Democracy has offered several avenues for engaging the youth population in the most productive manner to develop skills towards ensuring that society has positively progressed. In doing so the future is likely to see the youth taking over the affairs of the state and continue to build on the legacies of our parent-leaders. Sycophancy can never be of any good, be it state-sponsored or individually motivated.
In recent times, Yobe and its people have witnessed an unprecedented boom in a sometime shameless display of sycophantic attitude. Sadly, a segment of society deemed this attitude as being sponsored by the state. This is but a scary development that must be rejected by all, irrespective of which side of the political spectrum one belongs. This does not in any way represents a modern democratic society.
A liberal democratic society is expected to educate its young population on every aspect of acceptable growth. This can be in pursuance of economic interests, political ideologies, and technocracy. The youth in Yobe are known to be actively involved in many national and state-wide social-political organizations. They occupy leadership roles and served impeccably, but there is a need for a coordinated effort by all of us to stand firm and challenge the prevalent sycophantic boom in the state.
If indeed the present administration is focused on enabling an environment that supports youth self-reliance, then there is a need for it to self-correct. Programs and projects must be put in place to facilitate and support the youth with the necessary skills and capital. For example, if the government is willing to support social media influencers or digital and photojournalists so that they can compete with their peers within and outside the country, they must be trained and be given state-of-the-art equipment. A reasonable person can argue that what is prevalent today in Yobe is a sort of youth exploitation by most of the senior politicians. This must be discouraged as no reasonable society can willingly set up to damage its future asset for a transient benefit of a few.
Therefore, it is pertinent for the youths to wake up and understand what politics entails and participate actively in it, based on genuinely nurtured positive ideologies. The youth must not be cajoled with the offer of some insignificant positions in government. A great government aims to create genuine job opportunities for its teeming youths, and by so doing, the rate of dangerous sycophancy, especially on social media platforms will be reduced. Recently, praise-singing for politicians is just the order of the day, particularly for those who belong to the ruling party. After all, the majority of the people of the state hold a view that these politicians are responsible for poor infrastructure in the state.
Kasim Isa Muhammad, Potiskum, Yobe State
