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Sunday 24 February 2019
Youth and democracy in Nigeria
THE ROLE OF YOUTHS IN DEMOCRACY
OYEDELE OPEYEMI GABRIEL
YABA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
EMAIL: OPESCO202@GMAIL.COM
Youth is best understood as a period of transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence. The United Nations, for statistical purposes, defines ‘youth’, as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to other definitions by Member States. However, the definition that uses 15-24 age cohorts as youth fairly serves its statistical purposes for assessing the needs of the young people and providing guidelines for youth development.
Youths in Nigeria includes citizens of the federal republic of Nigeria aged 18-35 years. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with one of the largest youth population in the world with about 67 million youths out of over 180 million total population. Meaning the size of the youth population in Nigeria has to be well represented in the constitutional, political and socio-economic strata of the country.
Nigeria is a democratic country and currently in its 19th year of unbroken democratic process. Over the years, youth participation in democratic and economic process has been almost insignificant, until recently in this social media age that the voice of the youth is beginning to rise. But is social media ranting enough? So many factors have contributed to the inactiveness of the youth in democratic process considering our energy and size in terms of population and online presence. Our parents told us before now the dangers of getting involved in the democratic process probably because of the violence involved. But let us critically look at it, who are those people involved in the perpetration of violence? The same youth! We cannot continue to fold our arms because if we don’t get involved, it will create a future we can’t be proud of. Why don’t we use this energy and seize the future now and create the one we want for ourselves and not allow the bad element amongst us destroy the future that we all envisage.
WHY DO WE (YOUTH) NEED TO GET INVOLVED IN DEMOCRACY?
Democracy has proved to be the most efficient form of government because of shared responsibility, equal representation, rule of law and citizen’s freedom to organize competing political parties, engage in political campaigns and hold elections according to agreed-upon rules.
Population: The way democracy is designed, the majority through election have the say in electing officials. The actions and inactions of these elected officials in government determine the pace at which every other sector of the economy moves. Why is this? Because democracy has given them power through election of the masses and their decision are often time met with little or no restriction. The youth must get involved because the process of putting these officials in power requires energy and our population must rise to the challenge of monitoring the process through technology and other mechanism.
Representation: Another interesting part in democracy is the fact that every part of the society must be equally represented. Decisions or laws are being made through the nation’s parliament where it is believed that every part of the country is represented. This will give the youth equal representation and they will be given opportunity to air their views and also contribute to national policy and engagement.
Trends in technology: It is no doubt that the majority of the people in tech related fields are youths. The world is going through another industrial revolution called the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and for the nation not to be left behind, the youths who are into this technology must be properly positioned to formulate ideas that will contribute to an all-inclusive democracy.
WHAT ROLES WILL THE YOUTHS PLAY IN DEMOCRACY?
The roles youth play in democracy will be broadly classified into three; constitutional roles, political roles and socio-political roles.
CONSTITUTIONAL ROLES
Long before now, the constitution itself was a barrier to youths participation in full democratic process (right to vote and be voted for), it took the coalition of some youth organizations who caused a constitutional review on the matter of age. According to the constitution before its amendment on the age of participation in politics, only those above 40 could go for the presidential ticket and 35 for the governorship ticket. But because the youth rose to the occasion and after much consultation, the law now allows for those in their 35th and 30th year to vie for either the presidential or governorship position respectively. The law now allows for full participation of youths in the democratic process. Many more can be achieved through our involvement in constitutional matters from economy to political space. We need to use our energy and population to make sure that democracy is not hijacked or jeopardized for any reasons.
POLITICAL ROLES
The reason we have so many failures in our society today is because we have elected leaders that don’t have the capacity (mental or physical) to drive home solutions that will positively affect the lives of the people. The process of emerging as a party’s candidate for any election is always mired with corruption and godfathering, this has allowed for the unqualified to get ticket as against merit and what you can do for the society and country at large. But with the involvement of youths, the process of selection through active involvement will not be overlooked because through the strength and size of the youths every process will be screened. It is believed that the youths have fresh knowledge and can develop ideas even in desperate situation through technological process and other mechanisms.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ROLES
Having looked at the roles that youths play constitutionally and politically, their socio-economic role cannot be jettisoned. Below are some of the socio-economic roles they play;
i. Labour force: As soon as a person is constitutionally recognized as a youth, they become a member of the labour force, and their manpower is something any country will want to be proud of. The youth is the driving force of a county’s economic progress.
ii. Consumers: The youth spends a lot out of their income, it prompts the manufacturers to increase the technological contents of their products. A substantial part is taken by the state in form of taxes which is used to build infrastructure and all other necessary development
iii. Business persons: Those who don’t work for others but starts their own business help the country in three ways
Producing goods and services
Creating employment
Paying taxes
iv. Change agents: Those who work for government institution ensure that state institutions are run efficiently, effectively and honestly
v. Civil Society Organizations: Those who launch the awareness and advocacy campaigns for the eradication of social evils from the country individually or by joining the NGOs, directly help the process of economic development because of strong and positive correlation between transparency and economic development.
OYEDELE OPEYEMI GABRIEL
YABA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
EMAIL: OPESCO202@GMAIL.COM
Youth is best understood as a period of transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence. The United Nations, for statistical purposes, defines ‘youth’, as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to other definitions by Member States. However, the definition that uses 15-24 age cohorts as youth fairly serves its statistical purposes for assessing the needs of the young people and providing guidelines for youth development.
Youths in Nigeria includes citizens of the federal republic of Nigeria aged 18-35 years. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with one of the largest youth population in the world with about 67 million youths out of over 180 million total population. Meaning the size of the youth population in Nigeria has to be well represented in the constitutional, political and socio-economic strata of the country.
Nigeria is a democratic country and currently in its 19th year of unbroken democratic process. Over the years, youth participation in democratic and economic process has been almost insignificant, until recently in this social media age that the voice of the youth is beginning to rise. But is social media ranting enough? So many factors have contributed to the inactiveness of the youth in democratic process considering our energy and size in terms of population and online presence. Our parents told us before now the dangers of getting involved in the democratic process probably because of the violence involved. But let us critically look at it, who are those people involved in the perpetration of violence? The same youth! We cannot continue to fold our arms because if we don’t get involved, it will create a future we can’t be proud of. Why don’t we use this energy and seize the future now and create the one we want for ourselves and not allow the bad element amongst us destroy the future that we all envisage.
WHY DO WE (YOUTH) NEED TO GET INVOLVED IN DEMOCRACY?
Democracy has proved to be the most efficient form of government because of shared responsibility, equal representation, rule of law and citizen’s freedom to organize competing political parties, engage in political campaigns and hold elections according to agreed-upon rules.
Population: The way democracy is designed, the majority through election have the say in electing officials. The actions and inactions of these elected officials in government determine the pace at which every other sector of the economy moves. Why is this? Because democracy has given them power through election of the masses and their decision are often time met with little or no restriction. The youth must get involved because the process of putting these officials in power requires energy and our population must rise to the challenge of monitoring the process through technology and other mechanism.
Representation: Another interesting part in democracy is the fact that every part of the society must be equally represented. Decisions or laws are being made through the nation’s parliament where it is believed that every part of the country is represented. This will give the youth equal representation and they will be given opportunity to air their views and also contribute to national policy and engagement.
Trends in technology: It is no doubt that the majority of the people in tech related fields are youths. The world is going through another industrial revolution called the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and for the nation not to be left behind, the youths who are into this technology must be properly positioned to formulate ideas that will contribute to an all-inclusive democracy.
WHAT ROLES WILL THE YOUTHS PLAY IN DEMOCRACY?
The roles youth play in democracy will be broadly classified into three; constitutional roles, political roles and socio-political roles.
CONSTITUTIONAL ROLES
Long before now, the constitution itself was a barrier to youths participation in full democratic process (right to vote and be voted for), it took the coalition of some youth organizations who caused a constitutional review on the matter of age. According to the constitution before its amendment on the age of participation in politics, only those above 40 could go for the presidential ticket and 35 for the governorship ticket. But because the youth rose to the occasion and after much consultation, the law now allows for those in their 35th and 30th year to vie for either the presidential or governorship position respectively. The law now allows for full participation of youths in the democratic process. Many more can be achieved through our involvement in constitutional matters from economy to political space. We need to use our energy and population to make sure that democracy is not hijacked or jeopardized for any reasons.
POLITICAL ROLES
The reason we have so many failures in our society today is because we have elected leaders that don’t have the capacity (mental or physical) to drive home solutions that will positively affect the lives of the people. The process of emerging as a party’s candidate for any election is always mired with corruption and godfathering, this has allowed for the unqualified to get ticket as against merit and what you can do for the society and country at large. But with the involvement of youths, the process of selection through active involvement will not be overlooked because through the strength and size of the youths every process will be screened. It is believed that the youths have fresh knowledge and can develop ideas even in desperate situation through technological process and other mechanisms.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ROLES
Having looked at the roles that youths play constitutionally and politically, their socio-economic role cannot be jettisoned. Below are some of the socio-economic roles they play;
i. Labour force: As soon as a person is constitutionally recognized as a youth, they become a member of the labour force, and their manpower is something any country will want to be proud of. The youth is the driving force of a county’s economic progress.
ii. Consumers: The youth spends a lot out of their income, it prompts the manufacturers to increase the technological contents of their products. A substantial part is taken by the state in form of taxes which is used to build infrastructure and all other necessary development
iii. Business persons: Those who don’t work for others but starts their own business help the country in three ways
Producing goods and services
Creating employment
Paying taxes
iv. Change agents: Those who work for government institution ensure that state institutions are run efficiently, effectively and honestly
v. Civil Society Organizations: Those who launch the awareness and advocacy campaigns for the eradication of social evils from the country individually or by joining the NGOs, directly help the process of economic development because of strong and positive correlation between transparency and economic development.
vi. Sports
vii. Education
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