Ife Adebayo: Why we should support the #30PercentOrNothing campaign (Y! Politico)

by Ife Adebayo

In October 2010 at the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Congress of International Chapters held in London I gave a speech titled “Youth Involvement in African Politics”, in that speech I spoke largely about encouraging young Africans to dust off their nonchalant attitudes and get involved. Before then, I was already “doing as I say” by joining the UK branch of the Action Congress of Nigeria. Little did I know then, that my worry would shift from the apathy of the youth in politics, to the complete disregard of the elders for the youth in politics.
 
In the last few years I have engaged myself in Nigerian politics both online and physically at the national, state and local government levels. I have also been a member of the ‘All Progressives Youth Forum (APYF)’ which is a youth pressure group within the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this period I have seen young Nigerians doing amazing things in their respective political parties. I have also seen young Nigerians getting involved in politics locally, participating in political activities, spending money, time and energy to make political events a success, defending their political affiliations tooth and nail on social media and basically “taking part to take charge” as is the slogan of the APYF.

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In this period I have also seen first-hand a total and blatant disregard for the efforts of the youth in Nigerian politics. I have witnessed young people give brilliant ideas to political parties and these ideas are thrown overboard. Sometimes the ideas are stolen and the stealer claims credit. I have seen young people who have contributed immensely to their local communities in healthcare, education and empowerment but are still being ignored and sidelined when it is time to contest for elective positions, they usually tell you to “wait for your time”. The question is – When will it be our time? When we are 50 years old?
 
Sometime last week I was on twitter and I saw the hashtag #30PercentOrNothing. I found out it was a hashtag by some young persons demanding 30% youth participation in governance. As can be expected with anything involving Nigerian youth there was a strong group of people totally opposed to this demand. Some say it is condescending, some say it is a lazy entitlement mentality, some even say it is just outright silly and a ploy by a political party to get youth votes. Many of my friends on social media were against it too. But I support this initiative fully.
Many people have asked me that what happens if we are not given 30%. My reply is simple – we continue to demand it while we continue to ‘take part to charge’.
 
I believe those who are against this demand have not studied how things work in Nigeria. I have heard arguments like “you should work for whatever you will get”, I know young people who have worked for positions and are not given these positions. I know young people who have run for elective posts and were simply told – no vacancy. Politics in Nigeria is still by ‘selection’ at every level. Anybody that tells you that you can become a political party’s candidate without an agreement of some sort with the power brokers in that party is lying to you.
 
In APYF we say “take part to take charge”. Presently many young people are taking part and getting frustrated. When you take part and see no changes, you bring ideas and they are trashed, you have to lobby and beg to see your leaders, then you wonder if you would not be better off focusing on your personal business instead of spending time and money with no results. It wouldn’t hurt so much if at least you could see our primary schools had roofs, if primary school children had chairs and tables, of healthcare was working, if housing was affordable, if these basic things were in place many of us sincerely wouldn’t bother. I for example would probably not have left England as at when I did. The desire for change pushes some of us to do more, but when you try and you are treated like scrap you start to wonder if it is time to demand 30% or nothing.
 
It is good to take part to take charge. I will tell you what it takes to do that. On every visit to your local government be ready to spend money for ‘the boys’, the market women, the long distance aunty who tells you how she is related to your mother’s uncle’s brother’s aunty, the man whose wife has cancer, the young boy who needs visa money to go to south Africa, the boy who is writing his project in university and cannot fund it, the woman whose children haven’t eaten for 3 days, the stories are endless.
 
The average young Nigerian earns between 80,000 naira and 300,000 naira monthly. How can you finance these local trips when you have to pay rent, feed your family, pay for healthcare etc. Asides this, to take part to take charge you need a lot of time, political meetings are usually impromptu and many times they last late into the night on different days of the week, the locations are also unpredictable, today’s meeting in Lagos, might mean you need to be in Oyo tomorrow for another meeting, then in Abuja by Sunday for a conference, how do you juggle the time for politics with your day job? How many of those against 30% or nothing actually know what it entails to take part to take charge? I don’t mean taking part on twitter, I mean taking part locally because sincerely – all politics is local. If you cannot deliver the votes then you are not taking part yet.
 
There are many examples of young people who were ‘picked’ and placed in positions, Senator Bukola Saraki, Governor Fashola, Bolaji Abdullahi just to mention a few. What we need is to have 30% of those in government to be a Babatunde Fashola. This means we are not asking that they just pick young people and foist responsibilities on them; we are demanding that the young people who have paid their dues be given a chance to make a difference. That the young people who have proven they can be trusted should be supported and mentored by giving them responsibilities.
 
If you think we can do it without the older generation deliberately stepping aside then you are in dream land. The hunger in the country at this time is so intense that they can buy their way and we do not have the funds to match them. We can choose to sit by idly and wait for the occasional Fasholas and Sarakis or we can demand 30% or nothing and spread our efforts around to move this nation forward.
 
Many people have asked me that what happens if we are not given 30%. My reply is simple – we continue to demand it while we continue to ‘take part to charge’.
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Ife Adebayo is an IT Consultant with work experience in Germany, United Kingdom and Nigeria. He currently runs his own IT firm in Lagos, Nigeria. He is an ardent believer in the Nigerian project and encourages all Nigerians to become actively involved in making Nigeria a better place.

Ife is a registered member of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Epe Local Government, Lagos State. He was an active member of the UK branch of the party, holding the post of Youth Leader for the year 2010/2011.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

One comment

  1. So this is the motive behind 30% or nothing. I have some questions, what is the definition of youth? Is there a age limit? I hear the youth leader of the APC is over 50years old? Also, I believe an entitlement mentality is what corrupts societies.

    Ages ago, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, and Nzeogwu were how old when they became national figures? I personally believe water finds it’s level, if the youth deserve to get their place @ the table, they will get it on merit not by agitation. When you get 30% whose sons will be there? Lest like the gender equality matter, we struggle yet we get the Diezanis, Oduahs and Okonjo-Iwealas. #NuffSaid

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