Whenever I come across this quote from Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General, I always weep for Nigeria because we are in the process of failing to prepare for the future.
“No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline.”
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The Nigerian National Youth Policy (2009) defines youth as persons between the ages of 18-35 years; the African Youth Charter declares that "Youth or young people shall refer to every person between the ages of 15 and 35 years". The UN, for statistical consistency across regions, defines 'youth', as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to other definitions by Member States.
The 1999 Nigeria’s constitution, Section 65 (1)(a) provides that an aspirant to a senatorial office must have attained the age of 35 years, while section 65(1)(b) provides that 30years for those aspiring for the House of Representatives. The age requirement for the state house of assembly seat under section 106(b) is 30 years. Offices of the president and vice president must have attained 40 years while sections 177(b) and 187(2) stipulate that one has to be 35 years of age to contest for governorship or deputy governorship position.
The Nigerian constitution was articulated in a way where the Nigerian youth is alienated from key political offices and is the prime culprit for the exclusion of youths from top political positions in Nigeria. The Nigerian Youth is excluded from contesting for the offices of President, Vice-President, Governor, Deputy Governor and Senate, subject to the legal requirements for these offices. These requirements leave only a small margin for participation of those who have attained the maximum age of 35 years in the youth bracket. Therefore, only the House of Representatives and State Assembly positions allows for youth candidacy and according to statistics available majority of those in these houses are mostly in their 40s and 50s.
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In comparison with a few developed countries, like France, where the minimum age for becoming president is 18, or the United States where a 35-year-old is eligible to run for president, or in India, the world's largest democracy, the prime minister does not need to be older than 35, the constitutional age barrier in Nigeria becomes untenable.
The role of Nigerian youths cannot be underestimated in nation building. Nigerian youths from time immemorial have been contributing their quota towards national development. The likes of Sir Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Herbert Macaulay fought tooth and nail in their youthful days to deliver the political independence we all enjoy today as a nation. The plight of the average Nigerian youth has continued to be further exploited by the political class most of who became political holders in their youthful age.
Professor Wole Soyinka, was recently reported to have painted a pathetic picture about the present day Nigerian youth making particular reference to the inability of the Nigerian Youth to rise to the occasion when issues of national concerns are brought forward. According to Soyinka, “Awolowo was 37 years, Akintola 36, Ahmadu Bello 36, Balewa 34, Okotie-Eboh 27, and Anthony Enahoro 27 and they led the struggle for Nigeria independence after the death of Macaulay. Only Zik (Nnamdi Azikwe) was 42 at the time. In 1966, the first military coup was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu who was 29 years and countered by M. Muhammed 28, T. Danjuma 28, I. Babangida 25, J. Garba 23, S. Abacha 23, and M. Yar’adua 23 and brought into power Yakubu Gowon 32. Ojukwu 33, Obasanjo 29 and Buhari 24! Most of the military governors who governed the states under the successive military regimes were under 30 years. Also, the brief democratic dispensation which interjected the military interregnums also saw some Senators and members of the House of Representatives, in particular populated by persons under 30! Under 30’s were also not in short supply with appointments- we have examples of M.T. Mbu who became Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister at 23 and Pat Utomi who became a federal Adviser at 27 and so on and so forth.”
During the 2015 general elections, the All Progressive Congress used the plight of the Nigerian youth as an advantage to gain their votes and promised them change. Eighteen months later, the average Nigerian youth is still faced with the same problem and is yet to witness any change. “Professor Wole Soyinka was right when he said, “The youth of this generation is dead on arrival”. The bells of political jingles are ringing boisterously on every corner, and, again, Nigerian youths are the main target of this public show of shame and idolatry sagacity.
Despite riding to power on the back of the youths, None of President Muhammadu Buhari's ministerial nominee is by any means a youth. A debate on the reason for this is that the youths are inexperienced to function as members of the federal cabinet.
At this point, I must commend the team behind the formation of the Young Democratic Party, a party whose aim is to liberate the Nigerian Youth from its current plight and to encourage the Nigerian Youth to participate in Politics. According to Martins Hile, the editor of financial Nigeria, “by encouraging youth participation, it means young people can get into politics early; the benefit of this is to attract young talents into party politics and government. Talented and ambitious young individuals would not feel they have to use their productive years in other fields before “retiring” into politics. This has the potential of increasing the quality of persons vying for elective offices or being considered for appointive positions. Government would be less a place for uncompetitive individuals and less the place to forcefully rehabilitate a failing career”.
At the age of 19, Proscovia Alengot Oromait Won a Parliamentary Seat in Ugandan Elections in 2012 and I am forced to ask, what is the morals behind the stipulated 30years needed for contesting for a seat in the Nigeria’s house of assembly?
I am not yet a member of the Young Democratic party but after watching the interview of the party’s chairman Bishop Amakiri on channels television’s ‘politics today’ a few days back, I encourage all Nigerian youths to identify with this party as the Nigerian youth needs a viable platform to express himself. The youths need to take back their country as this present crop of politicians who have attained political power from their youthful ages have failed to deliver and as such the present Nigerian youths must fight for this country in order to save the country from doom. After using the youths as pawn in their quest for political power and promising the youths all manner of things, in June of 2015, the All Progressives Congress appointed 52-year-old Ibrahim Jalo as its National Youth Leader. The APC was simply following the playbook of the People's Democratic Party before it. A couple of years earlier, the PDP had elected 60-year-old Mallam Umar Garba Chiza as its National Youth Leader.
In concluding this write up, I will quote from the work of Martins Hile, the editor of financial Nigeria, who noted, “Nigeria's geriatric politicians are not mindful of the future. We have seen governors who have shared money from the Excess Crude Account, rather than leave it as savings for the future. Same governors don't even want Nigeria to have a Sovereign Wealth Fund. But they are supposed to be in office to safeguard our economic wellbeing and our future. Their failure at this recommends strongly that the youth should be more involved in governance as it impacts our welfare and future.
The argument that Nigerian youth cannot lead is a fallacy. There is a critical mass of young entrepreneurs and executives managing large portfolios in the organized private sector where the leadership determines if the business would make profit or loss; swim or sink. With the right nudge, the cohort of dynamic and well-educated Nigerian youths can make a difference in both the private and public sectors.
If 43-year-old John F. Kennedy could inspire Americans to go to the moon, and if France – a nuclear power – can allow an 18-year-old to run for president, it is complete lack of imagination that would make Nigeria not to want to trust a 35-year-old as minister”.
As we approach 2019 in 2 years’ time, as youths who have the future of this country at heart, we must forge our own path in other to save Nigeria and the best way to do this is to identify with a party that recognises the importance of a youth in nation building and whose party chairman is only 33years rather than stick with those parties whose party chairmen are in their 70s and have continued to alienate the youths from the affairs of Nigeria. A Nigerian governor in 2016 said that they cannot hand power over to the youth but they will continue to groom the youths and I am once again force to ask, in what ways are have they been grooming the youths when there is high rate of unemployment, low rate of youth participation in politics?. We must face the reality on ground as youths and tell this generation of politicians that we are no longer the future leaders of tomorrow but we are the leaders of today because I strongly believe that when this present crop of Nigerian Politicians starts to recognise the power of the youth, they will stop to neglect us.
ODOH MICHAEL
Writes from Kaduna
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