Nigerian Youth, A Costly Political Bride?

The result of the recently concluded national voter registration exercise conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has placed youths at the centre stage of Nigerian politics.

Reports show that youths constitute 40% of the voting population of the country, making them a costly political bride for the various political parties seeking elective positions in the forthcoming general elections.

With the assurance by INEC that votes will count in the April polls, politicians that will ordinarily not raise an eyebrow over their chances of getting political slots are making frantic efforts to reach out to the new political bride to secure their massive support.

Also in adjustment to the political reality in the country, a definite pattern has evolved in the campaign mechanisms of the various political parties.

Political parties, both contenders and pretenders, are directing their attention on youths to win their support in the April polls.

Political parties, such as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), All Nigeria Peoples Party, (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC) Hope Democratic Party (HDP) among others are already offering olive branches to the Nigerian youth to gain his support in the April polls.

Addressing a public function in Abuja recently, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Orubebe, declared that youths development was a foremost priority of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

In apparent solicitation for the massive support of youths, the minister said: “Nigerian youth occupies a prime position in the development objectives of the present administration in the country, and the government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan will not let them down if they cast their bloc vote for the President in the April general elections”.

President Goodluck Jonathan has equally re-echoed the enormous concern of his administration towards youth development programmes in his campaign trips across the various geo-political zones in the country.

At the South South presidential flag off campaign in Port Harcourt recently, President Jonathan said his administration “will establish petro-chemical industries in the region to create employment opportunities for youths in the region”.

Similar promises were made by the President to youths in the North East and South West geo-political zones when his campaign train visited there.

Addressing students of Ambrose Alli University in Edo State, Governor Adams Oshiohmole urged students to be vigilant against any form of electoral fraud in the April polls.

Governor Oshiohmole, who brought his activist posture to bear as he aligned with the students, declared that; “the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, is the only party with the visionary ideals that can improve the living standards of the Nigerian youth in all ramifications”.

Governor Oshiomhole said: “Those who use the youths to rig elections are enemies of the youths” and added that “the Nigerian youth has the opportunity to secure his future by voting out bad and irresponsible governments”.

On his part, the presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, sees himself as a symbol of change and revolution in Nigerian politics.

The former anti-corruption Czar also sees himself as the arrowhead of the desired transformation needed to engage Nigerian youths as gainful participants in the country’s political process.

Ribadu, who counts greatly on the massive support of Nigerian youths, declared in the flag off of his presidential campaign recently, that the Nigerian youth occupies the centre stage of his development politics, and he will ensure that his creative abilities are fully exploited for his personal development of the country.

Emphasising the importance of youths in the development of the country, he said, “deliberate violation and abuse of the beauty and spring of youth is the surest means to the successful destruction of our democracy”.

Fiery preacher and vice presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC) Tunde Bakare, in a public statement also appealed to the Nigerian youth to take advantage of the April polls and vote massively for CPC to “right the wrongs of the past”.

In a burst of indignation for bad governance, Bakare, whose political romance had triggered public reaction, said “the youths represent the future of Nigeria and CPC offers hope for political liberation in the country”.

A chieftain of the Hope Democratic Party and House of Assembly candidate in Rivers State, Deacon Billy Kalagbor, also places youth development as the cardinal hub of his campaign.

Speaking with The Tide in Port Harcourt recently, Deacon Kalagbor, who is Assembly Hopeful for Port Harcourt Constituency I, said “Past governments had neglected the youths in the scheme of things, and Hope Democratic Party will live up to its name by restoring the battered hope of Nigerian youth.”

Beyond mere verbal attestations to change and promises of economic renewal by the various political parties, the revelation by INEC has become a spur to action.

Youths across the country are taking advantage of their voting strength to make bold the clamour for change, with a resolve to vote out political parties without concrete agenda for their development.

President Yorla Youths federation, a socio-political Pressure group, Comrade Ali Nyorbana, said in an interview with The Tide that, “2011 is a decisive year for the Nigerian youth to determine what his future will be”.

Comrade Nyorbana posited that youth represents the active population of the country, and cautioned against being used “as tools in the hands of politicians for disrupting the electoral process”.

He also advised youths “not to treat the electoral process at a distance, but to consciously get involved by voting out the bad eggs in politics”.

The youth leader identified youths at the centre of every revolution, either violent or peaceful, noting that youths always exert their physical energies and stake their lives for various actions as defined by their political captors.

But he expressed hope that the time has come for youths in the country to resist being used as pawns in the game of power. As an expression of disenchantment with the follies of politics, he said youths should brace up and join its ranks and work to correct them.

But how can this be achieved in a volatile political system like Nigeria?

Patrict Court, a youth leader and political activist in Rivers State opines that “Nigerian youth can participate actively in politics by joining the political parties with the most practical ideals and policies that guarantee the future and that of generations yet unborn”.

Comrade Odums Chinwe, an activist and councillorship aspirant for Ward 19, Port Harcourt, on the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), captives the political scenario as “challenging to the youths”. He cautioned the youths to be vigilant against the overtures of most politicians.

According to him, most of the politicians are already used to “politics of manipulation” and may use money and other subtle offers as a bargain tool to seduce the youths to mortgage their conscience and serve their “selfish interest.”

Nadeh Nadeh, a repentant militant who has undergone rehabilitational training at Calabar, Cross River State, is also of a strong view that “majority of Nigerian youths will part ways with the old order of serving at the beck and call of politicians without reasonable impact on their lives”.

Reports reveal that within the past decade, most Nigerian youths have been fully indoctrinated as depraved elements and implementors of anti-democratic forces. Enticed by political lucre, they act deadly scripts designed to suit the whims and caprices of their paymasters, damning its reverberate consequences.

This manifests in the series of politically induced crimes like assassination, intimidation of opponents, ballot box snatching, kidnapping for ransom and other social vices.

However, political analysts observe that the new political awareness among the youth is not only based on the prominence of their voting strength, nor the fact that 2011 represents hope for a major political breakthrough in the country.

They reason that the revolutional move is also triggered by sharp disappointments and disagreements, which result in estrangement between some pliable youths and their sponsors.

The fact being that children of the rich and powerful political overlords who call the shots for these social malaise are hardly linked with such acts. They are either abroad studying, or supervising  the stupendous and staggering business empires of their parents across the globe.

But as a former United States President, Richard Nixon stated; “Nothing matters more to the future of this nation than ensuring that our young men and women learn to believe in themselves and believe in their dreams”.

Taneh Beemene