Age and politics in Nigeria

Age and politics in Nigeria

I have refrained from commenting on the noise about power shift based on generation for sometime. This is not because I have nothing to say but because I find the whole scenario funny and unprecedented in the annals of human history. There is nothing wrong in being the first. In fact, it will be nice if we can claim primacy in one field. The idea of a generational power shift is based on the apparent non-performance of those in power and who are deemed to represent a certain age bracket or a generation. Those under 50 feel it is their turn to try their hands at the helm of affairs. As J.F. Kennedy said after the Bay of pigs fiasco in 1962, "success has several fathers failure is an orphan". If the over 50 generation had succeeded, perhaps there would have been no agitation for a generational shift. This vicarious culpability by all of us for the non-performance of my generation is what makes me appeal always for our governors in Yorubaland particularly the man in Oyo State to rise up to the occasion. The roads in Oyo State, particularly in Ibadan remain unmended and the garbage uncollected. What will happen during the wet season? I love Lam Adesina. We suffered in our different concentration camps during the Abacha regime. This is why I am so sad about his non-performance. If money is the problem, he should constitute a committee to review the revenue base. I challenge him to make me the Chairman, I promise I will double the revenue of the State in six months. There is no magic about it. The traders and self-employed people do not pay taxes. House owners and landlords do not pay tenement rates. Imagine how much can be collected from these sources alone. People will pay provided there is service. We thank God for Segun Osoba, nobody can say he is not performing. Yes, Tinubu is doing well, I suppose the under 50 can claim him.

Akande has problems, so does young Adebayo in terms of inadequacy of resources to embark on infrastructural development of their young sisterly States. The point to make is that non-performance in Yorubaland is not the preserve of the over-50 generation. The same thing can probably be extrapolated for the whole country. I agree that the likes of Chiefs Oduola Osuntokun, Remi Fani-kayode, Anthony Enahoro, Bode Thomas, Ayo Okusaga, Maitama Sule, Waziri Ibrahim, Raymond Njoku, Mbonu Ojike and others were in their 30s when they were saddled with ministerial responsibilities before and immediately after independence. Times have changed and experience is known all over the world as the best teacher. Where were the under-50 crowd when Abacha was brutalising us? Many of them like, Governor Orji Kalu were in the Abacha chorus of life-presidency and others were actively involved in forming the five political parties described as "five fingers" of a leprous hand. I recognise excellence in many of the under 50s and members of PAM and they deserve to be heard. They should join existing parties or form new ones, they cannot ride to power on the backs of non-performance of the over 50 people who have become the bete noire of current political discourse. Some of the young governors, and there are many of them, must demonstrate ability of performance rather than trying to hijack ethnic leadership through crying the loudest about ethnic marginalisation.

Some of the young people in PAM refer to William Hague, the leader of the Conservative party in England who assumed leadership of the party when he was in his late 30s as an example worthy of emulation. Nigeria is a plural society that would not permit such meteoric rise. There are the equivalents of Hague in Nigeria but would our system allow their emergence? How many of us in our 50s have had the opportunity except tangentially to demonstrate what we can do. My generation spent the better part of our lives under the jack boots of the military. Yet, we are now the butts of the attacks of our younger brothers, nieces and nephews. It is my hope and wish that we would have a thousand points of light and that a thousand flowers of ideas will bloom and that from this, Nigeria will find something workable and enduring.

A political organisation based on age would only polarise the polity. Ideas are ageless, what we need in Nigeria are ideas and commitment. These are not age bound and no generation is short of ideas. I personally would like to lead this country if given the chance. I do not see my being over 50 as a disability. I have also seen young people given chance to grow in many countries. By the time Blair leaves office, he like Clinton will be under 55. The South Korean President came to power at the age of 76. Ronald Reagan was President of the United States in his 70s. Winston Churchill and Frank Delano Roosevelt were in their late 60s as wartime leaders during the Second World War. What we should be criticisng is recycling the same people over the last 40 years. A country of 120 million is not short of people, if we have tried some people and they have not made a difference we should try others.

Before the ink dries President George W. Bush has dug out from their political graves the men of yesteryears and has appointed them into his cabinet. What will our young Turks say? Personally, I think Bush should not have brought these old warriors back into politics. Well, maybe America can afford it. We in Nigeria need new blood and this could be young or old. I can only wish PAM and NIG success in what is bound to be an arduous task. As a non-politician egghead, I am available as a consultant if they need one. There is one thing or the other this writer of experience knows about Nigeria which age will not permit the PAM people to know. As for the NIG they should not be taken seriously. The power they currently have, need to be used for the enhancement of our lives so that we can move from wretchedness to life more abundant as Obafemi Awolowo, an under 50 premier of Western Nigeria in those days of yore, would have said.