Still on ‘not too young to run’

Sir: I have heard people who travel into the Valhalla of their dreams say that what Nigeria needs now are youthful leaders who can think outside the box to develop the country. Away with the old plutocrats they say because they believe only in their interests, in a few, but not the country. Is the rot in the political entity about people or system? Is what we need in politics solely about age or also about influence and experience?

I do not have issues with the Not too young to run Act but I worry about its execution. I have to be bothered about youths in Nigeria because youths do not have power, and the dotages with power even though were once youths, have no interests in youthful matters and in the country. How then is fundamental reform possible when the old guards are, unwilling to commit class suicide? Succession planning becomes an innovation only for those with something to hide especially when the idea is to install royal flunkies into offices. What then is the problem with Nigeria? After all America was once a Third World country before the New Deal. Is the United States now a Third World country? May be our knack for private profit in politics is our bane and not the age of people who run for elective office. Even when the youths are given more opportunities, they will steal as much as the old. What then will be new?
 
I love to ask questions, could it be because of our value system, in the fact that our universities are underfunded and as such youths cannot engage in Socratic debate as was the case when Nigerian universities were great institutions, yet many poorly educated youths want to engage in Shakespearean analyses without facts and are happy at the chance to run for office without preparation. It is time we began to tell ourselves the truth. Nigeria needs a patriotic national establishment and leaders should not celebrate certain issues for the sake of allegory so as to pull the wool over the eyes of citizens.