Wednesday, November 5, 2014
KEYE SPEAKS:- 2015: Setting the Youth Agenda (1)
As 2015 approaches, the need for improved youth participation in elections is again being re-echoed by all those who understand the significant place of youths in national development. The 2015 elections will likely birth increased participation of youths as never experienced before given the increased political consciousness of Nigerian youths and electorates at large.
In the past one month we have seen a number of youth expressing interest to contest at different levels of government. However, their candidature and possible victory at the poll do not infer better livelihood for the Nigerian youth.
Hassan Taiwo Soweto, National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign (ERC) succinctly condemned this illusion at a recent youth symposium organized by Activista Nigeria. He said "We need to understand that change will not come simply by a generational shift in leadership or by putting a 100 youth in the National Assembly for instance. This is because it is not the age of our politicians that has made them to rule so badly, rather it is their belief in pro-capitalist anti-poor policies as the only way to run society. The youth will only be able to play a meaningful role in the task of changing Nigeria if they embrace a democratic socialist ideology that seeks to ensure that Nigeria’s wealth is utilized for the needs of all instead of the greed of a few."
Beyond giving support to their mates who are courageous enough to challenge the old ones, they must as a matter of exigency begin to set agenda for parties and candidates as we draw closer to 2015 elections.
Some ugly events in 2013 and 2014 have confirmed the poor state of Nigerian youths; oppressed, heartbroken and disappointed.
According to a survey carried out by the International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos- Nigeria, through its news organ and media resource - the Nigerian Democratic Report (NDR) on priority issues for the media ahead of 2015, 274 young people voted power supply, education, youth employment and job creation, security of lives and healthcare as their five priority issues. Indeed, these are issues of major concern to the generality of the youth in Nigeria.
Power supply has remained the albatross of the Nigerian economy. Promises by government to up power supply year in year out has remained unkept. From Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, power reform policies have failed to end the perpetual darkness Nigerians live in. Many had expected that the change of the name of National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) by the National Electric Power Policy introduced by the Obasanjo regime would mean improved power supply but not only has the various reforms failed to deliver, it has gulped huge resources.
Last year, it was revealed that the Federal Government in a bid to curtail the epileptic power situation in the country has spent about N5 trillion ($31.45 billion) from 1999 till date. But it has only been able to increase the country’s electricity generating capacity by about 2,500 mega watts over the last 14 years.
Our government has been wasteful yet unproductive. Brazil for instance recorded an investment of $58 billion in its power sector between 1994 and 2008, and it currently produces about 100,000MW of electricity. South Africa on the other hand, currently produces about 40,000MW of electricity, with plans to invest additional $37 billion over the next couple of years to triple current capacity. And we are still struggling to produce 4,000 megawatts one year after the privatisation of the power sector!
The implication of this abysmally low power supply on the economy cannot be fathomed. Many multinationals have been forced to close shop in Nigeria and move their factories to neighbouring countries with better power infrastructure. The remaining ones have had to embark on mass retrenchment of workers in the face of dwindling productivity. Even young small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SMEs) who constitute a significant percent of employers in Nigeria have had to reduce their staff strength in the face of high cost of production and dwindling profitability as a result of the huge cost of alternative power supply.
Given this unfortunate situation, it is not surprising that Nigeria's youth unemployment rate stands tall at 54%. The inference can be made that there exist a direct relationship between the youth population and youth unemployment rate in Nigeria.
The immigration job scandal was the straw that broke the camel's back. It largely exposed the unprecedented rate of unemployment in the country. How would one explain a situation in which 500,000 young job seekers applied for just 4,556 vacancies being advertised by Nigeria Immigration Service? That they had to pay N1,000 each to take the recruitment test for a government job was annoying and disgusting.
To be continued...
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EWEBIYI KEYE JAMES
Social Media Consultant and Youth Activist,
Lagos, Nigeria
07064981943
Keyeewebiyi@yahoo.com
@Keyestine
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