This week has been the Students Legislative and Executive Week(S.L.E.W) in my school.
I'm a student in the prestigious University of Uyo.
The Clerk of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian students House of Representatives.
Yesterday,we had a joint plenary which featured the senators and Student Union Government Senate presidents from 12 universities accross Nigeria including ours.
The event featured the usual legislative process and the topics for discussion thrilled me.
It was on
"The political architecture of Nigeria and the role of the youths;a means to a justified end".
My contribution was that the political architecture of Nigeria never really had a place for the youths.
The likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe,Obafemi Awolowo, Yakubu Gowon and other early nationalists had thier own interests when fighting for independence.
Although they were youths, they did not consider the generations of youths yet unborn.
The marriage and amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria was a forced one.
Truth be told,there was no laid down or proper design to involve youths in Nigerian politics especially after military rule.
The relevance of the youths cannot be overemphasized.
The youths are more vibrant and more exposed.
They are better off with technolgy and ideas than the older people.
Healthwise,youths are stronger and more active to carry out the process.
Youths tend to be more logical and make less mistakes as the learn from mistakes of predecessors.
The means to a justified end which I suggested
Was in an abbreviation RED.
R-Reorientation:I advised that youths change thier mindset about politics. Stop seeing it as a dirty game but rather go in and make the game clean.I also mentioned that as much as the "Not too young to run" bill has been enacted by President Muhammadu Buhari,the youths should strive to aspire and pick up positions of leadership.The older ones should give youths a chance,leave Godfatherism and partisan politics and select capable people.
E-Empowerment:Here I pointed out that we the youths should not just wait for the government to employ us but get our skill and empower ourselves.
If a person makes thier own money,he or she can sponsor themselves politically to attain any position and deliver properly when in power.
This will reduce having to depend on Godfathers and try enriching thier pockets with government funds.
D-Discipline:My last point was that it is the discipline youths have thar will keep them focused on achieving dreams and goals when in power.
Else,distractions and frivolities will take thier minds off the reason they got into office and selfish interest will take over.
Discipline is indeed the mother if success and to me,the solution is RED
After saying this,my time for articulation elapsed.
I posted this here to know to your opinions too.
Feel free to contribute.
Thankyou for reading.
