I start my message by condolling with Nigerians both old and young on the pathetic state of our country, where political and economic hardship had befell us in recent times. It has been a difficult journey since the beginigng of this new democratic dispensation and the saddest part is that the situation is fast degenerating into a conundrum. For an average Nigerian, its all very frustrating and there is little or nothing to inspire hope for the fututre except for people who are capable of critical thinking. At least if it is not better today, there should be signals of better things to come in the immediate and not too distant future. I do not intend to blame anybody for these problems at this moment, my main purpose here is to expatiate on the roles that are expected of Nigerian youths in this perrillious and challenging situation. According to Macmillan dictionary, youth can be define as the time of life when one is young and it is characterised by appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc.For some scholars, youth is not defined chronologically as a stage that can be tied to specific age ranges; nor can its end point be linked to specific activities. But the Junior Chamber International pegged the age limit between 18 and 40. It is this age limit that i reffer to as youth in this country . When we are young , our parents use to tell us that the youth are the leaders of tommorrow, but the reality today is antithetical to that popular saying. This has made many youths to lose hope with little or no faith in their ability to change the society. But the reality is, in most societies the youth still remain the most active force and the moval of the society, our nation should not be an exception in this situation. In the days of coloniaism, one of the strongest force against the European colonialist was the Lagos youth movements which later metamorphosed into Nigerian youth movements. Apart from this , most of the great nationalist that we know today were youths during the period that they engage in massive nationalist activities. But, the youths today are either active in militancy, terrorism, bunkering , robbery, thuggery , domestic theft and other illicit activities that are capable of sending our country into extinction on a long run. They are ready made raw materials for any corrupt political leader who has vast interest in political commercialisation. At the stage that we are in this country, things has to change or else we all get consumed by our inactions to do the right thing. Importantly, a government may promise us change, but that tranformation can only be effective, if we ourselves ,we are ready to be the force and the drivers of that change. As persons in the catogory of youths we have to shun all forms of sentiments which include tribalism, nepotism, religious bigotry and other uncivilized attitudes that is capable of sending our coutry into 5th or 6th century. We have to struggle to get education and the knowledge we acqiure from school should be outstanding in such a way that , we will become very useful politically, economically and in all sphere of human endeavour. Everyone of us should strive to participate in politics and this does not mean that you have to contest for an elective office. We can do this by supporting the right candidates and also by giving a constructive criticism of government's policies. At this period in our political life, the youths should no longer acts as intrument of vandalism and we also must stand firmly against corrupt activities in whatever shade they present themselves. This is because the cancerous effects of corruption will only bring more agonies to our people which is one of the major reasons why our country is in such a pathetic state.
In conclusion, this is a clarion call to all Nigerian youths in whatever positions they are to rise up to the challenges facing our country and do whatever they can in their own capacity. Whatever we do or fail to do today is what our unborn children will have to live with.
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