The limitations of youthful exuberance
In reflecting upon the ongoing nationwide youth protests, it must be appreciated that although the youth are justified and legally entitled to express their disgust at the current state of affairs, peaceful protests cannot continue indefinitely before they become violent. That said, it’s inappropriate to fault the youth protests. There is an adage that asks; “if a young man doesn’t behave like one when he is young, is it when he is old?” These days the majority of the Nigerians are youths brought up by their parents to know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, selfless service and selfishness. It should come as no surprise that they protest against anything, which is wrong, evil and selfish. In their youthful exuberance, they are yet to learn the sad truth that in Nigeria the beginning of “wisdom” and the road to success is to compromise all values and principles relating to decency.
The protests, initially against the murderous activities of the Special AntiRobbery Squad (FSARS) are expanding to encompass general complaints against disastrously poor governance. The sad reality is that insecurity, inflation, mass unemployment, police brutality, nepotism, tribalism, financial mismanagement, ongoing massive corruption, and total absence of timely justice are now the order of the day.
The National Assembly’s response to the increased nationwide protest was to slap Nigerians in the face by budgeting more money including “hardship allowances” for themselves! While Nigerian leaders feather their nests, use public funds to educate their children overseas, and after graduation settle them into highly paid government jobs for which they are eminently unqualified, Nigerian youths suffer an education sector in a total mess producing millions of unemployable graduates possessing no marketable employment skills.
Today’s leaders have deservedly lost the respect of the youth and must handle the situation with caution to prevent the anarchy in governance from being matched by anarchy on the streets. Nobody appears to be “leading” the protests, even though people are undeniably sponsoring and encouraging them. For now, it appears as if the main motivation for the protests is the quite understandable loss of faith and trust in government.
While the protests grow it’s evident that the government mistakenly assumed their poor performance would continue to be tolerated simply because Nigerian democracy has been reduced to the mere conduct of fraudulent elections rather than the enforcement of human rights and improving human dignity. Evidently, they were wrong. Even in the North where it is prohibited to criticise the government if the President is a Northern Muslim, street protests have erupted.
Mysteriously, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was able to quickly trace and close the account used to sponsor the protests. The same CBN has inexplicably proved incapable of tracing and closing accounts funding Boko Haram after 10 years of death and destruction! The protesting youths didn’t set out to cause chaos or destruction of property. They aren’t the usual ragtag “for hire” touts, but rather the most highly educated generation ever in the nation’s history, the most highly taxed youth ever, and yet the most side-lined in determining their future.
To be sure they should bear part of the blame for not bothering to vote and try to influence their destiny politically.
Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean they forfeited their right to be governed properly.
A cursory look at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) highlights the problem. Replete with yesterday’s men who are “Former” this and “Ex” that, they represent the past not the future!
Today’s youth belong to a generation that grew up with technology, which converted the world into a global village. They are enlightened, understand human rights, and know-how leaders should comport themselves with humility and compassion. They are justifiably irked at seeing their own leaders happily presiding over a decrepit and defunct system while rewarding themselves handsomely, and continuously singing their own praises despite negative worldwide assessments of their incompetence and insensitivity.
As can only be expected, the government has both doves and hawks. The doves like the vice-president tried to soothe nerves by tweeting an apology to Nigerians asserting that government is “aware” of the plight of protestors and is working with necessary authorities to ensure they bring change for the better being agitated for.
The hawks like the Army of Chief of Staff reportedly expressed readiness to “deal decisively” with peaceful protestors. The social media is replete with comments as to how come top Army brass can only plan to “deal decisively” with unarmed protestors, unarmed Shi’ites, and unarmed IPOB members, but not with armed insurgents who routinely massacre our gallant troops?
The government must accept that peaceful protest is a democratic right, and develop an approach to solving the problem, which doesn’t embrace suppressing dissent through the use of deadly force. It is perhaps appropriate to take into consideration Elie Wise’s legendary quote: “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
On their part, protestors must accept that finding true lasting peace isn’t an overnight matter. Whereas the protests actually represent a golden opportunity for the government to take on board reasonable suggestions and bring about the profound meaningful change, which they promised when campaigning but have been unable to deliver, this is unlikely to happen as the government’s mindset is firmly stuck in the past.
Perhaps, the most naive claim made by the youth protestors is that generations preceding them did nothing to improve Nigeria. They are mistaken. It was youths, not old men, who fought for independence, carried out the first and numerous successive coups, fought the civil war, and participated in the June 12 riots and pro-democracy movements.
Meanwhile, here we are in such a mess today! The truth is that each generation faces its own challenges. When the current protests eventually end, one way or another, youths must learn the virtues of patience and correctness. Perpetual street protests aren’t an acceptable manner of proceeding no matter how incompetent, uncompassionate and corrupt a government is. Their future is best secured by registering to vote and changing things through the ballot box. While it’s true that continued uninspired governance cannot solve the nation’s problems, neither can spontaneous actions by young men. Indeed, while youthful exuberance is commendable, there are serious limitations to its benefits!