…As youth coalition emerges to wean old aged leaders from governance
Razaq Bamidele
Lagos State hosted a gathering of vibrant youth groups from across the country on Monday, August 4, 2020.
It was, arguably, the first in the very recent times that such a large number of knowledgeable and vocal coalition of civil society and socio-cultural groups from across the country would assemble to discuss the state of the nation and chart a course for a better future.
No fewer than 60 leaders of the different groups from across the country participated in the summit held at Remi Fani-Kayode Street in the Ikeja GRA, where a new movement, National Alliance for Development (NADEV) was unveiled.
The leaders of ethnic and socio-cultural organisations from the six-geo political organisations and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) all attended the meeting, which the organisers said was motivated by the unrelenting spate of insecurity, threats to livelihood, increasing ethnic tension and weak capacity of state institutions to rekindle hope in Nigerians.
The meeting was facilitated by the Chairman, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shetima, Executive Director, Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER), Adewale Adeoye, a civil rights advocate, Auwal Rafsanjani, President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Yoruba global youth leader, Dotun Hassan, President, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Comrade Timothy Igbifa, Spokesperson, Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Abdul Azeez Sulaiman, President, Itsekiri National Youth Council (INYC), Weyinmi Agbateyinwo, former vice president, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Isa Tijani, and a host of others.
JODER, established in 1996 under the leadership of Adewale Adeoye, has been working for peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
The over 60 representatives later issued a communiqué, announcing the formation of the National Alliance for Development (NADEV).
The mandate of the group, according to the communiqué, was to stem the growing ethnic conflicts, mobilise communities and socio-cultural organisations against insecurity, corruption, lack of competence in governance, killings and banditry in Nigeria.
The members expressed strong commitment towards mobilising Nigerians from all corners of the country for a greater and prosperous livelihood as against what they described as a state of fear, despair and trembling.
“We are worried about the state of the nation. Security and livelihood is not the business of the government alone. The solution to the killings and banditry cannot be addressed by the government alone.
“The people should come together out of their own free will to engage the challenge in their own interests,” the communiqué stated.
The participants said they were alarmed at the general state of insecurity and incessant killings in Nigeria that had escalated with several communities at the mercy of murderous insurgents, marauding killers, bandits and kidnappers at unacceptable proportions that gravely endanger the peace, unity and development of the country.
They argued that the mismanagement of the national economy already approaching a second recession and characterized by a disabling level of accrued and accruing debt profile and that despite the claim of war against corruption, the highly acknowledged corruption perception monitor, Nigeria is still adjudged as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
The communiqué rejected what it called the clannish nature and approach to governance that had resulted in breeding deep divisions and inter-communal distrust.
Participants stated that the goal of the one-day summit was to forge a consensus on the formation of a unified platform for the building of confidence among Nigerians in their ability to reclaim the floundering socio-economic fortunes of the country.
The delegates said the country was witnessing unprecedented incompetence and enthronement of mediocrity in dealing with the regularity of killings and general insecurity across the country and that while the security of lives and property is the cardinal responsibility of government, the apparent failure of the country’s entire security and law and order to check the killings, which have claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions, is giving rise to suspicions of government complicity among the affected communities.
The new movement regretted that the more than 3,500 lives had been lost to banditry since 2017 with the number of internally displaced persons, rising to about four million at present.
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On the economy, NADEV noted that today, the economy is characterised by such massive youth unemployment, a rising level of poverty and instability, that Nigeria was recently announced as the poverty capital of the world. In addition, Nigeria’s ranking on the human development index is one of the lowest in the world standing.
It said the risk of inheriting an accumulated and accruing debt burden negotiated by the government in absolute secrecy and spent without due transparency and accountability or commensurate development projects constitute a source of worry for many Nigerians.
“Under the weights of these strangulating and ruinous debts, all the fundamentals of our already ailing economy are seriously beginning to dither.
“The high percentage of our dwindling national revenue that is now devoted to the repayment and servicing of these loans is to put it very mildly, strangulating and unsustainable.”
The meeting also observed a trend of shielding and protection of certain powerful corrupt politicians and friends of government with some facing scandalous graft cases from answering to lawful scrutiny while targeting and subjecting perceived rivals and voices of dissent to unfair treatment, harassment and blatant victimisation.
They condemned in a strong term, the manifestation of systematic manipulation of the electoral system and undue exploitation of the political party system that perpetuates electoral malpractices, incompetence and political brigandage.
The meeting observed that the generation of young Nigerians within the age bracket of 20 to 55 years have risked their fate by leaving their collective destiny in the hands of aged leaders, who have constituted most of the nation’s problems and are clearly out of ideas.
“A unanimous consensus was reached on the imperative of mobilising the young generation of Nigerians as critical stakeholders to rise and take their destiny in their hands by forming a vanguard to challenge the observed entrenched fascism and perpetuation of ineffective and unfocused people in power.
“The young generation of Nigerians are urged to insist on the emergence of visionary and dynamic leadership, which will effectively deal with Nigeria’s security and economic challenges, and ensure good governance in the country.”
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The meeting demanded the immediate revamp of the security architecture of Nigeria to ensure the removal of marauding killers from the communities they have occupied and return same to their rightful owners, who now live in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.
The participants also called on the Federal and State Governments to “address the root cause of poverty among other things, including but not limited to poverty, exclusion, unemployment, human right violations and weak institutions.”
Other groups at the meeting were Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Oodua Liberation Movement (OLM), Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC), Agbekoya, Peace and Development Project (PEDEP), Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), Labour movement, women’s groups, students and farmers associations from across the country.
Although the summit played down politics and the 2023 election to the extent that some contributors at the meeting who veered into political postulations were cautioned, The Nigerian Xpress learnt authoritatively that the hidden focus of the meeting was how to show the door to the old and aged people from the political arena.
A source, who prefers anonymity, confided in The Nigerian Xpress reporter that, the essence of the meeting was contained in these three paragraphs thus:
“The meeting observed that the generation of young Nigerians within the age bracket of 20 to 55 years have risked their fate by allowing their collective destiny in the hands of aged leaders who have constituted most of the nation’s problems and are clearly out of ideas.
“A unanimous consensus was reached on the imperative of mobilising the young generation of Nigerians as critical stakeholders, to rise and take their destiny in their hands by forming a vanguard to challenge the observed entrenched fascism and perpetuation of ineffective and unfocused people in power.
“The young generation of Nigerians are urged to insist on the emergence of visionary and dynamic leadership which will effectively deal with Nigeria’s security and economic challenges, and ensure good governance in the country.”
According to the source, the above was to bring to reality the insistence from the youth’s quarters that anybody above 70 years of age in 2023 would not be allowed to become president of this country. He said the summit was to prepare the ground for that through bringing together like-minded youths to strike a common chord in 2023 by unanimously supporting the younger generation to take over the mantle of leadership.
“You know the population of the younger generation triples the number of sit-tight leaders. So, if we can speak with one voice, 2023 would be the end of political careers of those great grandparents parading themselves in the corridors of power,” he disclosed.
NADEV, in its subsequent meetings, The Nigerian Xpress was told, would be discussing clear strategies on how to ease out the older generation in 2023.
