By Faith Abu
Nigeria is blessed with both human and natural resources which are supposed to be used for the good of the masses,but the political class has not allowed this to happen .Our founding fathers believed that what Nigerians needed was good education which could engender development, but that dream has not been realised. The question is what could have led to this? The challenges are many, ranging from bad leadership to corruption, lack of maintenance culture, wrong attitude to life, lack of regards for law and order among others.
For instance, Nigeria invested so much in the construction of the National Stadium, Abuja but today, the stadium is in sorry state due to lack of maintenance culture. Ideally, the stadium could have been used as a source of physical and mental development for the youth, it could also have been kept clean and used as a good source of revenue for the country, unfortunately, what we have is like an abandoned museum ,then I ask myself ,why do we build structures that we can’t maintain?
It is also a shame that Nigeria as an oil producing country cannot fix her refineries due to corruption and recycling of politicians who do not have the will power to change anything because they are self centred individuals working for their own selfish interests. We import refined products when we have the capacity to fix our refineries and build new ones
We have leaders who have nothing to offer, doing medical tourism, padding budgets, and making laws to suit themselves. How do you fight corruption when leaders fly out to receive medical treatment all the time? It sadens my heart to note that we have many well trained medical doctors in Nigeria who are looking for jobs, because politicians refused to build and equip hospitals.
The Dubai they are running to today, what do they have that people keep running there? Dubai has built a world trade centre in the desert and made their land a tourist attraction with good medical facilities employing good doctors from all over the world.
An average man in the UK can afford to buy a car and also three square meals a day and their major source of income is tax on income and education. I couldn’t help but wonder if our political elites are under some kinds of spell. Why can’t they learn from UK , Germany and other places they run to for medical tourism ?
It may surprise many to know that UK imports fruits and even clothing but the masses are comfortable , education is free for their citizens up to university level and the youths are given opportunity to work and study at the same time. What I admire about UK leadership is the service to the people. The masses decide and their votes count. They provide stipends for their unemployed youths monthly.
Our youths need to wake up and kill their non challant attitudes. We need to take our future in our own hands and say no to corruption and bad leadership else, we may never be the leaders of tomorrow. As a child growing up, there was a song that kept ringing in my head …“we are the leaders of tomorrow”. Nigerian youth should stand and say no to politicians trying to kill our potentials, looting our treasury and instigating ethnic and religious violence, while they jet out of the country with their families any time there is crisis. Their children are abroad studying while they destroy our educational system . They have nothing to offer than to loot and keep looting until the day they die
It is not a question of party politics , PDP or APC, we should look for individuals with good track records who are relevant in their communities and are not too old to rule. I see no sense in some of our politicians rushing to become senators after serving as goveenors. There is a reason for this mad rush which we all know, they are merely looking for cover.
On the issue of corruption, everybody appreciates that President Muhammadu Buhari has zero tolerance for corruption, but age and ill health have been two major obstacles to his fight against corruption. If those in position of authority are youth, they will understand the plight of the youths. Nigerian Youths, I urge us all to wake up and say no to recycled senators, governors, Rep. members, and presidents. If we are very observant, the PDP we complained about has suddenly become APC, therefore it is a cycle of the same people just changing clothes without changing their attitudes.
What have they done with all the monies they recovered? What is in it for the youths? Have they provided power, have they fixed our industries, have they fixed our refineries? These are the questions we should be asking. How do our graduates become employed when politicians have no plans for them? So sad indeed.
We need to press hard to change what is happening in our country. This is how I see it. We need to advocate for youth leaders from the local government level to the federal level and stand by ourselves . Our country needs agile leaders who believe in working for the betterment of the masses.
As youths, we need to work hard for the country to be delivered from the present state of distress and anarchy . Nigeria needs leaders who will stand by their campaign promises and deliver within the shortest possible time. Let me warn Nigerian youths that if we do not look beyond ethnicity, religious and political affiliation, we may not achieve the desired change that we want.
Faith Abu, a Nigerian youth lives in Abuja , Nigeria
