nigeria. Prior to this time the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made this remark in August 2010 when celebrating International Youths Day  “let us acknowledge and celebrate what youths can do to build a safer and more just world. Let us strengthen our efforts to include young people in polices, Programs and decision making processes that benefit their future and ours” this statement was made by the world leader in view of the fact that no growing Nation in the world advance without the inputs and services being offered by the youths. The age range being used to define youth status has been variable over the years but this has mostly been between the ages of 25 to 45 years.

The acceptance of the said raised bill came with so much energy and enthusiasm by the Nigerian youth, this explains how much the Nigerian youths crave for enabling platforms to contribute their quota in the development and governance of the Nation. The Bill with gazette number Hb(544) seeks to alter section (65),(106), (131), (177) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended) to reduce the age qualification for the office of the president from 40year to 30 years; governor, 35to 30 yrs, senate 35yrs to 30, house of Representatives 30 to 25yrs and state house of assembly 30 to 25yrs respectively. This would enhance and promote the participation of the Nigerian youths in active politics in the nation. The Bill is said to if passed reduce racketeering, violence, thuggery, hooligans and gangsterism amongst the youths, Seeing how the population is dominated by the youths, it is only  logical that the youths should be involved in the decision making and policy making of the entire populace. Looking at the precedence in the national polity particularly from 1999 till date the participation or engagement of youths in elective offices or appointed positions is quite very low compared to the useful energies been put by the youths in every election to ensure the emergences of different political interests in the different political parties in Nigeria. The Nigerian youths have always complained that exclusion of the youths in the government in the past 16years of our democracy has resulted to backwardness in the political, socio-economic growth of the nation seeing that campaign promises made by our so-called leaders since 1999 which includes constant power, conducive drinking water, Robust Health care facility, abundant employment opportunities, standard and affordable educational system, a Robust agricultural sector e.t.c is still the same as of 2015 this is to say progress is not being made

Now critically looking at the Nigerian system over the years a lot of things are set to be working against its progress, these include (1) The incompetence of leaders as earlier stated (2)Tribal and Religious sentiments which have resulted to communal clashes and terrorism,(3) Monotonous nature of the economy that is the total dependence on crude oil which has crippled our economy by not  allowing diversification of the economy into other lucrative sectors like agriculture, mineralization which would have resulted to millions of job vacancies (4)Faulty electoral system which has resulted to emergence of unpopular and incompetent candidates who have no regard for the mandate given to them since the  mandate was not earn but rather bought, (5)Institutionalization of impunity and corruption which has resulted to truncation of due process and gross abuse of rule of law. Now the system in its complexity requires so much expertise and wisdom to efficiently run its affairs. Due to the pressure always mounted on the leaders and the exaggerated expectation of electorates, it takes strong will but flexible sense of leadership to manage the country. The approach to fight some of the major ills eating into the heart of the nation such as corruption, Nepotism, Impunity e.t.c requires maturity and wealth of experience so as to proffer long lasting solutions which in the long runs would not affect the unity and integrity of Nigeria.

Looking at the youths of Nigeria today, starting from the level of students to level of graduates, most times, careless hopeless statements are been made about the youths due to the laziness and mediocre attitudes the youths portray towards responsibilities. The popular adage of “youths are leaders of tomorrow” is not forthcoming due to some unfavorable factors both on the part of the youths and the controversial system of governance in Nigeria. Looking at how the minds of Nigerians youth have become so monotonous concerning the means of job creation in the country, the will to channel energies and creativity used for electioneering towards job creation and solidifying the economy so as to help themselves and the country in terms of job creations is weak but rather the Nigerians youth depends totally on the government for provision of jobs. Few of these youths have ventured in small business enterprise in various sectors like Agriculture, textile, entertainment e.t.c and so far, they have been doing well but they represent the minority among millions roaming the streets searching for jobs. Considering the leadership roles being handled by youths or students in various tertiary or pressures groups across the country, It is tempting to say that attitude of present leaders in the nation is been replicated in these cellular units of leadership so it becomes a paradox on the issue of weather this youths should take over the nation affairs or not. The legal adoption of youth into the space of the national polity might not be of much significance and might rather leads to more controversy about a lot of national issues. Many factors in my opinion explain the disadvantages of allowing the said class of people into the polity. These factors include:

(1) Wealth of experience: By the proposal of the bill it means from the seat of the president down to state house of Assembly members would be controlled by people within the age of 25 to 30yrs. Now looking at the average age of youths finishing tertiary education in Nigeria is between 23-27 years, considering the indebt of wisdom and experience required to govern a multi-ethno, multi -religious, and multi party system like Nigeria. An Individual at that stage of life has not attained enough height intellect and wealth of experience to step into the shoe of leadership, reason being that within that period of life one has not attaimed enough wisdom and wealth of experience that would be required for survival talk less of handling responsibilities of representation thereby leading to Incompetent decision taking which would cause a lot of organs in governance to be sort of defective which would result to Time bombs in the long run. Moreover at that stage, one is expected to take specialty in designated careers and acquire wealth of experience because in the long run the followers might subconsciously be expecting more in that area and unfortunately within that age range knowledge or specialty in designated careers is not visible, so stepping into elective positions which is most times is independent with shallow wealth of experience and knowledge would be dangerous for the future of Nigerian.

(2) Impunity and corruption: Looking at the level of corruption and impunity at cellular level of students leadership which comes in different forms ranging from offering of bribes to pass exams even when is not demanded for, involvement in fraudulent activities in students union governments and students representatives governments,now considering the major issues pointed by the youths against the present crop of leaders which is corruption what moral objective is being made if the said class of people are involved in the sins they have accused the latter of. Again looking at the inability of the students leaders to administer punishment or sanctions on members of theirs found wanting in one way or the other therefore defining impunity in their own way a lot of times politicians in the country have used this same youth bodies/unions to organize unwanted protest and violence which is accorded to their selfish political, religious and ethnic interests. The youths in question have not been able to resist the abuse of their age and reject this trick used by the nation leaders and so how can do better if given the chance. The Nigerian youths have not been so far able to stand against corruption and impunity which are two major agents that have eaten the heart of Nigeria for the past 30years and have handed the development of the nation at large and so is only a more dangerous scenario that is too if within this group of people leaders emerge.

(3) Electioneering : Over years elections are increasingly becoming more experience which in a way is one major reason corruption has been institutionalized from the campaigners, security agencies and electoral officers all have abused the electioneering system of the country which has resulted to unnecessary and extravagant expenses. Now the question is how would individuals within the ages of 25to 30 years raise clean money that would be used in their electioneering? Even if fundraisers are  done how much of money can be raised? When probably most associates of the said individuals one   most likely on the same level of financial status wit them and how can a fund raiser stand when a candidate cannot even fund up to 50% of campaign expenses? Now it all point back to God fatherism where rich important individuals in the society that fund elections after which they detect what ever happens to governance in the society when in most situations they do it to suit their selfish interest. So instead of fighting for power within that age why not fight for proper implementation of campaign purposes so that the unemployment, corruption and so many societal ills can be corrected.

(4) Why Political sector: Looking the hardship and challenges of life for youths within the said age range, I suggest better agitation should be made in different sectors of the nation not only the political offices. Taking the agricultural sector for instance why not let Bills that would ensure only individuals within that age range would get specific agricultural loans that empower this youths to invest heavily in agriculture within a time of frame instead of this struggle for power at that stage. Another thing the youths can take to the floor of the national assembly is that entrepreneurship and social program that the government is involved in, let laws be created that people within that age range should be given special consideration in issuance of loans with lower interest rate so that the youths can channel their energy is something more productive and enterprising which would eventually build them and empower them for the leadership challenges ahead of them. This even to mention a few among many sectors of the nation that youths should agitate to handle the whole quest for power at that age range portrays a thirst for power at a very inexperience age which I stronglybelieve would be a time bomb for the nation.

I again challenge the youths to come out and put to Nigerians what is different about their styles of leadership in their various bodies starting from National Association of Nursing Students (NANs) students Union Government (SUGs) across the Universities that is better and admirable that the present kind of leadership we have at the moment, if that is done, it would give the country a picture about the type of future of leaders the country is training.

In conclusion I would still stand with the fact that the said age range sponsored in the Bill in May 2016 about running forthe political office is an amateure age for governance in my opinion let the age be shifted to around 35 to 40 years respectively. As such I want to use this medium to call on all Nigerian youths to channel their energies towards selfempowerment and wealth creation within that period of time so that they would be ripe and fit at the appropriate time. I also want to call on the government of Nigeria to channel more energy in empowering the Nigerians youths to ensure they have all that is required of them to lead this Nation. This could be done by administration of leadership and governance seminars to student’s leaders across the country, providing of youth oriented loans, recognition of excellent student’s leaders, creation of more jobs. To end these piece I would say leadership and maturity are independent of age factor but are both dependent on wisdom, experience, will and vision for which the age factor has so much influence on.