Consciousness for Constructive Confrontation (I)

Anthony Kila stresses the need for Nigerian youth to be equipped for possible leadership role staring them in the face

Dear Readers, Today’s epistle is intended as an appeal for the development of a collective consciousness for constructive confrontation and it is aimed and directed mainly at the young people of this country and those elsewhere in the world.

I have had the opportunity in other occasions to go beyond the generally accepted notion of biological youths to describe and categorise young people into the socio-economically young, and psycho emotionally young. Statistics from various sources agree that biological youths based on conventional categorization (of those aged between 15 and 35 years old) form over close to 17 percent of the Nigerian population, that is over 33 million people.

This trend is about the same in Africa and most developing countries. Though underrepresented in decision making and impactful negotiating forums, statistics from various economic sources also show that this over 33 million people are also the most active in transactions and most crucial to consumption and GDP of the country.

They are the main source of most business organisations daily cashflow. Suffice to note that regardless of their socio-economic positions or earnings, this segment of the country’s population called youth generally tend to spend more frequently and more than they earn partly because they earn less than the need but also because their needs require constant spending.

Data also show that politically, this segment of the population tend to be vibrant as voice and chat activists active mainly in their social circles where they are lead commentators and analysts; their language tend to be informal, rude and brusque they go mainly for the person instead of the content of the message but they are passive in voting.

They are described as headline readers, lovers of the absurd and extreme news, loud on social media, quick to praise or attack, swift at spreading news and images often false or out of context but rarely influential in party affairs or in voting booths. Regardless of how complete or otherwise, the description summarised above is, what also matters is that it is a description done by others of the youth, not of the youth by youth.

Cultural anthropologists classify these perceptions and descriptions into two kinds: Emic and Etic. Emic is what a society or group says about itself and how it describes itself. Etic is how an observer sees a society or a group, it generalises and compares the observed with others looking for and emphasising real and functional reasons for behaviours and practices all in a context of universally constant patterns.

As one can easily predict and would indeed readily observe, Emic descriptions tend to be value led and edifying, it places emphasis on uniqueness and supremacy of self and by so doing laying its claim to share and stake holding. Please note that contrary to general usage of the terms, a stakeholder is not automatically the same as a shareholder. It is in my view that it is now time for the youth in developing countries like Nigeria to deliberately develop an emic narrative of who they are. They need to develop a consciousness they can use to confront the rest of the society for constructive purposes. The most popular consciousness is the class consciousness popularised by Karl Marx and ensuing Marxists, it is however time to go beyond Marx and move towards constructive confrontation.

Rather than fight or resist, it is time for the young to insist on building. What the youth of all shades and strands in developing countries need is not better sharing formula but more opportunities: A bigger oven not a friendlier baker. Our youths need more institutions of learning where they can earn the knowledge and crafts, they need to build a life in which they can realise the potential of their talents. Many of the too few universities in Nigeria are currently on strike as you read.

The youths need more productive environments that will allow them deploy their earned knowledge and acquired skills without the need to beg, bribe or become beholden to the powerful of the day. Notwithstanding all efforts and headlines, the prohibitive legal and illegal costs of setting up and above all running a business still make it difficult to become gainfully employed. Access to affordable and production linked finance is still a major obstacle. We need more financial institution that is willing and encouraged to invest in the future people.

Even before one can learn, let alone trade or work, one needs to be alive, it is hence imperative for the youths to pay special attention to health and infrastructure. The youths need more hospitals and more viable means of transport and communication. Yes, I agree, to build all or even any of these, the country has to be secured and yes, I agree most people want the same things mentioned so far. This call is here directed mainly at the youths because they are the ones who have more at stake and because they are the ones who at little or no cost can lead the constructive confrontation developing and underdeveloped countries need. In simple terms and in summary, the first step is to develop a consciousness that reminds them and all others of their number and capacity. Out of the over 30 million youths in this country all that is needed is just 2 million of them that can convince just 10 people each to insist on asking those leading or intending to lead government, businesses, media and religions to focus on and present detailed plans on how to build more. There is nothing wrong in being partisan but that is not enough, what really builds a society that works for most is governance. Rather than follow a part or fight another part of the all, the youth need to learn to deliberately confront all the sides with questions and suggestions. The youths need to consciously seem themselves as those that can lead the narrative and set the agenda as the most influential segment of their society. They can and must confront the rest of the society based on the quantitative valency measurable in terms of their number in the whole population and the qualitative valency measurable by their ability to engage using their natural energy and technology. Join me if you can @anthonykila to continue these conversations.