They just mouth stuff about industry and infrastructure and remain in the past, while Nigeria engages in reverse. If in this country one can no longer vouch for any political process, we believe it is because of those ‘old guys’ that have refused to leave the political scene. They abhor transparency. We can imagine this, of all the 40 registered political parties in Nigeria presently, only seven or eight have (active) websites, simply because they do not want the public to see or know what they do.
Whose idea is it for people seeking electoral offices to go swearing at some three-way junctions in the middle of the night? Or go bathing in some murky river with the blood of chicken or pigeons? These are the ideas of old politicians who lived in a lucky era. They think electronic voting or any such innovation will lead to rigging.
We can recall how Prof. Jega spent hours tallying the last Presidential votes in 2015, using calculator, wasting hours on a job that could be done in nanoseconds on Microsoft Excel? Prof. Jega did not finish until 3.30am in the morning. It is not a sin to be old; the problem is the age of their ideas. Prof. Jega even tried his best. Many of Nigeria’s archaic politicians took him to court for introducing biometric card-readers into the political process. Such ‘leaders’/politicians will NEVER agree for votes to be tallied with Microsoft Excel!
They are averse to the technology and the transparency it brings. They abhor improvements and embrace darkness.
Well, it is high time in this 21st century for the older generation of this country to quit the stage for the younger generation. The old brigade of military politicians and civilian politicians have failed the Nigerian masses and it is time to allow the younger people with the charisma, character, vision and integrity to lead our country at the Local, State and Federal levels.
Let them quit honourably for the younger ones. We don’t see any reason why those above 60 years should still be holding executive positions in the Nigerian government at all levels, whether elected or appointed in Nigeria. The retirement age in Nigeria is sixty. The best for the older people to do is to guide and play ‘advisory roles’ and allow the younger Nigerians with the right attitude and 21st-century-innovative-ideas to lead the country forward.
Why should a person of above 70 years still be in power in Nigeria? They should quit for the younger generation of Nigerians who have the strength and intellectual capabilities to lead. Some have even distorted their dates of births to below 60 just to remain in office. What is a man of 70 years and a man of 65 years doing in the public sector, or being in the judiciary, academics or what have you?
There is more than enough manpower in Nigeria. Every person above 60 years should quit the public sector of Nigeria and give our vibrant youths the chance to be in the driving seat in all public sectors and the organized corporate private sectors. To this end, we advise that the National Assembly should enact and pass a law that would open the doors of opportunity for our younger generation to be more involved in the political scene.
They should also ensure that such enacted law is implemented to the latter. There are lot of unemployment gaps across the country which can also be addressed with the older generation quitting the stage to allow the younger Nigerians to take over the affairs of this country fully at all levels, including the organized corporate private sector.
Though, some might say and argue that the US are allowing and making use of the older generation to be in the driver’s seat of that country. But if we look at it carefully, there is absolutely no need to compare, because those in the US, despite being old, still update themselves with the prevailing trends. Take the US current President, Donald Trump, for instance, if we examine him, we would see that he is not only a well-informed man, and one who writes his own speeches and does not depend on others to write for him.
But also, he is one who has succeeded in life through hard work as a businessman before going into politics and not as fronts for American politicians as we have often seen in Nigeria whereby the Nigerian businessmen are used as mere fronts for politicians in power to loot the public wealth.
Having said that, the younger generation must also be careful and start bracing up to take-up the challenges ahead. They must exhibit the ‘maturity’ and develop the ability to defer gratification and not react to years of deprivation by selling their loftiest dreams for a mess of pottage–a few dollars. They should not be too taken by material things still. It should not be all about Moet, Hennessey, Champagne, fast cars, huge mansions, and varieties of women. We see these things in the songs they sing and dance to.
They want to game the system, cheat and take undue advantage of everyone else. But ultimately, they will be shooting themselves in the foot. It is no surprise when a former Nigeria’s military head of state describes them as unfit and unprepared for leadership. A senator once said that all an average Nigerian youth cares about is watching foreign league football. So, he simply used part of the huge constituency allowance, given to him for tangible projects that could benefit people, to build a football-viewing centre.
The sad part is that the youths praised him for that. It is sad enough that most Nigerian youths are so disconnected from political happenings and government’s activities they do not know or care how they are being governed. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Eskimi, 2go, etc. show obviously Nigerian youths are “very low in quality”.
The way youth argue blindly with whatever, insult and attack each other on salient national issues shouldn’t be the reason for pride. The reason this country is moving a step forward then four steps backwards is because we lack vibrant and informed youths. The youths are supposed to be the center of gravity of the society. The youths should be the ‘life’ of a society.
The youths should be the hope for a better and brighter future of any society. And we believe that, despite the above noted prevailing circumstances with our youths, they can create the change we all so desire, if given the opportunity to do so. So, while there is need for the younger generation to inspire the older the ample confidence in them to lead this country above the 21st century, there is need for the older generation to honourably quit the stage for these young ones to be given the benefit of doubt.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes
Concluding Party……..
