Once
upon a time in 1996, a group of young Benue folks convened, the oldest of them
in the room was 38 years old. They brainstormed and birthed a document which
they were thoughtful enough to send to some experts at United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) to critique. The experts from UNDP called the
document a master piece having scrutinized it. However, they wondered if there
will be executive capacity to implement it. That document translated into the
Benue Advancement Plan that the Akume administration adopted when it came on
board in 1999. Most of the drivers of that administration were in their fifties
and they all poorly attempted to execute the blue print but failed. Even that
some key actors from the 1999 cabal have been instrumental to the successive
administrations in the state, the blue print remains abandoned.
In
another news, since the return of democratic governance in Nigeria in 1999,
over 98% of those who have occupied the office of President, Governor, Senate,
or appointed as Ministers or heads of parastatals are non-youths. The average age for being a governor is 52 years and 58 years for the
senate and ministerial appointments. Sadly, 99% of them have
failed woefully with evidence being the state of affairs in Nigeria today. By
implication only 2% of leadership failure in Nigeria can ever be blamed on the
youths but this too is debatable.
Another
fact is that in the last two decades, the majority of African states have
grossly under-performed and one common feature they share is the average age of
heads of government in Africa which is 62 years. Whilst agreeing
that age by itself should not be an issue, the inability of such folks in these
ages to critically think and solve Africa’s development challenges cannot be
ignored. They have shown clearly that they cannot be a solution to the current
challenges. Could it be a generational conspiracy to fail an entire continent?
I continue to wonder.
These three instances above are the reason I take offense and consider
it callous and highly unfair each time someone somehow finds the only example
in Yahaya Bello of Kogi State to justify the argument that the youths are neither
ready nor different. Granted, if the youths are no different, is that why the
old people who are spent should continue in leadership only to selfishly enrich
themselves? The youths are not even qualified to have the opportunity to fail?
For countries like Nigeria who even have systemic exclusion of youths enshrined
in the constitution where age qualification for president is pegged at 40, what
are the youths to do?
As the world observes the 2017 world youth day for democracy (#WYDD), I
couldn’t agree more with this year’s theme which is #YouthNow. And the only
ones who should realize and take action as inspired by this theme are the
youths! Very many youths have the energy, the requisite enlightenment, exposure
and above all, the numbers to make a difference in any given election. It is on
this note that I call on youths of Nigeria in general and Benue State in
particular to refuse and reject the narrative that they are not ready for
leadership. No one should tell them less than they know and feel about their
future. The Youths should realize that nothing about them without them is for
them, their inclusion is non-negotiable.
A mind-set has been built to sustain the narrative that youths are not
ready and are worse in leadership. This argument is baseless given that 99% of
leadership since 1999 has been in the hands of non-youths and it has woefully
failed. The old people simply have built this narrative to sustain their selfish
hold onto power. Sadly, unsuspecting youths have been manipulated into helping sustain
the narrative. They effortlessly run down a fellow youth who dares to stand
against the mind set; just to prove they are loyal servants to the old spent
generation.
The situation has further complicated to the point that youths who get
passed over again and again get into their late 30s and early 40s still
expecting their inclusion on the youth quota whilst the actual youths of 18 to 30
years are completely kept out of the picture. Let’s be clear about one thing,
the agitation by those in the age categories of late 30s to early 40s is valid
and the surest way actual youths can ever get included in leadership. This is
why both the youths and the youthful of our times must stand together and
demand in action their inclusion in leadership, especially elective leadership.
On this note, I say a belated Happy World Youth Day for Democracy (#WYDD
2017) to Kamo Sende, Kuma Shiishi, Sefa Ikpa, Robert Aondona, and all the
youths who are refusing to settle for less.
@lazapir
No comments:
Post a Comment