Democracy & Governance
#InternationalYouthDay2020: A Message To Nigerian Youths -By Muhammed-Bello Buhari
Let’s never allow the theory that it is better to remain quiet and help the cause to become a rationalization for doing nothing. Remember that the chance to act is today. The time is now. Nothing will be done until we put our bodies and our souls in motion.
Dear Nigerian Youths,
Let’s have no despair for the future. Let’s have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Nigeria, even if our motives (demanding for good governance) are presently misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Nigeria because the aim and goal of humanity is found in freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of Nigeria.
Dear Nigerian Youths, we must remain awake through these very challenging times. There comes a time when we must take the position that it is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but we must do it because our conscious tells us it is right. And this time is now! We must make a stand now or continue to face the consequences of neglect.
Today, so many youths are unemployed, and most of them have been reduced to political thugs where their hopes, ambitions, and dreams are lost in the thick fog of oblivion. And so much of the so called educated and employed ones have been reduced to social media bigots where they indulge in religious or tribal insults and condemnation. This system that we live under creates people such as these youths. Let’s not be interested in blaming them. Let’s be interested in changing the kind of system that produces them. Let’s be interested in changing the narratives!
And today, while our schools are closed on the order of the government due to the scourge (COVID-19) that has disrupted almost every sector in the country, our governments are busy organising elections amidst the pandemic. This indeed, has made it a wonder as to why elections can hold but schools cannot be reopened. These among many others, must remain our drum major instinct to remain awake in a country like ours, where youths are not simply marginalized but oppressed in every possible way.
More and more Nigerian Youths are speaking out today, telling plain truths to the bitter and the blind. Dear Nigerian Youths, press on and keep pressing. No lie can live forever. We are on the move now, arresting us while protesting will not deter us; and nor will the beating or political persecution of activists dissuade or divert us.
Let’s never allow the theory that it is better to remain quiet and help the cause to become a rationalization for doing nothing. Remember that the chance to act is today. The time is now. Nothing will be done until we put our bodies and our souls in motion.
“Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
We must be the generation that would be written in history to have completed the process of democratization in our country. We must work to make this a reality. We must make a massive move toward the shaping of our own destiny. The hour is late; the clock of destiny is ticking out; we must act now before it is too late. We must remain awake through these trying times.
A stitch in time saves nine.
Happy International Youth Day!
Muhammed-Bello Buhari is a Human Rights & Youth Activist and an Emerging Nigerian Leader (Judicial), ENL, of the Center for Social Awareness Advocacy and Ethics Inc., CSAAE.
Contact: embbuhari@gmail.com
#InternationalYouthDay2020 #YouthDay
