Akwa Ibom Youths, Before You Crucify Buhari
“The duty of youth is to
challenge corruption.” - Kurt Cobain
I am with Nigerian blood
running in my veins. And I’ve grown all my life in this great country. Sincerely
speaking, I may not have a record of corporeal presence outside the soil of
this country, but I must say with pride that I have some opportunities and
privileges to touch down on some parts of the country. I have seen all it takes to be a Nigerian
youth. In this very era that I belong, the true definition of a typical
Nigerian youth is profoundly associated with struggling, hustling, and perhaps,
suffering. But interestingly, an average Nigerian youth, despite being
surrounded by fogs of uncertainties, still remains optimistic hoping the future
would be bright in a country of burning black sun which breathes nothing but
blistering, dark smokes; a country where the youths are fixed at the receiving
end. Even the education system in Nigeria is extremely cruel, and it is not for
the lazy. Job opportunities are reserved for the privileged, or gotten out of
blind luck. And there is this dictum for Nigerian graduates that says don’t look
for white-collared job, start small business: but where is the small capital to
start with when the majority of the youths are living from hand to mouth? The
graduates that are already jaundiced about the system, have embraced this reality,
and they no longer mind picking up any informal enterprise no matter how
ignoble it might be. That is Nigeria.
I may not really have the full view of the situation the
youths in other climes are struggling with, but I can only say about those in
Nigeria. Sincerely speaking, I intimately understand how hardworking most
Nigerian youths could be. I have seen the youths both educated and uneducated building
mansions, driving assortment of cars, and raising families without having
anything to do with government. In Akwa Ibom State where abundance of Nigeria’s
crude oil is deposited, one may not believe that most youths outside the
communities where oil productions are taking place have not set eyes on the
barrels of crude oil since their birth. Some only hear that Akwa Ibom is rich
in crude oil and is one of the top earners of oil proceeds from the federation
account but sense no direct benefit in relations to their welfare.
In respect to President Muhammadu Buhari’s comment on
Nigerian youths during Commonwealth Business Forum at Westminster in far away
United Kingdom which has caused serious hullabaloo both on mainstream and
social media, I am at the position of blaming the youths not for waiting for
oil proceeds but for sitting down doing nothing, watching as the old guards and
thiefing politicians are practically transforming their young brains to the
means with which they achieve their self-serving ends. Because of outré silence
of the youths, the power class sees in youths weakness instead of strength;
they see naïveté instead of influence while ensuring that the quandaries threatening
the future of young Nigerians remains unabated. But what always surprises me is how the power class always manages to tactically divide the youths along political lines, and render them rivals without giving them opportunity to stand on a common ground to rethink their future. Youths are turned into sycophants, election materials, thugs, beggars; they are formed into rented crowds, and used in showcasing numeral strength to demoralize oppositions, and at the end they are abandoned till the next elections.
the future of young Nigerians remains unabated. But what always surprises me is how the power class always manages to tactically divide the youths along political lines, and render them rivals without giving them opportunity to stand on a common ground to rethink their future. Youths are turned into sycophants, election materials, thugs, beggars; they are formed into rented crowds, and used in showcasing numeral strength to demoralize oppositions, and at the end they are abandoned till the next elections.
It is not
unsurprising that every self-serving interest would be cloaked in decisions and
policies in the name of youths. In Akwa Ibom, youths would always occupy the
place of primacy in discussions during decision-making processes but at the
point of implementation, they would conveniently be relegated to background,
neglected and altogether forced to face the harshness of unfavourable side of
policies imposed on them because they don’t appear to be feisty enough. All the vision politicians have for youths in
the State only anchored on their anticipated victory in the next general elections.
They hoaxed the youths to believe that their prosperity lies in their political
success. It’s a pity.
As put by
Kailash Satyarthi, “the power of youth is the common wealth for the entire
world. The faces of young people are the faces of our past, our present and our
future. No segment in the society can match with the power, idealism,
enthusiasm and courage of the young people.” Unfortunately in our clime,
instead of the officials bickering over the power of togetherness of the
youths, the youths instead become afraid to articulate their grievances because
they do not want to fall out of the favour with the powers that be. For
example, many a time, my good friends would counsel me against the tendency of
using media to remind government on how to go about the business of democracy for
the good of the entire citizenry. They maintained that if I continue that way,
I may not have instantaneous landing on material prosperity. It makes me wonder
if this is the general fear of Akwa Ibom youths. If this is the wide-ranging
mentality, then I can see why government officials inexorably manipulate the
polity within the ambit of their interest without the recourse to the mood of
the youths.
As Buhari had
mentioned the issue of housing in his infamous comment, youths in Akwa Ibom
have not asked questions about housing. That is the basis of their material
growth. It is not all about government building roads and other
infrastructures. Young people need housing. I know some youths are gradually
staying above abject hunger, and they are covering their nakedness anyway, but
the problem of acquiring housing today remains quite intractable. It is
important to bring up a scheme to help low income earning youths to acquire accommodation.
With a home, youths can easily settle down to a responsible and productive life
and stay away from social vices. Once a young man gets his personal abode, he
is likely to settle into a life of responsibility. Nobody would persistently
advise him on how to stay away from indulging in avoidable criminalities if
only he is preoccupied with domestic responsibility. As election time is fast
approaching, it is time for the youths to sit down and articulate the future of
housing with those jostling for the opportunity for leadership. The time is now
not when the elections are won and lost.
Buhari’s
comment is a wake-up call for the youths to stand up against conspiracy aimed
at keeping them in perpetual bondage by greedy power-mongers. If the youths
stand up, their dirty tricky game is over.
Source: The Sensor Newspaper
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