Nigerian youths have this week been involved in the discussion of where the country is headed. As usual, most of the conversations is going on on Twitter and little offline. Even though the youths make the majority of the population, there is still a need to get the other part of the population involved.
As Nigerians we still think getting involved in politics has to do with running for office. Being an appointee, a civil servant means you are part of the government. In fact the government is run by civil servants or government workers more than politicians, the politicians are just the ‘investors’ that come with all the shiny things and try to make everything look easy and well taken care of.
Without the civil servants, the appointees, their agenda cannot be pushed the way they want to. Why do you think the unions and the likes always get visited by candidates for their support? If civil servants alone vote for a particular candidate then that candidate is halfway there, then the unions before even the general populace.
Youths need to start being strategic, get involved, speak with civil servants, know how they think and what is actually going on in those government offices. Without them we don’t even know what is going on except what we see from news channels and papers.
It is not all about the political cycle, it is about the day-to-day running of the state or nation. There are some civil servants that have been working for over 20years, that is like 3 or 4 different governors already. Now, who has the real power?
Twitter is a driver of conversations, of thoughts, of movements, but without the people on ground physically, it is just that. We need to consolidate what we can do online with how we can make the movements offline. It is not enough to urge people to vote, but on that day are you still telling people to vote? Are you there physically saying “I have voted”?
We have a long way to go but we can only get there by taking steps daily. We shouldn’t wait for the election cycle to come before we start making moves. We can start being in that room when real decisions are made so that we would be able to make a huge contribution into the shaping of this country.
it will take a while, it will not be something that can be achieved for 4 years, but it will be a move that can trigger others to identify areas where impacts can be made. The focus is to have a country for all, and that is achievable. All we need is a plan, a working plan.
