2007, Volume 5, Number 1
Youth Activism and The Electoral Processes in Nigeria: A Critical Appraisal
Let us cast our minds back to the historic moment in the American “Watergate Scandal”, especially at the point when former White House Assistant Gordon Strachan was undergoing questioning from Senator Joseph Montoya.Now because of Watergate, many young people are saying that public service is not as attractive as before. What advice do you have for these young people?
Strachan answered: “Stay away”.
The burden of this paper is to refute that misguided advice. The truth is that the place and participation of youths in our political process cannot be undermined, or over emphasized. For our democracy to be meaningful, stable and functional, our youths must be part of the shaping process. The youths have both a right and a responsibility to help shape the future that they will inherit and the quality of life that they will experience. It is not neat and proper for adults alone to decide on the balance between war and peace, the priorities and strength of the economy, or the health of the environment as it were. Young voices and voters are equally essential in the body polity.
As the largest demographic group in Nigeria, young people have shown a strong willingness to be more involved in policy-making. Younger generations can boost political processes and they are the ones who will see the results of the changes they wish to bring about. Youth assemblies should be given empowerment through knowledge. The core issues or essence of youth activism include the following:
- To increase political and civil participation among the young, whose faith are fixed in the future.
- Build inclusive, accountable responsive followership and
- To increase public awareness about the value of participation in democracy through the electoral process.
The Electoral Process
The electoral process is a total process that includes registration of voters, identifying the political parties to be voted for, voting, counting of votes, and declaration of election results. This process is the foundation of civil societies. A strong civil society is vital and needed to serve as the bedrock of a stable democracy. It represents the reservoir of resources -- political, economic, cultural, and moral -- to complement and, when necessary, to check the power of the state. A dynamic and diverse civil society directly stimulates social and political participation, increasing the involvement and commitment of citizens and promoting an appreciation of the obligations, as well as the rights, of citizenship. By providing many potential avenues for political, economic and social expression, a society with a rich associational life gives people a stronger stake in the social order. This in turn, creates a climate within which mutual respect, tolerance, negotiation, and compromise actually make sense, and flourish.
Nigeria claims to be democratic and seeks to prove that under the banner of representation and multi-party political systems. Elections are used as a means by which representatives and policies are decided. The choice between political parties or individual candidates is made through elections. John Stuart Mill argued that:
There is no difficulty in showing that the ideally best form of government is that in which the sovereignty or supreme controlling power in the last resort is vested in the entire aggregate of the community; every citizen not only having a voice in the exercise of that ultimate sovereignty but being at least occasionally called on to take an actual part in the government, by the personal discharge of some public function, local or general. (186) (Emphasis added)
It should be noted that the public function implies elections. This electoral process is the peaceful transfer of power and legitimate exercise of authority. It demands active, broad-based citizen participation. It is the election that actually determines who shall wield power for a number of years as specified by the constitution. According to Ologbenla (78), an electoral system may be defined as a process in which the mode of coming to power or the change of government is decided in a particular country at a given time. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, election is defined “as not only to allow the masses to participate in the electoral process but also to hold the leaders accountable for their performance in office.” And the Encyclopaedia of social sciences defines election as the process of selecting the officers or representatives of organizations or groups by the vote of its qualified members. This is different from the method of appointment or lot casting.
The electoral process in Nigeria presents a paradox because, from our theoretical formulation of the electoral process, there is nothing to imply violence, which is rife in reality. The only reason is hinged on the fact that the Nigerian state structure and those that operate its apparatus are largely petty bourgeois. This class of rulers lack economic base in the true sense, so they seek to use state power to accumulate personal power within the Nigerian political economy. Therefore, gaining access to political power is a do or die affair. Violence, assimilation and ethnicity become veritable tools employed to gain access to power and to maintain and sustain that power. There is no doubt that these scrupulous politicians often engage the services of youths to achieve their aims.
Young people in Nigeria and across the world have always led social and political movements. Today, young people express their concern for their communities through community services, their social activism manifest around issues such as the environment, joblessness and political instability. Students overwhelmingly consider political engagement as an effective way of solving important issues both in their local communities and around the nation.
Youth activism is essentially hinged on the desire to maintain a balance by accepting contrary views without resorting to violence. Indeed, young people are positive assets to political and civil society. And it is important to remark that to uphold this principle, voting for issues rather that individuals should be the reason for participation. The end product of youth activism should be to provide a forum where young people from different communities can learn to communicate with each other and express their opinions in a dialogue with local, state, and federal administrators.
Youth Empowerment through Knowledge
Empowerment through knowledge is predicated on the explicit relationship between knowledge and development, and in the conviction that it is the key element in the development of nations, peoples, communities and individuals. The term empowerment captures the true essence of development -- giving people the power, defined in terms of adequate knowledge and capacity, to decide what is best for them and to act accordingly in fulfilling their own destinies (Okwechime 51). Youths should, therefore, be given the opportunity to work for a better future for their communities through constructive and creative engagements, as opposed to the win-at-all costs mentality in the electoral process that is currently quite prevalent.
School for Democracy
Political authorities should step up activities to encourage open and frank dialogue especially where the ethnic divide is particularly deep. The aim is to provide platforms for young people to discuss their concerns within democratic structures. This way they will learn how to organize and plan various activities and find the proper tools to implement them. In other words, the youth activism assemblies will become a kind of school for democracy in the sense that tolerance will be the watchword. Youth participation in policy-making is important. Decisions taken within the framework of youth participation will make a difference at the local community level. When youth leaders are incorporated, they will take oath to fulfil their duties honourably, impartially with conscience and in accordance with the law. Plans must be made to ensure fair and transparent electoral processes with young peoples participation. It will prove and demonstrate that young people from different ethnic backgrounds can find a common language to communicate. Besides the multi-ethnic component, gender balance should also be a requirement in positive youth activism. At the youth level, women should be encouraged to seek elective offices.
Investing in Youths is Investing in Change
To enhance youth activism, the various governments should invest in the youth by having youth assemblies with thematic committees. There could be different committees for education, culture and sports, ecology and environmental protection. There should also be a committee for young people with physical disabilities. The various groups should be engaged in concrete project under the supervision of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Social Development. When done, National or general Elections will no longer appear to be a veritable source of money making. The budget of each group should be monitored and the funding for these projects could come from donor agencies. Developing a better understanding of young voters is an important first step in a young voter campaign strategy of the electoral process. A critical part of encouraging youth activism is visiting their turf. School programs, debates, workplaces, community centres, churches, clubs and school sports events all should be venues for investing in youth the necessary positive change in our polity.
Investing in youth will be incomplete if the political gender inequality is not addressed. The Ministry of Women Affairs should begin working with young women to stimulate greater participation in the election process. Young women activists should be trained and retrained for election related skills. They should also conduct focus group research to assess women’s attitudes and assist parties in developing strategies to target this audience in the lead-up to electoral processes. Women should play more active roles in the efforts to reduce corrupt electoral practices, promote voter awareness and empowerment in the political process.
Improve Political Party Communication
The increasing reports of random political assassination, referred to as Armed Killing on Duty (AKD), attests to the public’s dissatisfaction with governance in the country and the electoral process in particular. It is becoming clear that a majority of Nigerians believe that their expectations have not been met. There should be improved political party communication to address the traditional lack of activity between elections. Particular improvements should be external and internal communication and communication within the governing party. The goals are to help parties develop active dialogue with the electorate through national and local media and direct voter contact. It will also promote internal party democracy by encouraging regular and frequent communication within the parties at all levels.
Youth in Politics Internship Program
As part of youth activism, they should learn and acquire the skills for campaign management, fund raising, recruitment, party branch development, communications, voter outreach, voter contact and mobilization and Election Day simulation. There should be focused efforts on assisting youth party members to develop and implement coordinated electoral strategies and encourage voter participation.
Youth Activism and Promotion of Social Justice
Youth activities should promote social justice in the communities. Youth activism should incorporate education of themselves, colleagues, families and friends about the current and important issues facing their communities. Apathy is dangerous. Participation in the nation’s political process is a central belief within the teachings of our diverse traditions. As the nation continues to grow more diverse, - creation of more Local Government Areas/States, the need for diverse participation in the electoral process by the electorate becomes ever more compelling. Now, more than ever, this country’s leaders must hear from younger generations during the electoral process. Voter registration and participation should not merely be encouraged but stressed as an absolute necessity.
The Nigerian Youth must now wake-up and remind politicians why they are running and for whom they are fighting. Young people between the ages of 18-35 represent almost 50 percent of the voting age population in the country. If young people voted their number, they would change the dialogue about who gets what, when and how of the political pie.
In fact, now is the time for young voters to step up to the podium and let political candidates know that they can no longer ignore the concerns of young people. Youths should get educated, get registered, and ensure that future generations will always have a voice. Youth activism should aim at providing education, research and the promotion of a fair and just society. Youths should be encouraged to participate more actively and effectively in public life and decision-making. Youth activism should also engage in exchange of knowledge and expertise that would strengthen their participation in building democratic processes.
Two out of the many critical observations made by Anifowose and Babawale (2003), “That the structure of the Nigeria federation is deficient thereby creating problems for the political processes,” and, “There is the need to further expand the democratic space to ensure a truly inclusive political process”, make the need for further research into Youth Activism most essential. There is the urgent need for a research project that will explore the best practices in increasing youth civic engagement and voter participation, including culturally specific messaging, youth as a viable constituency for political candidates and peer-to peer civic engagement models.
The following can be regarded as teasers:
(1) Youth voting patterns: what ignited young people to vote in past elections?
(2) What can compel and unite young people in the electoral process?
(3) Public policy -- a new generation of political leadership: what will it take to increase youth interest in public service as a career choice?
(4) Best practices: Youths lead the way in getting their peers to vote.
Youth Activism Fraught with Violence: What is to be done?
Perhaps, one may now say that Strachans’ “Stay away” is predicated on this violence. But then, according to Prof. G.G. Darah, youth violence is the product or creation of petty bourgeois that benefit in the long run from the crises. In the wake of incidents of hazing, assassination, and insecurity of life and property, youth activism should be clearly defined.
Preventing Youth Violence
Prevention plans involving technical assistance, community-based services, inter-agency coordination and comprehensive data collection, best practices, statewide resources and collection of state-specific data should be put in place. A youth violence prevention council should be set up to study ways to reduce juvenile crime and encourage healthy youth behavior as well.
There should also be broad prevention strategies with the state department of education will developing comprehensive action plans for preventing violence in each public school, utilizing skill building and youth development strategies.
Youth Programs
Youth programs across a broad spectrum of objectives should be pursued.
- Youth development and empowerment
- Youth engagement in the civic process
- Academic enrichment and mentoring through after school programs
- Making youth programs more accessible and preventing youth delinquency and substance abuse
- Establish a taskforce to study the effects of mentoring youths in the juvenile justice system
- After school practical experiments -- produce comprehensive dropout prevention and recovery programs.
- Create a mechanism to fund delinquency prevention and intervention programs
- Youth organizations, particularly those that are community based and provide substantial benefit to them
- Establish a healthy mentoring relationship and empower youths in policy-making
- Create a youth development fund to generate grants to community based youth programs that focus on youth development
- Youth council should offer advice on matters of policy and include young people in decisionmaking
- Engage youths in the civic and political process
- Create a commission to study the scope and quality of citizenship education
- Support creative and aggressive implementation of activities to get young people involved in the electoral process
- Create an after school committee to identify best practices
- Finally, create a pilot program to involve students and youths in a simulated election -- like the mock and moot trial of law faculties at the university level
I submit here that youth activism, when applied positively, will bring positive results. When associated with violence, it points to idle hands being provided with the wrong occupation. Indeed as a matter of fact, we must believe Frantz Fanon when he tells us that each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission and fulfill it, or betray it (167).
Works Cited
Anifowose R. and Babawale T. 2003 General Elections and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria Lagos: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (EFS) 2003.
Derbyshire J.N. World Political Systems Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1993.
Fanon, Frantz The Wretched of the Earth. Translated by Constance Farrington. New York: Grove Press 1968.
Mill. J.S. “Considerations on Representative Governments” in J.B Mill. Three Essays Oxford, Oxford U.P. 1975, pp186-198.
Ologbenla .D. “Political Instability, Conflict and The 2003 General Election” in Remi Anifowose and Tunde Babawale (eds) 2003 General Elections and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria Lagos: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) 2003: pp69-100.
Okwechime Okey “Cultural Deprivation and Compensatory Education: The UBE Attempt (Panacea) in J.I. Okonkwo (ed) Journal of Nigerian Languages and Culture (Jonlac). Vol. 5, No.1, March 2003 pp.50-56.