This piece was inspired by a brilliant and thought-provoking Facebook post by my equally brilliant uncle, Adegbe Arome Cyprian, a leading voice and consistent advocate of responsible and responsive leadership practice in Nigeria. The lines read thus: “All the tired old men that have refused to retire from public/political offices, would be disgraced & frustrated out of office one after the other. Bamanga, Anenih, Ahmadu, Atiku, OBJ, Jang etc. How can the youths ever become leaders of tomorrow when these people have refused to leave the stage”? He questioned why these same old men under whose watch, the manipulation and control of Nigeria is daily sliding into anarchy and warming up to top the unenviable list of nations on the verge of becoming pariah sovereign states keep recycling themselves in office. According to him, these guys have inflicted incalculable damage on Nigeria and Nigerians and it is time for them to retire to their cocoons and vacate the stage for the younger ones. To buttress his argument, he said the youths, whose brilliance, physical agility, vibrancy, exposure and mental alertness cannot be faulted should be allowed and supported to steer the ship of state.
Like other well meaning Nigerians, uncle Arome isn’t happy that same old, familiar and regular people we’ve been hearing about in the last five to six decades are still perpetuating themselves in power, thereby denying the younger generation of the opportunity to serve and contribute their quota towards nation building. We are saddened by the fact that these same old men have done only little to place Nigeria where it truly belongs. Instead of exploring the nation’s abundant human and natural resources for the good of all, they willfully and brazenly mismanage and plunder them with reckless abandon. A country of Nigeria’s size and resources shouldn’t be seen striving hard to trail behind less endowed nations in terms of development. Regrettably, amidst plenty wealth, poverty and extreme lack are assuming calamitous dimensions. We have continued to suffer dearth of role models with exemplary character and lifestyles. Our youths are left to adopt role models from foreign movies and books thereby exhibiting traits alien to our culture and core moral values.
Typical of Nigeria’s social media world, the statement elicited a barrage of harsh and combustible reactions, both for and against. While some saw lot of sense in his brilliant postulation, especially as it pertains to injecting new blood into the way things are done by chasing the old war horses out of circulation, others expressed grave concern that the present day Nigerian youths are not different in character, mien and reasoning when compared with their old folks. Respondents were quite critical, blunt and genuine in their responses. Are our present day youths any different? Are they good options to the likes of Tony Anenih, Bamnaga Tukur, Edwin Clark, Ahmadu Ali, Ibrahim Mantu, Emmanuel Inwanyawu, David Mark, Paul Unongo, Ibrahim Babangida among others?
Undoubtedly, even though it is high time we ended the continued recycling of the same economic plunderers of yester-years; we must all consider the caliber of young people jostling for their positions. I ask again, do we see our present day youths as credible and good replacements? So many things have gone wrong with our present day youths. Most of our youths are more interested in investing their time, energy and resources in unproductive ventures. While the older generation birth evil thoughts and machinations, they rely heavily on the strength, agility and smartness of the youths to transform such thoughts into reality. This is a fact that cannot be discountenanced. Youths have become willing tools in the hands of greedy, self-seeking and narrow-minded politicians. Apart from arming them to secure dubious electoral victories, politicians also keep them as ‘special’ security guards trained to go after their perceived enemies or dissenting elements.
Do we still have to look too far, probably set up committees, produce white paper or engage the services of a soothsayer to unmask the hidden faces behind crime and criminality in the country? Won’t it sound stupid for the government and the security apparatchik to claim ignorance of those behind bank robberies, pipeline vandalism, internet fraud, electoral violence among others in the country? Do we need to ask more questions on those responsible for cult-related activities and deaths on the campuses of institutions of higher learning across the country? What about female university undergraduates who have brazenly taken campus prostitution to frightening dimensions? The perpetrators of these anti-social behaviours are all youths.
Political activities in most institutions of higher learning are a matter of life and death. What is practiced on our campuses is a replica of what is obtained in the larger society. Money, bribery, electoral irregularities, murder, assault, name-calling, bitterness and acrimony are characteristics of politics in our Ivory Towers. Like the larger society, the best hardly gets elected. Instead, academic misfits, cultists, cheats and mediocre always ride roughshod to power. They bribe their ways to power with monies realized from their questionable activities. I’ve also heard of instances where big time politicians, in show of solidarity and support to their ‘boys’, fund Students Union Government elections and rig their ‘boys’ to power on various campuses.
To be very honest, the present day Nigerian youths are yet to display any sign that they are indeed different from the old folks we presently have as leaders. A few of them who were fortunate to have attained important positions since the nation’s return to civil rule all left public office with battered image and hollow records. Salisu Buhari and Dimeji Bankole were at different times elected Speakers of the Federal House of Representatives. While Salisu Buhari was axed owing to certificate forgery, Dimeji Bankole left the hallowed Green Chamber with a battered image having being fingered in massive fraud amounting to billions of naira. We also had other young lawmakers like Farouk Lawan, Ndudi Elumelu, Iyabo Obasanjo Bello, Hembe who soiled their hands in corruption. So, are our youths any different?
Beyond calling on the older generation of leaders to vacate the scene, do we have just, incorruptible, credible and honest young people that would take over from them and correct their glaring mistakes and shortcomings?
•Yunusa, wrote in from Imane, in Kogi State via [email protected]