By Sa’ad Shehu Yakubu
We are blessed with abundant natural and human resources that if utilised Nigeria will be among the first best ten economies in the world, but leadership is proving to be our constraint in utilising those potentialities and with all the potentials we cannot be placed even in the top hundred buoyant economies.
This is happening because leadership has been taking over by business as usual politicians and to them, it is a means of self-aggrandizement, not a way of giving selfless service for the overall development of the nation. We have people with very interesting antecedence in terms of utilisation of scarce resources, integrity and selfless services but the business as usual politicians are always ready to spend whatever amount so that they will block those interesting people from getting to leadership so that they will continue to enslave us at the expense of their personal and family freedoms.
The youths are the majority of the voting population in Nigeria, not only that, they are the instrument used by politicians to attain election success. But the youths always complained of neglect from those leaders they stood by and helped to become leaders. This is because the youths are not looking within themselves in choosing leadership.
With the global challenges today, only youths have the dynamism to adapt to the changes of the world. Youths can work round the clock studying different innovative programs that will engage the youths and give them a sense of belonging. What the youths needed are jobs that will make them productive, not necessarily white cola jobs. And is the absence of that turned most of the youths into criminals as the idle mind is a devil’s workshop.
Among us the youths today, we have those that have shown exemplary leadership values. Not only that, they were able to build successful careers for themselves, but some are at the forefront in helping other youths to achieve their respective dreams. These are the type of youth I envisage we replace the old-headed business as usual politicians with them. These rare gems when elected will not want to have those that will slow their achievements in their cabinets, hence they will rejuvenate leadership and the people will start feeling the impact of leadership.
This is the task ahead of us as youths if we want to witness a turnaround of events in Nigeria. We have been trying those old-headed businesses’ usual politicians and they are still disappointing us. We have those with potentials among us that will take us to that aspires level of development, but it requires a lot of sacrifices from us to get to that. And when we failed to make that necessary sacrifice, posterity will never forgive us. And the time for this sacrifice is now, let us collectively say #2023YouthsTakeOver. Let replace the old-headed governors that are foot-dragging in taking actions that are necessary for our collective well-being.
Bauchi state is a clear picture of leadership failure, apart from vast arable land and human resources, the state is endowed with numerous mineral resources. But recent statistics have shown our state having the highest percentage of inflation in the whole Nigerian states, 19.4%. And this is as a result of misplacements of priorities by those in leadership in the state, our scarce resources have been channeled into those businesses as usual politicians’ personal pockets instead of doing the right thing resulting in accumulated poverty in the state. And as youths, we must stand against this injustice to salvage our state from poor leadership to avoid catastrophe befalling our dear state.
In Bauchi state, we have youths that fit into the selfless leadership category. And among them is someone that stands tall in every leadership quality. He is known not only for those qualities I’ve mentioned above but also for that rare quality of serving with integrity. He has the record of resigning his seat as commissioner of finance when he discovered he cannot deliver his oath of office in the government he helped in getting elected. Instead of compromising his principle and do what people usually do, the style of “if you can’t beat them, join them”, he resigned from his position as commissioner of finance. He said no, “I’ll not join them just because of what I’ll personally gain, I quit to protect my integrity”. This is very unusual in the Nigerian setting, we all know how politicians can do anything to cling to power in Nigeria even with the proves of failures in their stewardship. But this young man said no, I am not in leadership for self-aggrandizement, I have my own personal business and I am contented. I only want to serve my people with integrity, and if I cannot do that, them is better I quit my position.
Apart from this rare quality, this young man has been reaching out to thousands of youth across the state through his foundation called NURA MANU FOUNDATION. This foundation is not new to every Bauchi state citizen, due to the contributions it is giving our youths in the area of scholarships in every aspect of knowledge at almost every level of education. From basic education to higher education levels, from western education to Islamic education and even vocational education. This foundation at its inception started with a grant of two hundred million Naira some years ago, an amount if not the government I have never seen any individual in Bauchi state spend on scholarships except this young man. And with more than five years since the foundation’s inception, every year the foundation is doubling its efforts. What impressed me recently is the vocational training the foundation is giving to women and youth. The beneficiaries in thousands all get starter packs that will enable them all to start the artisanship they all learned in the cause of their training. Thank you Malam Nura for alleviating our people’s sufferings.
His humanitarian services do not end with the activities of this foundation, this young philanthropist extends his services beyond just constructing boreholes as most politicians do when they want to pretend, but he takes on projects which at present LGs have no capabilities of carrying out like constructions of roads, bridges, and schools in different LGs within our State.
For these reasons, I am calling on Bauchi state youths to all join me in calling on Malam Nura Manu to contest for Governor to salvage our state comes 2023. No one can understand the problems of youths except the youths themselves. And when we solve the problems of youths we solve the problems of our entire communities. When the youths become productive, the entire community will prosper. But on the contrary, when the youths become unproductive, they become a thorn in the flesh of the communities. And calamities upon calamities will be befallen our communities as we are witnessing today.
Let us join hands to salvage our states all over Nigeria. Let collectively say #2023YouthTakeOver. Let the good people of Bauchi state say #SaiMalamNuraManu2023. The best way for evil to triumph is for the good people to do nothing, please answer our call Malam Nura Manu.
Sa’ad Shehu Yakubu, Chairman K/Nassarawa Artisan Development Cooperative Society, writes from Bauchi and can be reached via
08025352243
