An Open Letter To Hardworking Nigerian Youths

By Uthman Qasim,

Dear compatriots, you must be concerned about public display of ineptitude by our public figures; national degradation brought by them and international disrepute against our dear country – Nigeria. In fact, you may have lost hope amidst the gross inefficiency of leaders who debate personal interest above other priorities and kick out those who wish to talk about public concerns.

I know your mind cannot be closed to the abominable ways in which innocent lives are terminated daily; the awful look of our public institutions, incessant strike actions by workers and worse, seeming general state of affairs. But what I don’t know is how you hardworking youths are tackling these issues confronting our peace, where are the valiant spirit in us?

Leaders will continue to bear the name so long as they have our mandate; so long as we call them such; so long as we romance their homes; so long as we condemn them on social media and venerate them when they come to us; so long as we play party politics over credibility and competency. All these give me lesser concern lately, dear compatriots! My concern lies on how to provide alternate realities by fixing our individual problems before heaping the whole dirt on the leaders.

Alternate realities will see to the end of ridiculing leaders for mistakes we may even make worse; disregarding them for the little they have done; letting them enjoy power and money when they make more noise than action; and seeking for our mandate with alms and arms. We must rebrand our thinking not by ridiculing anyone but by kicking then out through legitimate avenues.

Uthman Qasim writes from IBB University, Lapai.