Nigerian Youths Awake to Vote

Mohammed Kolo Mohammed makes a clarion call to Nigerian youths to be alive to their civic responsibility to determine the type of leaders they want by taking active part in the political process; first by registering as voters

Nigeria youths are yet to regain recognition to participate fully into the Nigeria political system. Nigeria became a democracy again in 1999 after several years of military dictatorship. Expectations were high from citizens at the beginning but about 15 years after, both scholars and citizens are questioning the validity of claims of democratic success in the face of flawed processes and policies.

Although certain level of macro-economic achievements appear to have been made, it seems that crisis in citizens’ welfare and insecurity in the country, especially in North-central, North-east and Niger-delta region of the country have thrown up issues of the quality of democracy where good governance, accountability and transparency count. In short poverty, unemployment, insurgency, banditry, killings, kidnapping of expatriate workers, intercommunity violence and general state of insecurity have gradually become the conspicuous features of Nigeria. It then appears that democracy is rare for most of Africa, especially Nigeria.

In any good sense of the word “democracy” in terms of its ability to bring changes to the living conditions
of citizens, it is a form of governance that holds the truth that the people are the most important in a society. This implies that both civic engagement of citizens and responsiveness of the state to citizen’s involvement and demands
are key ingredients in any democratic setting. It furthermore seeks to examine, based on direct observation and grand narratives found in literature, the missing link in the actualization of citizens’
aspirations in the claimed democratic states of Africa, focusing on Nigeria. The question is, are the youths ready to take the future of Nigeria’s democracy? Will the new political leaders and table shakers sponsor the youth and encourage them to participate fully into the political system of the country? Henceforth, democracy is not transparent. Good governance generally refers to the manner in which power is exercised. Sometimes, such responsibility may be secured through elections, appointments and so on.

On the other, governance is viewed as the steering or controlling of state affairs. Fundamentally, governance is the process of decision making or procedure by which decision is taken by those who govern and are willing to improve the living conditions of citizens. Governance is distinguished from government, which means an institution made up of instruments through which the state governs itself by means of laws, rules and regulations implemented by the state apparatus. The quality of life of people in a democracy depends on the nature of governance in terms of how political and administrative arrangements accommodate or permit diversity of groups to participate in public decision making.

As a subset of governance, good governance depends on the basic values of accountability, transparency, justice, fairness and equity as common in the more advanced democracies. Good governance should be the goal of any government interested in improving the quality of life of its people. Moral governance, This means public service and ethics in public decision process. From the forgoing, the nexus between democracy and good governance cannot be overemphasized. In fact, it would appear that good governance is an all-embracing concept that incorporates several democratic values including representation and effectiveness.

Modern democracies require representatives that are effective at public decision making, this are the “youth”without which, the ensuing crisis of legitimacy and worsening social conditions of citizens will often result in conflicts involving groups and the state.

By simple logical extension, good governance refers to the effective,
transparent and accountable way in which such responsibility is carried
out. Conversely,bad governance refers to misrule or maladministration in
the discharge of responsibility. Therefore, a symbolic representation of the youth across Nigeria will determine the future of Nigeria’s political
system. The future of Nigeria is no doubt transparent only if the youth set out strategic plans on how to reform the electoral policies of the country.

With a youth population of 27 per cent, as reported by statista.com, Nigeria has more youth than each of the top three global economic powers – the US, China, and Japan. Unfortunately, this advantage has not significantly influenced this nation’s economic prosperity, social unity, and political stability.
It is critically essential to re-educate every Nigerian on the role of the youths in the building and development of the nation. When young people are ostracized from political processes, they contribute little or nothing to influence political decisions.

A concise outcome is the weakening of political systems, representativeness. Nigerian youths must be engaged in formal political processes and have a say in formulating today’s and tomorrow’s politics to make a long-term difference.
Inclusive participation in politics is a fundamentally democratic and political right and is crucial to building stable and peaceful societies while developing policies that respond to the specific needs of the youths.

In response, the government should negotiate with youth tech-entrepreneurs representatives where grievances will be shared, and lasting solutions will be proffered to create the supportive environment needed for technological advancement on electoral reform.
Also, more funding should be made available to tech-entrepreneurs and startups to encourage more youths to participate in technology and bring about new voting system in other to checkmate election malpractice and ballot boxes snatching.
This is a call to all youths across the
federation.