Nigeria At 59 : Youths And Skewed Politics Of Exclusion

The struggle for Nigeria’s independence and leadership in the post Independence era could not be untied from the insurmountable contributions of youths.The likes of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and his contemporaries who fought for the countries independence or led Nigeria under the different military juntas were either under forties or in their early forties.

The Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s peers in the fight for self government: Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Professor Eyo Ita, Herbert Macaulay, Anthony Enahoro, Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and Nwafor Orizu all led the war for decolonization at different times of their youthful age.

These young people modeled the future of Nigeria, not just in their dreams but as they globetrotted, seeking international support to wrest power from the colonial masters.
As these young people pushed for self determination, another group led the emergence of excellence in literature at that golden age with the publication of “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe in 1958.

In the Military era, JTU Aguiyi Ironsi, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, Yakubu Gowon, Philip Effiong, Murtala Muhammed, Olusegun Obasanjo and uncountable others led the country when they were young.

The narrative, however, changed with the return to democracy in 1999,  when  old  politicians hijacked and  cling to power, refusing to let go; despite the fact that young people were the foot soldiers during the push for a return to democracy  in the 1990s.

The system was set up against young people and the 1999 Constitution nailed it against the youth with the infamous age limitation clauses that relegated the youth to the background of decision making, thus forcing the Young people to return to the fight to be included in policy making  in the economic sector and politics.  The post 1999 era saw leadership change nose dive and young people took the backseat in the country’s decision making ladder.

While they were able to push through in the creative industry,  Nollywood in particular,  sports, education, trade and commence , ICT and to some extent industrial sector,  politics remained a mirage.

With  persistence and  consistency , there were changes as some young people won several elective positions in elections at various levels  but considering the percentage of youths in the country’ population, those achievements  were rather inconsequential. 

In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Not Too Young To Run Bill into Law after a group of young Nigerians led a National campaign for a downward review of age qualifications for major elective positions.
The Law yielded some positive results as it saw to the emergency of thirty nine year old Adebo Adedoyin as Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly ; thirty five year old Mahdi Gusau as Deputy Governor of Zamfara State; thirty-one year old Nasiru Magarya as Speaker of the House of Assembly of the same State; twenty seven year old Seun Fakorede as Commissioner in Oyo State while in Kwara State, a twenty six year old female serving corps member was nominated as Commissioner.

In Anambra, Governor Willie Obiano had broken the jinx with a record of having the youngest crop of aides in office and later climaxed with the appointment of Mr Mark Okoye as Commissioner for Economic Planning, Budgets and Development Partners in 2016, the then youngest to be appointed in fourth Republic Nigeria and later the appointment of Thirty two year old Bonaventure Enemali as Commissioner in 2018.

Worthy of note, the Current Speaker, Anambra State House of Assembly, Mr Uche Okafor assumed the role in June, 2019 at under 40.

Despite  these positive advancement , some young people who spoke to ABS in Awka still believe a lot could still be done to address other economic and educational challenges facing the youth.

Miss Gift Ujuaku is former President, Junior Chambers International at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam. For her, a lot more can still be done to reharness the potential of the youth by organizing seminars and workshops. She feels there must be a systemic arrangements for the youths to be properly trained to assume leadership positions.

Another young person, Chukwudubem Chukwunonso agreed with Miss Ujuaku and said that though Nigeria had come a long way, there must be a drastic revisit to Nigeria’s educational system, to groom Leaders from the cradle.

Comrade Ifeanyi Chukwurah, a member of the National Youths Council of Nigeria said change must be holistic. He believes enough has not been done to wheel in the youths into the leadership positions.

Meanwhile, a former member of the House Representatives who represented Orumba North and South Federal Constituency for a record three times, Dr Ben Nwankwo believes that the current political structure of Nigeria is affecting its development and opportunities for young people to participate actively  to inject the much needed new ideas while advocating  what he called the “deconstruction and reconstruction” of the Nigerian entity.