CRY NOT, MY CHILDREN
As an avid consumer of National dailies; I lied on my wooden sofa, carefully digesting some pieces of intellectually inspiring articles coined by a selection of consummate writers within the country. I was so engrossed with their beautiful styles of grammar usage and cognitive analysis of national discourse. Indeed, Nigeria is a reservoir of extremely innovative young minds. Without mincing words, I mustered a conviction that Nigeria is seemingly on the shift from its hitherto inglorious state to the promising one we envisaged. However, this imagination was short lived when I accidentally stumbled upon a pathetic piece that nearly shattered my sobriety apart. It was a pathetic story of a young man who lost his right limb to an auto crash during the 2011 general election. In his narratives, the man, though a political greenhorn, sustained the life-threatening injury during his struggle to lure victory to the pitch of his political party . To the cruelty of mankind, this young sergeant's patriotic gesture was repaid with blind service by his alleged political war generals; as he now wobbles in the world of disability. He was left with no viable alternative, but to solicit for assistance on the pages of Newspapers.
The above is a typical illustration of how Nigerian politicians cash in on misguided youths to enrich their selfish political venture vis-a-vis electioneering and other related matters. These misguided youths, whose glorious dream got mangled on the altar of bad governance, have their priorities misplaced subconsciously. Thus, turning them unwilling collaborators in the hands of highest political bidders. Like a famished lion, it is not atypical of politicians to employ several win-win inclined strategies to garner massive support, when electioneering days are drawing by. It is on these productive tendencies that many poverty-stricken youths are engaged as mercenaries of socio-political warfare, who would live for nothing, and die for anything. They are like dead armies negotiating a war bargain without arms and ammunitions on sight. These unfocused youths dance to the tune, by unleashing wide-scaled terror on the principal opponents of their sponsors; destroying lives and property, and possibly midwiving of election rigging processes. In a return for worthless peanuts and exhaustible palliatives that would never graduate them from abject poverty to purposeful living. Going by our various social proclivities, it is outrightly unwholesome to engage in acts that are capable of destroying public peace; as this contravenes the law of the land. But the alleged culture of impunity being flagrantly displayed on daily basis, without any serious attempt to salvage it, gears the country towards the path of retrogression. On this particular note, serial references could be made to the just concluded August 9 Osun gubernatorial election, which though was a huge success and true reflection of democracy. It was not, however, devoid of travails that could turn away the political fortune of the masses. Multiple allegations were being made by INEC that some unscrupulous and desperate politicians staged a move by importing thugs to intimidate the electorates from exercising their civic and constitutional rights. But for the timely intervention of security operatives, the whole fairy tale would have been something different. Also, no media savvy individual would turn deaf ears to a decline from normal processes through complete militarisation of the election. As widely expressed, many optimists gave a big blow on those who espoused the fear-laden policy, by defying all odds to vote in the candidates of their choice. Another dooms day averted! But in essence, why couldn't Nigerians placed themselves on self medication. Self medication, in this literary parlance, does not signify the usage of drugs without medical prescriptions. But a thorough review into various antecedents that trail the country's economic and political crises. The questions are; what are the factors responsible for them, and what are the reactionary steps put in place. In this regards, the writer spared no cost in attributing youth employment as one of the causes of Nigeria woes.
Youth unemployment has remained a social canker worm that has virulently eaten deep into the country political and economy climes. In what seemingly culminated into security challenges that hitherto threatens the nation's territorial integrity. This dicey situation, as obtainable in recent time, endangers the country's dream of attaining nascent democracy; as millions waggle in pandemic poverty, and infant industries remain stagnant. Day in, day out, Nigerian ivory towers churn out graduates into the society, without any recourse to the industrial capacity of the nation. The obsolete nature of our education system, in commensuration with the nation's status of being the second largest economy in africa, is a complete mockery of our sovereignty. This, among other identifiable rots, widely culminated in high spate of unemployment and under employment within the youths circle. The youths are the presupposed agents of national development. They represents the largest proportion of work force in any developing or developed economy. Thus, their roles in nation building cannot be over-emphasized.
The eventual removal of petroleum subsidy in early 2012 by the federal government, was notably welcomed by the public with several reactions and counter reactions. A larger proportion of the masses viewed it as anti- public, while a handful of cynics styled it a revolutionary gesture. Nevertheless, this didn't spur the government to reverse its previous action. Rather, the status quo was maintained, with the promise to maximize its proceedings for developing the country economy; through creation of job, wide-scaled alleviation of poverty, improvement of national infrastructure, and provision of uninterrupted power supply. Revolutionary or not, none of the promised projects has realized the light of the day. Though, sight may not be lost on few empowerment packages launched by the federal and state governments to tackle the menace. Youth-focused Programmes like YOU WIN, SEAP and OYES, among others were targeted to create a youth-led sustainable development, yet, no meaningful achievement was recorded. And this is not unconnected with extensive corruption which assumes uncontrollable height among public institutions enfolding the country. From all logical indications, Nigerian youths are like the proverbial bull dog that barks but can't bite. Intellectual resources, either crude or skilled, needed to steer the country's promising dream are dying owing to under-utilization. Is the shoeless goliath revolving round to check the spell? Your contention is as good as mine.
Cry not, our children, as implied, represents the latest musical sensation to reckon with in town. In case tomorrow never dawns, it is time we picked our Bata drums, and danced round the streets for salvation is coming our path. The government of the day is planning to embark on an evangelical mission, as an orchestrated means of saying 'cry not, my children'. With this poverty-induced inclination, every unemployed graduate is to receive monthly peanut in recompense for its failure to create sustainable living. At least, it is noteworthy, that in relation to the 'brink back our girls' cacophony which gradually drowned in the dungeon; the 'cry not, our children' lullaby is set to dissipate youths grievances. For they are the potential stewards of vision 2015. All case closed!
Ali Toyin Abdul is a Lawyer-in-training and Campus reporter, The Nation Newspapers. You can connect him on twitter @toyinali, e-mail: [email protected] and BBM: 236899E5.