“YOUTHS AND POLITICS” BEING A TALK DELIVERED BY CMR. FRIDAY BAKO DURING THE 2017 EL-SHADDAI NATIONAL YOUTH CONVENTION WITH THE THEME “THE DIFFERENCE” AT EMMANUEL INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE RAYFIELD JOS, PLATEAU STATE ON 18TH AUGUST, 2017.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors-Plato

INTRODUCTION:

I will like to appreciate the General Overseer/Founder of El-Shaddai Covenant Ministries, Rev. Dr. James O. James, our Regional Head, Rev. Kayode Adeaga and his Assistant Rev. John Shirbe, other Reverends, Pastors, Deacons, Deaconesses, elders, members of this great Ministry for their mentorship, encouragement and inspiration as they have been supportive spiritually, morally, socially, physically and in other diverse ways; I also recognize Ministers of God, Youth leaders, all youths and other important personalities seated here.

I wish to extend my appreciation to the youth leadership of this Ministry, under the leadership of Bro. Walshak Samuel, Youth Spiritual Leader, Pastor John Harris, the entire youth executives and most importantly God Almighty for this significant opportunity and platform offered me to talk to this crème of great emerging future leaders, participant and other guest speakers on the topic “Youths and politics”, an opportunity I never took for granted. It is my sincere prayer and wishes that as youths, we will rise up to the occasion of being “the difference.”

The purpose of this topic is to outline and expose the poor involvement and participation of youths in politics and governance process despite their numerical merits and involvement in the electoral processes as well as the consequences.

At the end of this talk, youths are to comprehend the potentials in them, the power in their unity, how they can correct the obnoxious notion about politics, how to involve themselves and participate in politics and how effective they can use their abilities and numerical advantage to dominate the political space, remain relevant and make the needed difference in the society.

It is an indisputable fact that the Nigerian political system and civil service are in dare need of leaders who are academically, morally, medically and most importantly spiritually sound, people with proven integrity, good track records and antecedents who will transform the fortunes of the nation positively.

Politics is indisputably a powerful instrument for astronomical growth, development, national integration, unity, peace and societal advancement through sound economic, fiscal and social welfare policies and programmes not the monumental retardation, retrogression, social injustices and backwardness obtainable and obvious in Nigeria, Africa and other developing as well as underdeveloped nations.

In Nigeria, the youths, particularly in the Pre-independence era and shortly thereafter, played formidable roles leading to monumental gains in politics economy, technology, commerce and industry just to mention a few which shaped Nigeria. Youths play critical and cardinal roles in the cultural, technological and socio-economic development of any nation.

No reasonable society and government should ever jettison the critical roles played by the youths in any nation as they are the engine room and forces behind most societal developments whether social, economic or political.
Youth contributes immensely to National interest, integration, unity, peace, harmony, progress, prosperity, growth and development. Their potentials when properly harnessed, have immeasurable and unimaginable impacts to any given society, nation and world at large.

Though not all youths must be politicians or contest elective positions; some are destined to be career civil servants, business moguls, great entrepreneurs, head of corporate organizations and multi-national corporations; political participation and involvement must not be overemphasized.

YOUTH:
Youth in Nigeria includes all members of the Federal Republic of Nigeria aged 18-35.
African Youth Charter says youth or young people shall refer to every person between the ages of 15 and 35 years.

POLITICS:
Politics (from Greek: Politiká: Politika, definition “affairs of the cities”) is the process of making decisions applying to all members of each group.

Aggregate of activities, actions, and policies that are used to gain and hold power in a government or to influence a government.

Politics are activities aimed at improving someone’s status, status of the society or increasing power within an organization.

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”-Ernest Benn

POLITICAL SYSTEM: This is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a given society.

POLITICAL PARTY: A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters’ interests.

POLITICAL MANIFESTO: A manifesto is a written statement that describes the policies, goals and opinions of a person, group, political party or government. It is a published verbal political declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. All political parties and prospective aspirants are expected to have manifestoes which they use to woo the electorates.

Manifesto refers to the vision and mission statements (statement of intentions) of an individual or political party backed by the core values needed for their actualization.

YOUTH AND THE FUTURE

Youths in Nigeria are socially, economically, financially and politically emasculated in so many ways by the devious objectives of a clandestine government who has no plan for the growing population. At another end, they creates some of their problems as they channel their energies, talents, abilities and potentials to unproductive ventures like restiveness, drunkenness, hooliganism, cultism, stealing and other ungodly/irresponsible lifestyles.

Without mincing words, I stand bold to say for long, there has been grand conspiracies against the Nigerian youths by the political class and other elites in the society which has been planned and being gradually executed overtime which if not urgently checked and stopped by the youths would make them economically, financially, socially and politically handicapped over a long time period. This is obvious in the non-inclusion of the youths in key governance process and their participation therein. If not, how could youths of 23-35 years of age occupy sensitive positions such as Ministers, Commissioners, Heads of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Governors, Heads of States and the list go on but today, persons of such ages are being deprived the opportunities to contest and occupy such positions by the Constitution drafted by the key conspirators? One can see how old people who are expected to have retired to pave way for young energetic and credible youths to be gainfully engaged being recycled thereby relegating the youths to the background even when they end up spending most of their years in office attending to one health challenge or the other.

One of the burdens of the youths of this present generation is the passive attention they pay to the workings of governance, economic theories, national income and budget system. The Nigerian youth is buried in sports and entertainments (indecent and ungodly music most especially). They knows everything about the football clubs in the world and what they are worth financially but doesn’t understand or are completely blind to the importance of the nation’s GDP, inflation rate, poverty rate, unemployment rate and other key performance indicators. They are usually lost when they listen to the Minister of Finance reeling out tools for economic analysis. It is difficult for the average Nigerian youth to question their leaders because their knowledge of the working of government is shallow. Ask many youth the causes of inflation, how inflation could be addressed, recession, effects of exchange rates to the economy, to names five (5) serving Ministers and their portfolios, Names of 10 State Governors and the State they are governing you will be shocked at their responses, but at the unpleasant introductory sound of ungodly songs, they can tell you the artistes, their ages and what even Google cannot tell you about them.

Such failing has made the youth easy tools for the political class to use at any given time and opportunity. They use them for political thuggery, as hired assassins, electoral violence and the females are constantly dragged in for sexual expeditions. It is truly a society that works against itself. The leaders whose responsibility is to protect the citizens have turned against the very ones they should care for. It is so because the youths have failed to question their leaders; they don’t have the courage to demand for justice. The youths will remain subservient to their leaders as long as they remain dormant in the face of extreme social injustices.

It is an undisputable fact from available records that about 65-70% of the registered voters in Nigeria comprises of youth and such numerical strengths are mostly used for political campaigns, ballot snatching, electoral violence and other forms of electoral frauds/malpractices all for some selfish and greedy politicians instead of being put in use to bring young people into the governance process and better their lives thereby reducing restiveness, cases of kidnap and other crimes.

This generation of youths wants instant wealth and it really doesn’t matter how they get it. They had gone to school with the belief that life will show them the side of fortune. Now they are out of school only to discover that there are 18 generations of unemployed graduates in Nigeria struggling for job placement.

The Nigerian political leaders have long hijacked the political terrain and locked it against the youths but the youths are still told they are the leaders of tomorrow. It is this deceit and delusional practice that has made the youths to lose hope in the system. The desperate ones take to crime; like taking a sword against a sea of trouble. The very contented ones find themselves deluded, gasping for breath under the weight of poverty. Government at all levels, political actors, elites, NGOs and well-spirited individuals must collaborate to curb this social malady before it gets out of hand. Employment is the critical issue that must be tackled first. The youths must be gainfully employed, empowered and their capacities built to enable them get busy doing things that will enhance the image of the country.

The youths must resort to self-development, read to expand their intellectual horizon, develop sound strategies, techniques and ideas. The energy channeled towards football information should be spread across bigger economic and national concerns for the purposes of getting a grasp of the workings and distribution of economic resources. If their knowledge is sharpened on the proper functioning of government and the dynamics of policy making, they can raise requisitions and criticize government intelligently when government policies contravene the laws of the land. We must develop the strategies to achieve economic justice and expand the aspiration of nationhood.

YOUTHS AS FUTURE LEADERS

All over the world, youths are regarded as the future leaders of the society. This is not a misplaced or wistful thinking as this class of energetic citizens possess enormous and multi dimensional talents, powers and creative abilities which if moulded and harnessed in a fit and proper atmosphere, can translate to generational wellbeing in the social, political and economic life of the society.

It is against this backdrop that nations, particularly those subscribing to democratic norms and values, evolve deliberate policy measures aimed at prioritizing genuine issues geared towards giving eloquent expression to youth development, self-actualization and repositioning for future leadership.

For instance, apart from Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who was 42 years, most of the key players in the struggle for independence as well as subsequent actors in Nigerian statecraft were in their mid 30s when they assumed the mantle of leadership at various levels of governance.

Indeed, prominent leaders of the 60s, including Chief Obafemi Awolowo aged 37, Samuel Ladoke Akintola 36, Ahmadu Bello 36, Alh. Tafawa Balewa 34, Chief Festus Okotie-eboh 27, Chief Anthony Enahoro 27 among others who found the mantle of leadership entrusted to them at these youthful periods of their lives and that of the nation played remarkable roles in laying solid foundation for the nation before they were sent packing by the military junta.

Similarly, the key figures in the then military that ousted civil rule in the First Republic as well as military actors in subsequent governance of Nigeria were even of younger age brackets. Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu who led the first coup in 1966 was just 29, Theophilus Danjuma 28, Gen. Murtala Muhammed 28, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida 25, Joseph Haven Garba 23, Musa Yar’Adua 23, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari 24, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo 29, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu 33 while Yakubu Gowon became Military head of state following the military counter coup at the age of 32.

Added to this, undergraduates had jobs waiting for them while they were still pursuing their studies in the higher institutions and vacation jobs were also at the beck and call of the youthful and energetic Nigerians. Today, the story is unfortunately no longer the same as the youths, unlike their counter parts in the days of yore, have come under severe encumbrances which if not tackled would continue to make the concept of youths as future leaders nothing but a nightmarish and wishful thinking.

Today, high level unemployment, excruciating poverty, inflation, homelessness, hunger, poor standard of living, and disease, involvement in cultism and cult-related violence, political thuggery, sectarian extremism, get rich-quick syndrome, insurgency and terrorism as well as lack of patriotism constitute veritable catastrophic cataclysm taking the shine out of the time-honored role and desire for the Nigerian youths to step into the shoes as future leaders.

YOUNG WORLD LEADERS:

Youths need to show high sense of responsibility, integrity, patriotism, commitment and unity. Youths need to sit up; enough of complains, hold your destiny in your hands, be aware that power is not given freely, but you need to go for it. The trend globally is young leadership and I believe the case of Nigeria will not be different in the nearest future. Young people must know they are the hope of any nation and must wake up to assume leadership responsibilities.

Below mentioned young world leaders are enough reasons for Nigerian and other African Youths to stop fighting one another but rather be positioned strategically towards political leadership and be ready to support the political aspirations of credible youths.

French President Emmanuel Macron age 39, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel age 44 (Became Prime Minister at age 40 since 4th December 2013 after succeeding Jean-Claude Juncker), Belgium Prime Minister Charles Yves Jean Ghislaine Michel age 41 (Became Prime Minister on 11th October, 2014 at age 39 and is the youngest Belgian Prime Minister since 1845), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Pierre James Trudeau age 45 (became Canadian Prime Minister at age 43 on 4th November, 2015), and Kim Jong-Un is 35 years old according to North Korean Records and the Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011. Last week in Kenya, a 23-Year-Old undergraduate (300Level) student, Mohammed Mhairi Black won to become the youngest Member of Parliament in Kenya

PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH NON-INVOLVEMENT AND PARTICIPATION OF YOUTHS IN POLITICS

It is crystal clear that certain factors are militating against the participation and involvement of youths in politics. They include;

*Corruption in the political system.

*Poor governance.
Poor and nearly absence of youth-oriented policies and programmes.

*Poor political, moral and spiritual mentorship.

*Emasculation of the youths in the political system by selfish and greedy politicians.

*Impunity, imposition, nepotism and lack of internal democracy among political parties.

*Negative attitudes by youths towards political, electoral and governance processes. Most youths see politics as dirty game for liars, indecent, dishonest and people with questionable integrity therefore stand aloof.

*Non-inclusion, involvement and participation of youths in the formulation and implementation of key policies.

*Lack of decency (living indecent, irresponsible and immodest lifestyles), integrity and transparency in the political system.

*Absence of decency, integrity, honesty and transparency among youths.

*Lack of purposive unity among the youths.

*Poor conduct of elections and electoral frauds (election rigging and other irregularities).

*Ethnic, religious, political and tribal chauvinisms.
Sentiments being place above credibility and competence in the political system.

*Pessimistic dispositions among youths. Youth have completely lost hope in the political system due to unhealthy practices therein.

*The get-rich-quick syndrome instead of being patience in the political system has affected the political participation of many youth.

*Unhealthy competition among the youth. This has bred rivalry and enmity which has placed the youths on disadvantaged position.
Moral decadence among the youths.

WAY FORWARD:

Having enumerated the problems militating against the involvement and participation of youths in politics, solutions to these problems must be provided and these include the following among many others;

*Purposive unity and integration by youths.
Discovering your purpose in life.

*Continuous self-development and improvement.

*Be ready to participate and engage in the political system and) decisions from the Polling units, Wards, Local Government, State and National levels.

*Politics need people with integrity, fear of God and good moral standing and should not be seen as a dirty game by the youths.

*Governments at all levels and others stakeholders should draw attention to youth issues.

*Be ready to sacrifice and exhibit resilience, integrity and fear of God.

*Youths must be ready to add values to the society. If you cannot add value to the society, it is catastrophic to erode existing values.

*Youths must eschew rivalry, unhealthy competition and hatred.

*Youths should leverage on the not-too-young-to-run Bill being passed by the National Assembly during the Constitution amendments to contest elective positions. They should prevail on their State Houses of Assembly and the Executive to ensure the bill is being passed and assented to successfully.

*Youths must identify with existing and prospective political parties; be involved in political decisions and the governance process.

IN CONCLUSION:

The youths are being confronted with the political system and civil service that are being hijacked by selfish and greedy elites who are not ready and willing to relinquish power or retire but hold on tight to power, falsifying their ages to stay put thereby not creating openings for the youths to be employed or gainfully engaged to fill the sensitive positions if they had retired.

The Youths have been caught in the dramatic web of the political system and have also taken to adjusting their ages in order to grasp employment opportunities or enroll in the mandatory service (NYSC) which is greatly affecting the emergence of leaders with integrity.

Former Head of State and President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo summarized my position as well as though last week when he said no old politician will leave the stage for the younger ones. The onus is now on the youths and the time is now. You must not allow people who have eaten their destiny, eat yours and that of the progenies.

Youths must therefore strategize to kick out older greedy politicians who have stolen public funds thereby becoming stupendously rich and manipulating the system to their favors at the detriment of the younger persons. This can be achieved through healthy, objective and constructive engagements.

If nothing is done, the greedy politicians will keep messing the system if not stopped and at the end pass the baton to their kids or hooligans who will continue with the process of destroying the political system. The risk the present youth stand is that the younger generation behind them will not allow them toy with their future the way the older politicians are messing with theirs.

Youth must think towards playing active and dominant roles not passive ones in politics in other to make themselves relevant and readily available to take up leadership roles at any given time and opportunity.

Youths must not refuse allegiance to politics; they must not withdraw, stand aloof or be neutral to politics but involve and participate in it fully by identifying with existing political parties as that is the way to governance. This political involvement and participation should be conscious and deliberate.

Youths must unlock their potentials, put them to effective uses and use their numerical strength to their merit.

I have always been an ardent advocate that youths must be mentored, united, empowered and their capacities built to attain their full potentials difference at appreciable levels.

Thank you so very much for listening, wish you all a successful convention, enjoy our serene weather in Jos and remain blessed.

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Paper Presentation on Youth in Politics and Leadership by Cmr. Friday Bako