by Laz Apir
When Shimadoo Igbawua made
the submission that Benue needs a new beginning, almost everyone who spared time
to read what she had to say concurred that truly Benue was due for a fresh
start. However, someone held a different opinion and branded the youths
advocating for fresh start as naïve and inexperienced. The single differing
opinion got me thinking and I said to myself, wait a minute, this guy is
himself a youth, so did he reach that conclusion because as a youth he feels
naïve and inexperienced? Or has someone older brainwashed him into feeling
naïve and inexperienced? Whichever be the case, I came to the realization that
Benue needing a new beginning is not the problem. The real problem is the
obstacles to reaching the reset button. A duty that has become a collective and
necessary one, I invite you to join me in the task of identifying and removing
the obstacles in the way of Project Reset Benue State.
For me, a key obstacle is
the mindset of some Benue Youths. Let me first give you some shocking
backgrounds that perhaps some Benue youths are unaware of which leaves them
enslaved in the hands of their oppressors.
The current life
expectancy in Nigeria is 54.07 years which ranks 16th in Africa and
216 in the world. What this means is that if nothing drastic happens by way of
improving the situation, most Nigerians will die before their 60th
birthday. Based on this submission, it means anyone who is above 54 years is
living on borrowed time and is more likely to die before those who are less
than 40 years. What this readily points out is the fact that we have largely
people who are living on borrowed time, nay, people who are at the end of their
lives and yet acting as though their lives are just beginning, steering our
affairs; whilst those who have a long future ahead are idly watching how their
futures are being shaped or shipped away. Keep this in mind as we consider the
next background.
In another news, Nigeria’s
latest population estimate shows that half of Nigeria’s estimated 182 million
people are young persons of below 30 years of age. That would be a whopping 91
million human beings!!! If you add the young adults of 31-40 years, it is safe
to say 75% of Nigerians are below 45 years old. Juxtapose this statistics with
that of life expectancy and you would see that the people deciding the future
have no real share in it and as such may have been exhibiting very low levels
of commitment to building a viable and prosperous future for the youths.
It then begs the question
of what yardstick of measurement has allowed the entrenchment of such a system
in which the older population which is in the minority enslaves the younger population
that have the majority? I have my guess but please add yours in the comment
section.
My theory is that the
mindset of the youths is not right, and it has led to their enslavement and
exclusion from being active shapers of their future. If election is won by
those with majority votes, how does one explain how those with the number, the
energy and the actual future ahead not vote themselves into office; instead,
they vote people who have neared their ends and are still greedy to only
concern with amassing wealth they can never really finish spending in their
remaining miserable lives? And to imagine that a few youths who dare to
challenge the misnomer are being told by their fellow youths that they are
being naïve and inexperienced. That is one hell of a sick mindset!
I tell what, gullibility
is not an exclusive preserve of the young. From 1999 to date, evidence support
the fact that the old are just as gullible as the young. What really matters is
that when the time of a generation comes, they are able to seize the opportunity
and do what is best for themselves knowing that posterity is never kind in
judgement. In fairness, it is possible that out of the 75% youthful population,
maybe only 5% is experienced, prepared and ready to lead, and as such, they
should have the opportunity to steer the dreams and aspirations of their
generation and even attempt to lay a solid ground before transiting power to
the next and the next generation. I ask; what has stopped the 5% ready youths
from being included in leadership? Has the subsisting system fed their minds
with lies of unpreparedness, inexperience and naivety?
Nay, Martin Luther King
Jnr. answered this a long time ago when he said “Freedom is never willingly
given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed”.
Dear Benue Youths, you
are ripe for leadership. No one, I repeat no one; should tell you otherwise. Every
day, I encounter very many of you who exhibit competence and grasp of the
issues that a good leadership requires. Stephen Hemba for instance know every
compound and business premise that should be demolished in Makurdi town and has
the will power to execute if given the opportunity. He did an entire MSc. research
on this issue and made far reaching recommendations, I bet the previous and
incumbent governor care less. Similarly, folks like Tersoo Samson Akula, Yimave
Gyangyang, Mavis Dooshima Orjime, Charles Uko Agwu, Atom Lim, Aondover Lawrence Utsaha, Oryiman Alu, and
several other Benue youths out there that I have come across who are handling
complex roles for multinationals, international and national projects and
accomplishing amazing success.
Therefore for anyone to say to the generality of Benue
youths that they are naïve and inexperienced is not only an insult to an entire
generation, it is a blatant lie conjured by an oppressor that desires to hold
onto power even to the grave. Therefore, for any youth to sit back and expect
that their time to ascend to leadership is ahead is faulty and a confirmation
that perhaps they are not ready. To expect no obstacles in the quest for
leadership is tantamount to expecting the oppressor to willingly hand you your
freedom. It won’t happen!
So, I dare you to be
louder in your demand for the right to decide your future. I challenge you to get
involved in shaping your future, no one is better qualified in deciding what is
good for you than you.
And for the youths whose
education and exposure has become as useless as the “P” is Psychology; given
their blind loyalty to the oppressor. They have made themselves an obstacle to
the actualization of the Project Reset Benue, to these doubters, the only thing
you can do is to make them believe. How do you do that? Continue to organize, continue to mobilize, continue to shape the narrative and most of all, continue to push forward, when
the moment of truth comes, they will beg to fall in line. Eventually they all
do.
Project Reset Benue state
is the youths’ and any other willing participant regardless of age, sex, ethnicity
or religion. It won’t be easy, it never has been easy, not for Ghandi, not for
Martin Luther King Jnr., not for Mandela and certainly not for you the
progressive minded Benue Youths already organizing. But you are left one choice
and direction…to keep moving forward…with eyes on the goal.
I am Laz Apir, and my
love for Benue State is enormous.
Views
as expressed are solely the authors’ @lazapir and not necessarily those of LEAD
Benue Movement.
