During his Independence Day broadcast, President Tinubu announced the convocation of a National Youth Conference to address the diverse challenges and opportunities confronting Nigerian youths. At this critical time of economic morass when the nation has no funds to revamp its appallingly disgraceful health or educational infrastructure, or its decrepit roads and electricity generating facilities, it ill-behooves government to engage in further squander-mania.
When he promised that his jamboree conference would ensure that the voices of young people would be “heard in shaping policy”, President Tinubu seemed to have forgotten that youths “spoke” before, their voices were heard, and a policy was shaped. It was a policy of suppression at best and repression at worst. During the #EndSARS protests against police brutality youths were shot at and killed, while during the recent #EndBadGovernance protests against increased hardships, youths were arrested and unreasonably detained on charges of treason.
In light of this reality, there is an understandable trust gap between Nigerian youths and the nation’s relatively geriatric recycled leaders who, despite the youths blaming them for the nation’s misfortunes still roam the corridors of power decades later. For reasons best known to himself President Tinubu expects youths to believe that his government would “thoroughly consider and implement the recommendations and outcomes from his conference as a sign of their mission to build a more inclusive, prosperous and united Nigeria.
His call for a youth conference is an indictment of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Social Development, whose duty it is to take care of core responsibilities relating to the provision of an enabling environment for youth development and promoting effective citizenship and leadership training. In spite of their 2024 budget of N204 billion representing an increase of 5.8 per cent over the previous year, they have manifestly failed in their mission.
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Nigerian youths continue to face multiple challenges including poverty, unemployment, limited educational opportunities and police harassment. It’s relatively easy to mobilise Nigerian youths to violent protest because they are suffering in idleness, unable to find gainful employment due to either illiteracy or lack of graduate employment opportunities with career prospects. Added to this, youths suffer exclusion from mainstream politics, as well as the high level of corruption in governance, and the deplorably inequitable distribution of wealth within society.
Although there is no agreed international definition of the youth age group, for statistical purposes, the United Nations without prejudice to any other definition made by Member States defines youths as those persons aged between 15 and 24 years. People between the ages of 35 to 45 are considered “middle-aged” as half their useful life would have passed. Old age starts at 50 and as from 70 years, people are geriatric.
Nigerian youths quite rightly condemn the nation’s aged leaders who seem only obsessed with ensuring their own present perks of office while negatively affecting the future of those who would reasonably expect to still be living 30 years from now. Youths who constitute more than 60 per cent of our population, own the future while aged political elite who own the past cling on to power!
All these have led to the migration of thousands of Nigerian youths seeking refuge and asylum overseas each year in order to try and fulfill important life transactions such as pursuing higher education or securing employment. The lucky ones celebrate when they finally obtain a legal visa. The less lucky ones transit across the Sahara Desert to North Africa then across the Mediterranean into Europe.
It’s to Nigeria’s eternal shame that hundreds of our youths die annually in the Sahara or Mediterranean. It does not require an expensive conference to know that this is the result of bad governance in terms of dilapidated infrastructure, an unhealthy degraded environment, low economic expectations, a non-existent social safety net, negligible social services, and an inexplicably atrocious security situation.
When youths complain, not only are their views suppressed, but their lives are repressed. Demonstrations have always been a successful means of highlighting the need to respect the principles of democracy relating to the will of the people, but government’s reaction to youth protests is brutish and violent.
It has been aptly pointed out that in order to save their lives and Nigerian democracy youths must think beyond protest. They must develop and follow a well thought out political strategy to fully inculcate themselves into the system.
The tokenism of appointing middle-aged “Youth Leaders” into party hierarchies must end. It is imperative that our youths are provided with the opportunity to fulfill their capacity to influence and drive positive change. They are the ones who can bridge the gap between failed outdated methods and new innovative approaches to governance. Hope for the betterment of the majority rests with them.
In truth no change for the better will be achieved if youths are kept away from the seat of power Most of the renowned political gladiators of Nigerian pre and post-colonial history were youths at the time they made their mark. .
The solution to averting crisis is not the jamboree of an opaque, expensive conference, but rather a clearly understood and functional legal means for citizens to hold political leaders to account. Both young and old must be allowed to monitor government expenditure, allowed to question the delivery of planned projects, and allowed to blow the whistle when they see problems. None of this requires an expensive conference to appreciate.
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