Youths and struggle for relevance

SIR: The recent unveiling of the much-awaited ministerial
list of President Muhammadu Buhari has generated
much controversy as much as the waiting. The issue that
is of concern to me as a youth is the brouhaha about the
marginalisation and non-inclusion of the vibrant Nigerian
youths whose contribution to national development and
political advancement of the nation is undeniable.
Obviously the non-inclusion of the youths on the list
cannot be justified by whatever reasons because the
youths of this nation have proved beyond reasonable
doubt their capacity and capabilities to contribute
meaningfully to national development as available
records of achievements has shown that the youths of
this country both in the private and public sector as well
as at national and global stage are resourceful.
But as much as we want to criticize the Presidency for
this inexcusable neglect of the youth, it is important to
remind the youths that the much awaited tomorrow
which they are the leader may never come if we continue
to be a tool in the hands of politicians and political
jobbers as instruments for winning elections, while also
justifying wrong acts because of ethno religious
sentiments.

According to Robert Nef: “Those who nourish the hope
that it will be possible to keep central government free of
the corrupt tendencies of power and to staff it with a
freedom-loving elite, overestimate the virtues of both the
electorate and the elected, and underestimate the
normative power of structural processes even over well-
intended functionaries”.
I want to use this medium to remind fellow youths who
shared the same emotion of marginalisation and grave
betrayal of the youths of this nation by the ruling class
who have held sway to position of leadership for
decades and denied the youths of their tomorrow, that
freedom is never given; it is taken and with the practice
of democracy in Nigeria, the youth has the power
through unity of purpose, active participation and the
ballot box to cause a change and take their rightful
position in the political arena of the country.
“Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power
of a community is a mass compound of individual
powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must
necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most
powerful nation”. John Quincy Adams
Akintunde Martins