By Funmilola Ajala

The long drawn out process of tinkering Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution has brought to the fore, the allure to correct the innumerable inconsistencies embedded in the military-cooked script.

As applicable to virtually every item on our national menu, the amendment of the defective Constitution, as being managed by the Legislature, has divided Nigerians, with those against the move labelling it a mere ‘panel-beating’ experiment to revive an archaic automobile.

Amidst the seemingly unending – and somewhat confusing – oscillation of this argument among the political constituents, the legislature at the centre adamantly forged on, culminating in an electronic vote by lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly, recently. And if anything, the action of the lawmakers did very little to sack the negative perception prominent among the army of doubting ‘Thomases’ out there. More so, when some of the thorny clauses in the Constitution appear in direct nexus with covert attempts to solidify the position of the Legislative arm of government.

In all of these, of immediate concern to the Nigerian youth is: (i.) the downward review of the obligatory age attainment for electoral contests in the land; and (ii.) introduction of independent candidature. And rewardingly, the cacophonous vocalisation being trumpeted by youth activism – unified under the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign – could not be ignored by Apo Quarters’ landlords, as the clauses passed with lesser qualms.

As these young paladins continue to celebrate what is, of course, a commendable bargain in the political market, it is equally instructive to caution them against being consumed in the euphoria.

One is forced, thus, to inquire: Are the Nigerian youth ready for power?

If all that is needed to occupy elective positions in a democracy – at least in the Nigerian context – is sheer willpower and scholarship excellence, then, one can hardly discard the undeniable fact that younger Nigerians are holding their own in virtually every field of human endeavour, the world over. In what is fast becoming a consuetude, products of Nigeria’s struggling education system now graduate top of many renowned Ivy Leagues in the West.

Unfortunately, it seems that is where it ends.

It is evident that the inability of youth to transit from mere tools in a cynically cyclical political enclave like ours remains the greatest impenetrable wall inhibiting the realisation of that dream to wrestle power from the old guards. To a shrewd mind, the fundamental challenge here goes beyond a reluctant submission to lowering age criterion alone.

To start with, few young Nigerians whose shot at power have succeeded, especially since 1999, were able to justify the argument that youth are anything but different when entrusted with power. From the word go, Salisu Buhari plunged the country into political chaos with his infamous Toronto certificate saga amongst other fraudulent acts. Not to mention the likes of Anyim Pius Anyim, Dimeji Bankole and a certain Farouk Lawan – all relatively young but riddled with allegations of financial improbity – while their stints as principal members of both the Senate and House of Reps lasted. At the moment, Kogi’s Yayaha Bello is the youngest State Chief Executive in Nigeria, at 42. Sadly, his administration, so far, enjoys notoriety for unrestrained appetite in fighting almost everyone in sight – from politics to education, to civil service, and so on.

Ask a 35-year-old Nigerian on the streets of Lagos or Abuja why he/she thinks age limit (over the years) hindered youth from rescuing the system from the old, conservative plutocrats at the helm, and don’t be too shocked that his/her response would be incomplete without referencing French President, Emmanuel Macron. Regrettably, such respondents are often armed with sickly ignorance of the trajectory of the 39-year-old and how he combined his relative academic brilliance with administrative apprenticeship to garner enviable political clout through years of service as Minister under President Francois Hollande.

The unconvincing nature of how, exactly, age limit translates into a barrier at assuming public offices, perhaps ignited former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s plea that young Nigerians should not wish the old “dead”; even as he further stressed that his greatest apprehension lies in the possible implosion which the “anger and frustration of the youths,” is capable of costing Nigeria.

To submit that youths in Nigeria are eternally incapable of being trusted with political offices is tantamount to suggesting that the country, itself, does have no future. However, the narrative must, henceforth, tilt towards engendering an orientation that these hugely talented individuals can do more within their immediate communes and blossom to higher grounds, politically. A situation where an 80-year-old Pa Lateef Jakande would defy rains to vote in Lagos State local council polls while a gang of able-bodied youths – with profound biceps – was pictured downing bottles of beer in the midst of flood, on the same day, speaks volume of the appreciation or otherwise of what is at stake.

In the end though, one has to agree that the currency of this debate is a towering plus for youth emancipation in Nigeria. Nonetheless, we should divorce from the anoesis that this represents the ultimate victory for the youth who, having challenged the status quo, need to prove – beyond occasional rhetorical eruptions – that they are truly deserving of the scarce trust from the electorates.

In an address at San Diego State College, in June 1963, American President, John F. Kennedy said, “No country can possibly move ahead, no free society can possibly be sustained, unless it has an educated citizenry whose qualities of mind and heart permit it to take part in the complicated and increasingly sophisticated decisions that pour not only upon the President and upon the Congress, but upon all the citizens who exercise the ultimate power.”

Younger Nigerians should realize that power is earned and not given.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

*Ajala, a journalist and tweets @ajalatravel07