Decades ago, gender and
women issues were on the front burner of global development agenda. Today it is
relatively inappropriate to solve challenges of developing countries without
focusing on the role of women. Likewise, a remarkable shift is required with
respect to youth development in Nigeria. As we might be conversant with, some
of the issues affecting youths today includes education, employment, poverty,
drug abuse, health and environment, juvenile delinquency, empowerment,
participation in governance and globalization.
The story of Nigeria’s
nascent democracy would be incomplete without the incredible efforts and
sacrifices made by the youths of this country. We all know the important roles youths played
during past elections, so many noble youths paid the ultimate price, just for
the good of the whole. As a young Nigerian growing up, I had my first taste of
participation during the 2003 general elections, as an election observer with
Justice, Development, and Peace Commission (JDPC), I travelled across the
country and I had a firsthand experience of what it meant to be in service for
ones’ country.
Nigeria’s youths are the most resilient,
enterprising and talented. The youths are becoming more and more conscious of
their political environment and desire direct control over their future.
A youth is referred to
as the state of or time of being young. It is also referred to as a period of
time when someone is young, especially the period between being a child and
being fully grown. (Akpan & Ekong, 2006)
Nigerian youths must not be blind-folded by the
cheap gains of today as against the pursuit for a better tomorrow. PDP- A party
that has led this country for well over a decade and still lacks anything
meaningful to show for this; political parties are meant to be vanguards of
ensuring that the impact of democracy is felt; the opposite is the case as the
essence of true democracy is yet to be felt by common Nigerians on the streets.
They have succeeded in satisfying and enriching themselves (gluttonous
bourgeois class) and also further deepening the gap between the ‘haves and have
not’.
NEW WINE IN
OLD BOTTLE
The concept of ‘new wine in old bottle’ is
applicable to the youths of this country. Isn’t it funny and disturbing how
some young folks would rather put up a sky-rise structure on an already weak
and frail foundation? Identifying with a party that doesn’t have youth
development/participation/mobilization/engagement programmes will be absolutely
unproductive; all they care about is holding fiercely to power by whatever
means.
The PDP as it is known has many youth groups and
faction without a clear cut agenda/programme of engagement; national youth
wing, youth circuit, youth groups, youth chapters, et al. A party where evil outweighs
good, where corruption is at grand standing, where there are over eleven
thousand (11,000) abandoned projects unattended to, yet new ones are being approved
weekly with no guarantee that they will be commissioned, where successive
administrations have done nothing but further retrogress the country, it’s been
a case of one step forward and two steps backward; a party that claims to have
solutions to Nigeria’s problem but has ended up creating more problems; a party
where a being youth means been 60 years of age and above; a
party that has failed to recognize that involving the youths in decision making
process will further enhance their faith and believe in the process of
governance.
Surprisingly, many
youths have failed to realize the fact that a party is in power today doesn't
mean it holds the key to the future. It is against this backdrop that I have
decided to do this piece. To honk the sound of advice to those who are willing
to listen, to those who would take a second look and retrace their parts.
PDP AS A
CORPORATION
My doubts about the meaningful existence of the PDP
was totally cleared, when the new chairman of the party announced the novel
agenda of the party was to be registered as a corporation. This move clearly
shows that the party does not have the masses at heart; they exist solely for
their own interest; a party that lacks fundamental attributes of a political
entity. A party that’s far from been institutionalized is pursuing economic
gains. PDP has lost its essence of existence as far as we know. Political
parties are the main mechanism for the organization of government and the key
channels for maintaining democratic accountability, none of these values seem
to be on the plane of the PDP.
We all understand the laws of nature because we live
by these laws on a daily basis. A goat will give birth to a goat, an elephant
to an elephant, a monkey to a monkey, so what do we expect as an offshoot of
the mainstream PDP – I know you have the best answers.
PROGRESSIVE YOUTHS ON A UNITED FRONT
The importance of
developing the potentials of youths cannot be over-emphasized because the
development of a society or country at large depends on the quality of its
manpower, a bulk of which the youths represents. That is to say today’s youth
has a pivotal role to play in birthing a new tomorrow; this is something we
take very seriously on this platform.
Youths across the
country must join efforts to identify with entities that have shown concerted
effort and commitment toward creating enabling environment for youth
development while other progressive’s should ensure that young persons are
accommodated within the mainstream of their political party politics where
critical decisions affecting them are dealt with. We encouraged more youths to
participate actively in political process; such encouragements have gone a long
way in building necessary social structures and providing the enabling
atmosphere for the realization of talents and personality development.
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