Why Nigerian Youths May Not Listen To The Government Anymore -By Mohammed Aliyu Baba

Nigeria just like every other developing nation across the world has been facing a series of challenges and disappointments in economies, politics, and policies accompanied by social anxiety being experienced by citizens.

The 60-year old most populous black nation in the world secured her Independence from the colonial rule on the 1st October 1960 and began the journey of prosperity with a lot of hope considering the available human capital and natural resources together with goodwill foundation laid by the founding fathers.

The nation is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, raw materials, precious metals, and fertile soil which are considered bountiful blessings, have been exploited for decades. Hence, a large section or portion of Nigeria population lives below the poverty line. All efforts to end extreme poverty in Nigeria remains a challenge.

The west African country, with a population of over 200 million citizens is ranked the richest country in Africa in the year 2020, and 27th in global ranking with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $446.543 billion (U.S dollars) according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
But the question is; how satisfied are Nigerians especially the youth with the state of the nation in terms of standard of living?

According to a research by an African research network (Afrobarometer), about seven-in-ten Nigerians which is equivalent to 72% are unsatisfied and very skeptical about the country’s strives to better the lives of citizens. The genesis of the doubt is attributed to extreme corruption eating deep on the Nigeria system. Therefore, the life expectancy is almost at zero levels according to a concerned Nigerian that responded to my inquiry.

In recent times, the country is engulfed with series of protests that have resulted in what the authorities described as an act of hoodlumism across the zones. The Protest genuinely started with protesters demanding the disbandment of Nigerian police unit called Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) over the excesses in the actions of the unit on the citizens.
The protests eventually led to the discovery of warehouses full of palliatives meant to be distributed to Nigerians to ease the decimate effects caused by the presence of novel Coronavirus, the pandemic that struck the world earlier this year.
Meanwhile, despite the cries from Nigerian masses during the lockdown and the promises made by government to provide palliatives, most of the materials provided end up at warehouses and only little or nothing reasonable was distributed. This scenario was unknown to Nigerians until recently when some group of the protesters started burgling into warehouses in some states like Lagos, Kwara, Ekiti, and discovered hoarding palliatives as Nigeria masses and the less privileged were swimming in colossal hunger, especially during the lockdown period.

It could be recalled that the federal government ordered the release of foodstuffs from national silos and seizures by customs to be distributed to 36 states for onward distributions to the public.

However, many states seem to have been hoarding the materials in the face of hunger for only God knows why?

Now that Nigerians (especially the youths) have got to know the covetousness nature of those leading them in government, their governing words could likely be tainted and worth nothing less than a junk before the governed.

The Nigerian youth are willing to take the mantle of leadership at various levels of governance. However, the harmonious goal-driven mindsets needed for a prosperous leadership with integrity is yet to be displayed by youth. And if Nigerian youth really want the needed positive change that would make things right, the time to come together with one voice, common ground, and focusing determination is now.