A nerve-wracking wait for a place at the table

The youth they say are the future of every nation, but this statement has often got me wandering if the Nigerian youth has been obliterated, merely because a few people have decided to treat this great nation like a business enterprise rather than a country.   For a very long time I’ve gone to sleep […]

The youth they say are the future of every nation, but this statement has often got me wandering if the Nigerian youth has been obliterated, merely because a few people have decided to treat this great nation like a business enterprise rather than a country.  

For a very long time I’ve gone to sleep at night each day with a hope to wake up the next day to a Nigeria where people with talents get a chance, a Nigeria where opportunities based on merit are available for each citizen, a Nigeria where there is increased youth participation in the political system, a Nigeria where leaders know that honesty and integrity are the foundations of nation building, a nation where leaders stand up for what they believe in and give honest promises that they can follow through.  

Unfortunately, for more than 20 years, I’ve woken up to the same badly-governed Nigeria that I met as a toddler, with its abandoned and desolate citizens, a Nigeria where democracy simply means holding elections so that the highest bidder emerges as the winner, a Nigeria that has deliberately refused to mentor its youths or give them a place at the table to contribute and pull the country outside the selfish gridlock of “national cake” sharing, to a place of strategic greatness.  

It really touches a nerve to see how our Nigerian leaders whom we once looked up to for solutions have intentionally failed us. It is common knowledge that honesty and integrity are the hallmark of visionary leadership, and integrity means telling the truth even if the truth hurts. Sadly, our leaders set policies and make cogent meaningful laws, but refuse to live by these policies and to obey the rules and laws that they have made.  

Nigerian youths are angry and anxious for a revolution, but where do we draw the line? At what point do we finally speak up and do something about the current situation of lack of employment, insecurity, and lack of inclusion? Where do we go from here? These are questions that have been asked so often that they have over the years become rhetorical.  

There is despair in the land and we’ve waited for too long, but despite the nerve-wracking state of affairs, I urge my fellow youth not to allow these unanswered questions to drive us into a state of hopelessness.  

We need to start somewhere and what better place to start than to first understand that we also owe certain responsibility toward our nation, which we must recognize and practice instead of blaming the system, and unless we are ready to use our energy and sincere efforts to take up these responsibilities in the process of building the Nigeria that we all hope and pray for, the real question still remains “Are we also ready to sit at the table?”  

 Nabilah Sani Mohammed