The era of sit and watch has gone, where the youths who have the key watch the elders on the pitch of governance and subjects to their wills, given stipends to gain their support, making them thugs and hailers ,putting youth aside as messengers and assistance for implementation of assignments in various offices which they can occupy and run successfully.

The Not-too-young-to-run call has awakened the old extent that the youths have forgotten. Their involvement in policy-making and achieving good governance. Neglecting the hierarchy for the olds which civilization and openness have been fading. The new way of the century belongs to the youths – technical know-how, technological power and more importantly the population. According to statistics, Oyo State has over 39% of the population of age 15-50 which could be regarded as a youth.

The era of sit and watch has gone, where the youths who have the key watch the elders on the pitch of governance and subjects to their wills, given stipends to gain their support, making them thugs and hailers ,putting youth aside as messengers and assistance for implementation of assignments in various offices which they can occupy and run successfully.

The exposure and accessibility to information and opinions likewise the requirement of the national human resource of the young generation is important in governance and development of the society. Physical energy,  activeness, accessibility and good knowledge of the modern world are yardsticks for progressive governance found with the youth. However, in no way should the role of the youths be undermined in a progressive nation.

However,  here in my home town, the wind has not blown up the dust. The cultural moribund and the rudimentary backwardness was as intact as that of the old century. New developments do not actually work calmly, it takes a very long time, prayers,  silence, shame and penitence before the outdated version reached us. The culture of wait and look at the elders is still in vogue that is why it is difficult to make and implement new ideas in the town. The youths have to look at the elders doing it like gods.

Notwithstanding,  it is my home town and a place that I love most too live. Hence, we can’t fold arms and look at the game to play itself.  Many qualified youths from the town are making big changes outside the town but too small to make it down here. Those saved the courage could not see the last to the primary election and those who got to that could not see the pole. Kudos to some gallant comrades like Faozey Nurudeen (FON), Bello Majeed (Sophist) that broke the silence in the last election. Though could not reach the light but they shook the table and built the courage for the youngsters.

While other parts of the state were longing for young vibrant candidates to Oyo State House of Assembly we were here hailing the old men cycling and recycling the position between themselves since the inception of democracy. The four candidates of the four major political parties were all over 50 years of age in Atiba Local Government.

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Alas! The people concluded voting a fat big old man, a former speaker of the house,  who hardly speaks correct simple English. He was the Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly between 1999-2003 when the new speaker Debo Ogundoyin was 11 and Adebisi Yusuf, the deputy chief whip, was 5 years old and the majority of the new members were at their teen then.

It is a shameful and barbarous decision that the ancient town which should be the light of civilization still alter of making the choice of the leaders in such a crude way the world has left. Where States like Zamfara elected 31-year-old Nasiru Magarya, Kwara elected Yaqub Danladi 34, and Plateau elected same age range as the new Oyo Speaker.

Here in, the youths are accorded the role of thuggery and are well supported.  Every street of the town has a group of boys hanging in a hollow way of the street and called the place ‘base’ where they smoke, drink all sort of hard drinks, gamble, and take all sorts of hard drugs. Many of those boys have no work, they beg for money from passers-by, visit the who-is-who for a token which results in hook lifting individuals and public properties of the community.  ‘Base’ as the boys’ corner is known points for the political campaign, a good place for thugs hiring, and a place to go when troubles break out between patricians of the town. These make the thuggery a preserved place over organized youth organizations.  The details of this will be a good talk for another time.

Oyo Alaafin needs a renaissance in all ramifications and endeavors.  Everything seems not up to normal. The system that works outside and in some mini town does not work here. The cultural moribund is overwhelming, the level of development is dwindling and the mediocrity overshadowed the civilization. The civilization we see here even among the youths is aberrant compared to the situation of things in the town. The enlightened youths are those rocking the night club every night, couldn’t make the choice of or cannot make a difference between working days and leisure days. They are the rich-kid that flaunt their wealth to intimidate the local people without any positive impact in the town. Many of which cannot come out to ask IBEDC why they could not find solutions to the problem of blackout in the town because they can afford alternative means.

However,  the bigwigs of the town,  who are exploiting the horrible predicaments and conditions are not helping, and one will believe they will not help because it is a good opportunity for them to keep the people under their watch and keep using them to execute their motives. The people fall and they prey on them all time that is why they will not support thorough enlightenment of the people especially the youths. If all these are done, who will be the political thugs during the campaign, who will be the agile youth that will serve as the foot-soldiers, who will take chips, keep hailing and serving and keep liking their ass?

Through the empowerment of the youth, some of them set to gain crowd and some make it up for campaign which yields nothing for the people than the political motives they set to gain, one will understand they mean no progress for the town.

Those who have escaped these predicaments have left the town and some within have developed an apathy, looking afar to the sailing. Not a good option though, but many will tell the story and one has to agree with their choice.

The time may be now when the shame is at the sun level. Oyo Alaafin youths need to rise for the change of this story and makeup with the rest of the communities in the Oyo state and Nigeria at large.

Alabi Yusuf Olatunji writes from Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.