By Whyte Habeeb Ibidapo
Just like the thought of Micheal Moszynski on Ben Murray-Bruce that it is Common Sense that the common man should finally share in this prosperity and if not we will see a different type of Revolution that will make what happened in France over 200 years ago look like an amuse bouche. I have always advocated for a proper revolution from the Nigerian Youth constituency. When I mean revolution, I do not mean revolution that comes with altercation of flesh and blood but the one that comes from the mindset. A mindset that is breed on good guts for development and compounded with intellectualism devoid of sentiments, hatred, ethnicity and bigotry. I still maintain irrespective of the change mantra that we are witnessing, some set of leaders are still using us to play a game of ludo. They throw the dice and whatever comes out of it is for their immediate benefit. So sad, the youth constituency still red carpets them upon their crimes. There is a loss of responsibility within the Nigerian youth constituency. We are very eager to cast blame on our leaders for actions and inactions that we tolerated from them.
Most of our leaders that we found their lives enviable have made a way for themselves and that of their children either through legal or illegal means. They have what it takes to live the dream we long throat for. They have what it takes to shut us out of the existence of reality as far as governance and politicking is concerned. During their youthful age, heaven smiled at their agitations in the inclusion of governance, they feast heavily on the dividends of governance. The more lucky ones wine and dine in business with ease. The economy that the then leaders before the Fourth Republic afforded was favourable enough to see them triumph as world class merchants. Under the shield of being a Nigerian, the struggles of better life and acceptance in the International community was overwhelming. Life was not easy though but they had a strong will that is missing within this day Youth Constituency in Nigeria. What is missing today is the common sense that is common with uncommon usage. The only common usage of our common sense mostly thrives on illegalities and this is the point where most leaders note as an excuse of denying us what is ours. Little wonder, in the year 2015, on the 13th day of October, the Vice President through a tweet attributed to him via the handle @ProfOsibanjo said that, ‘we could not find some outstanding Nigerian youths to form cabinet is a challenge to our youths to brace up #MinisterialScreening’’. This statement is not only embarrassing to the Youth constituency but emotionally harassing because it has in all attributes an iota of truth. The iota is just the way and manner in which we have presented ourselves. The elders’ due is our doom
I guess the marginalization of the Youths by themselves is a typical Nigerian Youth business. We do things mostly for crooked profits or benefits. We do not put passion on things that would make us better in the world at large. We are good to a large extent at procrastination, make undue profits and swagger. Our love for complaints is so great that many of us do not see beyond getting a white collar job after university convocation. I can imagine a whole lots of complaints been made by our constituency towards this present administration. Most complaints directed to this administration is coming from us and I keep wondering what have we done as youths to ease the burden of this administration. How many of us have applied common sense in starting small scale businesses to help grow our economy. And those of us that have started, how are we hoping to sustain and make the best out of it. To those that have not started, how are we encouraging those that have started? Are we patronizing the locally made goods? How are we helping our naira to grow when we do not even patronize our own locally made goods? Our love for foreign made goods is alarming. We are growing another country’s economy from every single purchase of goods we make. Unfortunately, most of what we purchase are made or initiated by youths in those countries. Their initiative to the development of their economy makes them to be relevant in governance and decision making processes. They dictate because of their firm involvement in development of their countries. That is why they have a proper leadership template to ride on. How many of us have given wide range of suggestions to the present administration as to what the youth constituency needed. How many of us are tapping from the neglected sectors of our economy irrespective of our university degrees? How many of us? Our application of the common sense message by Senator Ben Bruce comes to place at this point.
If common sense is required by the Youths of this country to make life easy for them, I would want to believe that common sense is also required by the government at all levels to create an enabling environment where businesses can triumph. Our economy could even be said to be sick at the moment. Anybody that fails to see this may be living in denial. This is not about party or interest group affiliations; it is about the reality of the moment. No youth, and I repeat no youth of this country can compete favourably when he/she is been denied of basic amenities that can make him/her function well. Senator Ben Bruce has put it rightly as he had urged the government and the party in power to have an ear to the ground and soup up advice. Who knows where the solution to our economic situation will come from if not from the empowered youths? It is time for the government to adopt brain infrastructures and not tired and old machineries. This is the common sense to economic progress. The youths!
(WHYTE HABEEB IBIDAPO is a Lawyer, United Nations Award winner, Africa International Arbitration Award winner, Coca cola/ The Nation Campuslife Award Winner, Promasidor Runner-up for the Best Future Writer in Nigeria, i-Hustle Campaign Initiative – Ambassador and Editor – Egba Youth Awards Foundation.
Email: whyte287@gmail.com
@whytehabeeb