Youth in Nigerian Politics; Challenges, Prospect & Urgent Actions Ahead of 2019 General Elections.

By DrNuruddeen Muhammad On May 30, 2018

_Introduction_

Ladies and gentlemen good morning. I want thank Ernest and Ibrahim Foundation for this very rare opportunity.

Exactly four years ago, l was standing somewhere in this city in company of the President, his entire cabinet, the leaderships of both chambers of the national assembly, the Judiciary and the Diplomatic corps. The theme then, was, ‘The Youth, Our Present, Not The Future’ Four years after, the youth are still not the present, and even the future is sadly rather bleak.

I am no scholar, not even close. What l present here is merely experiential and how that is interpreted within the limitations of my perceptions and capacity. It is just meant to provoke positive thoughts and actions that might perhaps generate more useful conversations for our collective benefit. All mistakes are humbly mine and were never intended

_Background_

I was appointed a Minister of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria at a very young age of 33years, and within four quick years, l had risen to the top of the food chain in international diplomacy, national security and high networth political circles both home and abroad.

I was that little boy, who though is sometimes deep and could even be disruptive is nonetheless considered and treated as harmless. You belong to the future, they will always tease. But how far in front is the future? I would quietly ask.

I am 40yrs now, and even at that age, the temptation to wait for the future is real in many of us. I think when they called us ‘the future generation’, they actually meant a future in perpetuity, where each foreseeable future is just another present

We have so often drawn parallels with the pre and immediate post independence political class, who in their 20s and 30s had left marks in the sand of time that most of us can not even dream to achieve. They were the pioneers and certain to take over from the departing Brits. But beyond the natural advantage that comes with their pioneer status, what other competitive edge enabled the first and second generation Nigerian leaders so much. And what ails us? In essence, what are the challenges that face us, then force us and eventually stunt us politically and socially

_Challenges_

In human societies, each generation as an epoch has/had it’s unique challenges, and from that flows it’s unique role and how history will both record and remember it.

In Nigeria, the first generation of the Balewas, Azikiwes, Sardaunas, Aminu Kanos, Awolowos, and Enahoros and their older cohorts, the Alvan Ikokus and Harbert Mcauleys were committed to a free, independent and sovereign Nigeria. All their politics, activism and intellectual efforts were to make Nigeria free of it’s colonial lordship. The immediate post independence period saw similar efforts in building the three regions along clearly defined ideological and economic principles. Nigeria was very competitive globally and well on track to greatness and nationhood

The first military coup in 1966 threatened that stability and indeed the coporate existence of the then budding nation. A certain set of leaders, also young and without much experience rose to the occassion and thank God we still have a country. Nigeria was saved by military officers in their late 20s and early 30s

Then came the struggle to democratize in the late 80s and late 90s. Despite the turbulence, inefficiencies and even wastages, we can today stand tall and declare that Nigeria has democratized. Or atleast it has gotten the military out of the way and elections are held periodically, predictably and despite serious challenges, freely. It is to the credit of the generation that perfected this that we celebrate today, the 29th of May as the democracy day.

It is now the responsibility of yet another generation that didn’t fight any war to define yet another national priority (just like the independence struggle, the Civil war and the democratization struggles).

This national priority is very clear; democratize further, secure our borders, police our territories, build a knowledge economy, create wealth, share the prosperity, and project these strengths at the global stage as the only black super power’?

This is the role of this generation, which is my generation, your generation and our generation. The big questions are; Are we aware? If we are aware, are we ready? If we are ready, are we capable?

I consider the answers to these hypothetical questions as the challenges that face us and the raison detr’e for this conversation

_Challenges_

I don’t subcribe to the idea of youths coming together every election season to demand for power and other concessions from the establishment. This behaviour highlights the major challenges and is the clear obstacle to our access to power and authority

1. We are ideologically fragmented and incoherent.

The generation that struggled for independence knew that while the end result of their struggle was power and economic opportunities, what binded them together was freedom, decolonisation and even pan africanism

The civil war sacrifices were much about power than it was about one strong and indivisible black African nation

Even the recent democratization struggles were as much driven by ideals of democracy, free society and individual franchise as it was about power and its contest.

What is our ideological and philosophical sounding board. Beyond asking the old to leave and give us power, what higher ideals unite and propel us?

We are too ideologically incoherent and fragmented to pursue any competitive nation wide politcal movement.

As a proposal, how about an ideolgy anchored on delivering…

‘national priority points to democratize further, secure our borders, police our territories, build a knowledge economy, create wealth, share the prosperity, and project these strengths at the global stage as the only black super power’?

2. Organisational defects

We are bad organisers. Very bad. My involvement in politics from the ward to the national level exposed me to one reality. Politics is all about organisation. If one likes, one can spend a whole life time agitating. But in the grand scheme of things politically, he might achieve little or nothing if the traditional organisation bit of it is missing. My generation is all talk no organisation!

As a proposal, how about everyone going back to his polling unit and start mobilising and organising around the core ideals of…

We have smart phones, internet and social media apps to leverage on

3. Finance and Logistics challenges

Globally, coordinating successful political activities will involve alot of resources. We don’t have those resources. Our competitors do. And no one was ever generous enough to finance another’s politcal adventure. Especially if he determines that the ‘other’ seeks to undermine him.

Nobody will fund us but us! Every kobo counts and shall be volunteered. There is a serious power in numbers. Presidents Obama of the USA and Macron of France were crowd funded by young people

As a proposal, how about a self funding effort towards financing political actions around….

4. Ethical, Moral & Emotional Challenges

No matter the sentiments my generation might have against those running the status quo, one cannot take away their sense of purpose and responsibility towards what they consider a priority. Perhaps because of the advantages of better education, mentoring and international exposures they had, they come across as more hardworking, ethically conscious and emotionally stable than most of our young people.

We are too emotional. Our interactions on social media are literally hateful shouting matches. We attack, disrespect and mock each others cultures, spirituality and ways of life generally.

There is even no universal and acceptable concept of what constitutes a major social affliction accross ethnic and regional lines. Words like Almajiri, Baby Factory Product, Boko Haram, Terrorist and other derogatory words are used to shout down the other not to establish any consensus against the issues at broad and actionable levels.

While we condemn corruption in the open, most of us secretly wish to benefit. We only seem to gloat at corruption that we aren’t beneficiaries of. Money and patronage buy our loyalty. Envy, hate and jealously determine to a large extent our political attitude and opinions especially towards people of our generation.

As a proposal, how about investing our emotions towards…

_Prospects_

The prospects are very bright. The political space, morethan any other aspect of our national life needs fresh ideas and minds.

Our timelines must however be realistic. 2019 is not possible. Perhaps even 2023 and 2027. Such unrealistic timelines only project us as an ambitious lot who seek power only for the sake of power

Nigerian youth must learn to toil, shoot blank, fall and rise again. We must never reduce this generational burden to any meaningless debate about ageism. It is not a ‘we’ versus ‘them’ in the context of age but the specific realities and roles expected of the two generations

The ultimate goal should be specific actions towards an ideologically coherent, self financing and ethically sound political movement (from the polling unit to the national level) that should rival, challenge and eventually neutralise the status quo. The two existing national parties APC & PDP are not ours and are not configured to serve our generation. They are the aggregate sum of all the negative sentiments and forces that had held this otherwise potentially great country down

Good politics isn’t about grabbing power but organising a society. For example, at a very personal level, while l am fully involved in the political process, l decided to pursue no immediate ambitions.

A country that had shown so much promise fifty years ago is barely working today. And if not consciously organised and reengineered might not work at all for our children and younger ones

Ladies and gentlemen, the goal is in our court. Let us do it!

_Text of speech delivered by

Dr Nuruddeen Muhammad

(Former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs & information) on the Occasion of 2019 Democracy Day Celebrations Organised by Earnest & Ibrahim Foundation at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja.