I attended the fifth edition of “The Bola Tinubu Colloquium” held as part of activities marking the former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu 61st birthday of last Thursday. What a time it was! For once I was in an event where the guests were not in a hurry to leave because of the issue at stake: How does Nigeria move forward?. It was also an opportunity to see that we have youths that are ready to take the bull by the horn and cause a change in this country. The theme of the colloquium “Beyond mergers: A national movement for change. A new generation speaks” was quite apt and did they speak!
Five of Nigeria’s highly-talented youths spoke that night. Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello, a civil rights and democracy activist; Femi Edun runs an investment banking firm; Kolawole Oyeneyin is a business strategist; Myani Bukar is a lawyer while Olubankole Wellington, popularly known by his stage name Banky W is a rhythm and blues singer. Edun took the podium first to address the audience made up of governors, ex-governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives and Houses of Assembly and other distinguished ladies and gentlemen. I looked around before the colloquium kicked off to see if members of my target community – undergraduates – were present but I seem not to notice any. So I quickly did a mental check and the reporter in me said I should start taking notes so that I can “address” them today on the critical issues raised.
Femi Edun, who was the lead speaker, spoke eloquently on the growing gulf between the rich and poor and the growing poverty rate in the country and the need for equity, justice and fairness. Quoting statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics and other sources and doing a comparative analysis of Nigeria and countries like Brazil which we were benchmarked with at independence, Edun stressed that we failed and proved the bookmakers who had placed their bet on us wrong. He called for a new era of change where the youths would play a role.
In an emotion-laden and passionate voice that actually moved the crowd, Oyeneyin, who spoke on the topic, “Beyond Merger- Responsibility of Older generation to the younger generation said many youths were angry with the country our leaders left for us. To him, the situation is like a time bomb waiting to explode – if nothing is done to address it.
“We are a generation that have never witness a good Nigeria and I speak for myself and people within my age bracket. We have kept so much in our heart as young people and I think time has come for us to speak out”. And speak out he did.
With a youth population of 67 million, he said it is sad that the present political structure in the country is built in such a way that the youth have been cut off from governance. But he noted that change would come if young people are brought on board, considering that they have the intellectual and human capacity to understand the time we are in and they can make politics to look “sexy” which drew laughter from the audience and every speaker after him used the word one way or another. He charged the leaders to kill the mentality that youth are leaders of tomorrow. “Tomorrow is already here”. He said the youth must be part of the ideology, stressing that they must not be left out in decision making.
Mrs. Abiola-Costello, who spoke on “Millennium Development Goals- where is Nigeria?” said the country was lagging behind in the implementation of the eight goals, but, in her view, the Southwestern states have done so well compared to their counterparts from other geo-political zones.
Bukar argued that most internal conflicts, where citizens kill one another, often arise from countries’ inability to effectively define who a citizen is. Buttressing his point, he recounted personal experience in the conflict flashpoint of Jos. He praised the effort of the National Assembly to replace state of origin with residency in the Constitution. “Indigineship should be replaced with residency; Federal Character principle should be done away with. Land ownership should be revisited,” Bukar said. He urged the youths to be interested in, and involved in the task of nation building. He praised the attempt by the opposition to form a formidable party, but warned that they should be interested in the country’s growth, failing which the youths will cease to collaborate with them.
Wellington urged the youth to be involved in the political process, by first, registering to vote, and actually voting for the right candidates. It is either they do that, he said, or they sit back and let someone else “steal your voice”. He said the youth should continue to protest peacefully against misrule, using social media as a tool. “Become fully involved in the political process. Use whatever voice or platform you have constructively,” Wellington said.
It wasn’t an entirely youth show as Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, who was chairman of the occasion is faulted the way President Goodluck Jonathan treating the threat posed by the Boko Haram insurgency. “Let’s face it. This nation is on the brink. There are those who don’t understand this, who won’t accept this. I feel very sorry that they will wake up and find out that we have fallen over the brink. It is not what we envisaged during our struggle for independence.
“It is not what we envisaged when we struggled to overthrow dictatorship and install the rights and dignity of human beings and citizens in the society. But, whether we like it or not, it has come upon us. My problem with the government right now, especially the President of this nation, is that he doesn’t seem to realise it. He has not taken the people of this nation into confidence. By now, it is my belief that the President should be addressing the nation – and in great details – explaining why, if he agrees, that this nation is at war and that certain things have to be done to ensure that we pull back from this second round of what is moving towards a civil war. That, of course, is if he and his government accept this,” the eminent scholar said.
There was a softer side to the colloquium as well, especially when Tinubu mounted the rostrum. In his view, Nigeria is drifting apart because “we have leadership that is dividing us more and more every day”. He called for value reorientation among the leadership and suggested a reversal to the old national anthem that de-emphasises differences. “We must question ourselves in Nigeria. I disagree with my brother and friend Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who says youth may form your own party. Politics is not economic policy where you can change a bank note. “If only to merge, some people are already forging names, and trying to prevent the creation of APC. You can imagine what you will go through”, he said.
Being the master political strategist that he is, he invited the youth to “come and join us. You see, with a wife like this (pulling Senator Oluremi his wife closer), is politics not sexy? Join us, its sexy here on our side”. This drew a prolonged laughter from the audience.
He hammered on the point that the issue is not so much about age as having the capacity to perform. “On your side, it is a challenge that you have to face. It’s not a question about age. We have seen example of age. The present President is a young man, but he has been appointing an 83-year-old man to be chairman, not just of board of trustees, but of Ports Authority where high decisions, articulated, modern, 21st century information technology are needed. How do you modernise? So, youth belong here.
“We can see the live tweets of this event (the event was being tweeted live and beamed on the screens). So, it’s not about age. There are a lot of educated relics. I have not seen anything higher than Ph.D. in the academic curriculum of universities. So, we have a Ph.D. man (holder) there now. What will do it for you are strong determination, perseverance, courage and boldness. If we fail to join the movement, we’ll fail to continue to interrogate our leaders, and fail to do what you did during the oil subsidy removal.”
And what is the conclusion? The youth have the numbers and the strength, but not the deft political strategy needed in a clime like ours; that is where a synergy of the old and new becomes imperative. And with what I saw that night I think it is more “sexy” on this side.
