When I heard the news that the senate is deliberating on a bill “not too young to rule”, I leaped for joy. But my joy was short lived by my own very thought, the thought that experience matters made me sober and then I asked myself do the young have the needed experience to govern, do they have the financial strength to contest for political post, this among other things are issue to be considered and discussed .
Tell me the experience a young man of twenty six years (26 yrs) of age has to govern a state, let me quickly point this out to the supporter and pundits of the not too young to rule theory, that democracy is a government of experience, nowhere in the world is a democratic state placed in the hand of relatively young people.
Let me remind us, because reference will be made to Yakubu Gowon and the likes, that they seized power through the barrels of gun and were not democratically elected, they were soldiers .
Fast forward to this era, Gowon would not have ruled his state let alone ruling this country at that tender age. As an undergraduate I participated in politics and from my little rapport with student politics I got to understand that governance is all about experience and nothing more. As one of the candidate that contested the N.S.A.S.A (National Sociological And Anthropological Students’ Association), one of the militating factor against my ambition was the issue of experience, and my opponent and eventual winner took full opportunity of this to edge me in that election as he goes around as the incumbent general secretary of the association.
I was just coming from the man known and called “EXACTLY”(MY NICKNAME), and straight to the presidency, if I had won the election as at then I would have had problems which may likely be wanting to be manipulated by those who probably know the game better and how it is being played. Things should not be getting twisted am not trying to discourage the young from ruling but am just proving a point. Let us take a clue from the united states, the 44th president of the united states of America Barack Obama was a senator both on the state and federal level before attaining the presidential seat of the u.s.a, Bill Clinton was a former governor of the state of Arkansas before becoming the president of the united state of America, and before being a governor he was the Attorney General of the state of Arkansas, N.B (At the age 46 he was the third youngest president of America behind Theodore Roosevelt and John . F .Kennedy) and at the age of 32, Bill Clinton was also the youngest Governor the country ever had then.
Let us go to the recently recent case and a perfect example for this issue at hand, Emmanuel Macron who happens to go into the books as the youngest president in the history of France, many know him as a 39 years old president of France but not many know that he was formerly a minister of economy out there in the French republic and prior to that he was the deputy secretary general of the office of the president, all this post and experiences really prepared him for the greater challenge and the experience of being a president. My point is this, a democratic system is one that needs experience for effectiveness and these experiences do not just come but by occupying positions and the youth may be too young to fill those positions hence not having the desired experience to rule.
But if a 22 years old man is elected the councilor of his ward for 4 years and thereafter contest for chairman of his local government or if due to his scorecard and performance may be appointed as S.A to the governor on youth matters or personal assistant to the chairman of his local government, if this progression is followed we will discover that before this young man attain or reach the age of 35 or 38,he might have gathered enough experience needed for further and higher political post, just as the case of bill Clinton in the United State of America, where he was the youngest state governor in the united states as at then but he definitely has the experience because he was formerly the attorney general of the state. Another limitation to the not too young to rule theory in Nigeria is the issue of financing, how do the young intend to get finance for campaign and the whole electioneering process. A young man or woman who is just five years or more at his her place of work, would he have gathered enough to be able to spare for the sake of election considering the nature of politics and electioneering in Nigeria which should otherwise be called money tussle or game for the highest bidder.
Automatically, we know that using this criterion the young will definitely not match in the contest as they may not be financially strong enough to contest. This will lead us to another important aspect which is also a kind of limitation as it affects a lot of things and subsequent performance. God fatherism which entails a candidate being sponsored by a rather hidden figure, which will in turn bear all the cross of the candidate contesting but there will definitely be an agreement between the two party depending on the two party of individuals involved. Such agreement do bind on the eventual performance of the candidate if elected as the God father do usually make demands which are rather absurd and unattainable as they almost want to control all the aspect of governance.
Let us not get confused but rather be true to ourselves, let have a picture of barrack obama five years after leaving Harvard school and he became the president of the United State of America or a picture of Emmanuel Macron six years ago and he is the president of the French republic what will their scorecard be, how would they have piloted the affairs of their respected countries at that relatively young age with little or no experience and the dream would have been almost unachievable as they may not have had the needed financial strength to contest as at then.
In the same vein let us picture Nigeria in the hand of 30 years old democratic president, how will that unlucky man fare as the president or a Governor of one of Nigeria state. power is intoxicating, money itself is intoxicating what do we now expect to happen when we place a relatively young man in a position where he gets both power and money simultaneously and not just power but an absolute power, power they say corrupt and absolute power corrupt absolutely. At this junction I will like to call on those clamouring for not too young to rule to add an age specification to their agitation so we’ll know what to expect and who is to contest and what they are to contest for.
Not too young to rule: is it one where an eighteen years old can vie for the post of the president or is it one where a twenty two years old can vie for the post of the president of the senate, because we need to set the record straight else this limitation will keep posing a threat to the youth population. But all this barriers and limitations can be getting rid off if an early participation is encouraged through constitutional amendment and reforms.
The call should shift from not too young to rule to a more inclusive youth in the system, governance, and every day running of the country and an early participation and recruitment of youth in the politics of the country especially from the grassroots.
And those at the helms of affairs and those at the corridor of power and the custodians of the constitution both at the federal and state level should endeavour to do the necessary constitutional amendment that will aim at removing all the barriers and limitations associated with the youth participating in governance so as to encourage early participation of youth in the politics of the country.
GOD BLESS MY COUNTRY, GOD BLESS NIGERIA!!!
BY FOLARIN JOSHUA
