Lessons Under 40 Nigerians Must Learn From New French President Emmanuel Macron -By Abass Ogundipe

As we gear up for the 2019 elections we need to know that:

The real power (be it political, economic, social etc) of any country is in the hands of its youths. The recently elected president of France proved this. Not only did he as a 39-year-old political underdog win the presidential election, defeating the traditional political parties which had been power brokers and have produced presidents since World War 2 ended in 1945.

He performed the ultimate political coup d’etat when he put in place structures which ensured that candidates of his new political party La France en Marche (LFM) fielding majorly women won the highest number of seats in the French parliamentary elections less than a month after his initial triumph.

When he first announced his candidacy many called him a clown who was fooling about.

But today he has had the last laugh.

The youths of Nigeria should take a cue from him, and know we can change the status quo.

The glory days of Nigeria were dominated by figures who were under 40 or at best 55. Those who fought and won our independence Awo , Azikwe, Bello were within this age range when they began advocating for a free Nigeria and when they governed.

Anthony Eromosele Enahoro moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence when he was 30 years in 1953 not some 60-year-old.

President Muhammadu Buhari who is now our president became military head of state at 41 , and became known as incorruptible (the chief reason why many voted for him in 2015) then. At 74 going to 75 (God grant him speedy recovery), we can all see that there is the will but the strength and stamina is no longer there.

Most of our industries are driven by youths (Dangote and others laid the foundation of their empires in their youth), the great innovators in science were youngsters when their discovery were made and our great sports persons had their glorious moments in their youths.

I’m not saying the elderly do not have role to play in our discourse, but it should be chiefly advisory.

I’m not saying they the elderly should not seek political office (it is a constitutional and their moral right that they do) , but a country that has a greater percentage of them in power is doomed to fail.

When it comes to politics, the adage “ the old the wine the better it taste” may not be true.

I’m also not saying that our youths have the best of training to be leaders, we need to unlearn a whole lot of anomaly we have learnt to be good leaders.

I’m not saying the youth will win en masse if they contest the next elections, but we must initiate that process of becoming part of the process and decide that we want to do away with the old ways of nepotism, religious bigotry , ethnic considerations and what Yourbas call imo tara eni ni kan ( myself before others).