By Isa Bature
The relevance of the youths to the development of any society is beyond contest. It is the segment of the population that keeps all other segments of any society going.
And across time and space, no society had ever been created nor attained development without the glorious and heroic contributions of its youths.
Many may have wondered why politics at the grassroots level in Jos is seemingly dead; only coming alive during election time. The answer is simple- we do not have a culture of grassroots political participation in Jos.
Against this backdrop, the realities of the present Jos political order now negates and downplays the relevance of the youths in our quest for sustainable political development within Jos and Plateau state at large. It now seems, as though, the invaluable roles of the youths in determining the political destiny of Jos politics especially at the grassroots levels are non-existent.
But we can’t put the whole blame on the youths alone, our so-called “elite” will take the lager part of the blame. These are set of people bent on scoring their own political points while engendering their political ambitions/interests instead of carrying the people along.
Now the ill effects of the absence of effective grassroots political foundation in Jos are glaring. We have a large percentage of the population who have no idea of the monumental political power they could wield. This has made it possible for our corrupt politicians to do their worst without the fear of having to answer to the very people that give them mandate. It has to stop.
No democracy anywhere in the world can be “useful” if the people at the local levels do not get to participate in the political process as they should. I do not refer to the type that obtains here during election times whereby unscrupulous politicians successfully mobilize the electorates and buy their votes in exchange for foodstuff.
I am [indeed] talking about a situation whereby the people at the grassroots levels realize the power they have in the polity and actually wield said power both during and after election times. It is therefore time we all take up the task/responsibility of mobilizing our youths at the grassroots for democratic effectiveness.
It is in this regard that I reason with one of our ever determined and result from oriented youth in Jos, Ahmad Tijjani Salihu Nakande who reckons with the need to put in place the right political culture which the Jos youths would be indoctrinated with the process of socialization for positive engagement of the youths in grassroots politics.
Ahmad Salihu Nakande is a passionate young man, well educated, humble, resourceful, and philanthropist who is the CEO and founder of “For All Initiatives”, a non-profit charity organization. Ahmad has for some time now put this responsibility upon himself to mobilized and engaged the youths across the state who could best be vested with the responsibility of repairing the broken foundations of our polity other than the very youths who will inherit it.
In his efforts to educate, create awareness and give voice to the youths, Ahmad Salihu Nakande has sponsored a radio program titled, “Mugani A Kasa”, a weekly political program that will be aired every Thursday at 1:30 pm on Unity FM Jos.
The goal is to give youths from different communities across the state opportunity to speak and discuss matters that affect their communities, and Plateau State as a whole.
As youths, it is time we stop bemoaning the exclusion we currently face in the political space, and actually take action towards building our future and the very conducive political atmosphere we all wish to have. There is a huge opportunity available for us all to make an impact and we should take it.
Remember that politics is not all about the scramble to occupy the highest elective posts in the land. As Youths, we must start from the grassroots.