Let me first felicitate with you on this memorable day. In as much as I am also a child before my parents, this day has been specially designed for people between the ages of 0 to 17 years. You will agree with me that our beloved country is far from the state we want it to be. Despite the lofty visions of our founding fathers, the generation that succeeded them and the one that follows this second generation have turned our once glorious land into ruins.
Our founding fathers have their own faults. After they successfully fought their common enemy (colonial master), they failed to plan for governance. After they got the independence, how, who and which group would lead and constitute government; personal and group interests and the inability to manage the vast conglomeration they fought for surfaced. These eventually brought distortion, disruption, derailment and gross mismanagement of our country.
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The generation that succeeded our founding fathers was dominated by a bunch of opportunists, who were more concerned with reaping from where they did not sow than governance. They jointly milked us unapologetically.
The generation we today’s youths look up to is helpless. They largely failed to question the status quo. Despite their exposure and education, they are easily pushed around. They failed to speak for the disadvantaged ones especially the masses among them. They suffered and smiled.
We today’s youths have been handicapped. When we were in your age bracket, they told us the same thing that we were the leaders of today. Dear children, up to this moment, our today has not come. The one or two youths among us you see in positions of leadership were handpicked. They do not represent us neither do they demonstrate our capabilities in this digital age.
They have restricted us from leadership positions. They inserted into our constitution, age barrier to deter us. They demonise and monetise politics to discourage us. They poorly educate us to deprive us of qualitative knowledge. They use religion and ethnicity to divert our attention from governance. They do not employ us and also make it difficult for us to set up ourselves. All this they do to retain their status.
To be sincere with you, they have succeeded in making many of us irrelevant that many of the few dogged ones among us are finding it very difficult to bring many of the youths to their senses.
Dear children, we are fighting back. Just that it seems insurmountable. We are fighting so many forces. We are fighting the remnants of the generation that succeeded our founding fathers and the generation that follows these remnants. I must confess that it is not an easy battle.
Dear children, we want you to see through these events. We are waiting to add you to our fold. But we want you to be better equipped. Stay above their gimmicks. Do not let them hoodwink you as they did to many of us. We cannot afford to leave our fatherland in this mess. They will want to twist history for you. But we are ready to always present to you factual history that you can use to defeat their antics.
It is disheartening that after over six decades of independence, 22 years of uninterrupted democracy, the foundation of a great Nigeria has not been laid.
Adewale Lawal can be reached via [email protected]
