YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN AFRICA

YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN AFRICA

Africa is the poorest continent on planet earth, an estimated 75% of its total population wallow in abject poverty. This chronic situation is compounded by the fact that the continent is plagued with corrupt, selfish and self-centered leaders who see power as a means to an end and something that can be used to imperialize and neo-colonize others [mostly, their opposition and critics} to their advantage. These set of corrupt politicians who are mostly in their later years would do anything and everything to hold on to power without paying attention to their health concern. A good example is the Former Nigerian President, Late Alhaji Musa Yar'Adua who died in power on the 5^th of May, 2010 after a long fight with Cancer without publicly declaring that he was medically unfit for the needs of the office.

In Nigeria for instance, youths dominate the entertainment and sport sectors and the country is doing excellently well in those two fronts. Industry observers refer to Nigeria's entertainment industry has her greatest export and one of the ways she has showcased her great potentials to the world on a positive note. Youth participation in politics is however something very rare in this part of the world because we hardly see youths takes up election campaigns or at the helm of affairs in their respective political parties. Democracy in any part of the world would stagnate if youths are not actively involved because they are at their prime; they have the mental and physical strength to take the lead.

However, the reverse is the case in Africa because most of her leaders are either in their late 60s or 70s. Now, the situation that needs urgent attention is "why youths in the black race are not actively participating in democracy?"

First of all, the general perception that politics is a dirty and bloody game that is not meant for the light-hearted has made youths shy away from politics because of fear of the unknown. The do-or-die mentality associated with African politics is witch-hunting the African democratic system. Youthful and intelligent politicians with great potentials and ideas are discouraged with the dirty game believe.

A massive re-orientation of the polity is needed urgently because Africa is running out of youthful leaders because of the negative perception of the citizens towards democracy and their democratically elected leaders.

Secondly, Illiteracy level is another problem that needs to be tackled if we all want more youths to embrace politics. Illiteracy level is correlated to development; a country with stack illiterates will never witness any meaningful development. Education plays a pivotal role in national development. The educational system is in doldrums and that is why we have some university graduates that cannot construct any meaningful sentence. How will that person understand the methodologies involved in preparing a budget? Youths are badly educated, that is why most of them are discouraged from vying for a political office.

Education is the bedrock of every society, adequate structures have to be put in place to make sure children are schooled and knowledge is impacted.

Thirdly, Laws and legislations are not favorable, bills that would foster youth empowerment and development has been left to die naturally because they are not fed with adequate attention. The legislative arm of government is the one with sole responsibility of making laws that would enrich the lives of the citizens in a democratic dispensation. Bills that would encourage youthful participation and election education of young electorates should be discussed and laws created so that the young can also have their voices heard in the choice of who governs them.

However, the advent of globalization has helped to make things easy, the internet is playing a leading role in the fight for social justice, internet enabled devices and gadgets are so cheap that almost everybody can afford to own them. Knowledge is held up in the internet waiting at your beck and call. Unfavorable government policies are now being checked and rejected with the help of Blackberry and WhatsApp broadcasts amongst others. Great examples of these events abound during the Arab Spring and Fuel Subsidy saga where protests were organized and coordinated through Facebook and other social websites.

Conclusively, Youths in Africa have to wake up to the fact that Africa's future is in their hands and things would never get better by mere wishing they did. Change is imminent.

God Bless Us All

Olusanya Oluwole Sheriff