"Some youth in government become sycophants and enablers of bad governance when they get to office." Why? - HON. AKINRIBIDO TOMIDE at the maiden edition of NANS JCC ONDO AXIS weekly nuggets

The National Association of Nigerian Students, Joint Campus Committee, Ondo State Axis (NANS JCC ONDO AXIS) yesterday 21st of August 2021, had her maiden edition of the 'WEEKLY NUGGETS' program tagged "NIGERIA SYSTEMIC FAILURE,YOUTH AND STUDENTS INVOLVEMENT AND WAY TO GO"

NANS JCC ONDO AXIS, MAIDEN EDITION OF THE WEEKLY NUGGETS PROGRAM.

This first of it's kind program involves a 2 to 1 talk with HON AKINRIBIDO TOMIDE, Member Ondo State House of Assembly. with Hon. Babatee and Olamilekan Ipaye as the host and co-host respectively. 

The program commenced at exactly 8:00pm on the NANS JCC ONDO AXIS WHATSAPP PLATFORM with citation of the guest speaker  (Hon. Tomide) followed by an interactive/interview session on the topic.

THE CITATION 

Hon. Tomide was born in Ado-Ekiti on October 8,1987. He’s a trained digital media analyst,social commentator and politician. He Was the Ondo state coordinator of 30%OrNothing,a Socio-political group that demanded for 30% inclusion of Youths in all appointive and elective political posts. 

Hon. Akinribido Tomide Member, Ondo State House of Assembly. 

He was the Ondo state President of the Peoples Democratic Party Patriot alliance(PDPPA)- a forum of young people in the PDP that demanded for democratic ideals in the party. He was the Ondo state coordinator of KOWA party youth caucus-a structure that mobilized young people to participate in politics. 

He was the immediate past special assistant to the Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament(NYP) at the National Assembly,Rt.Hon Ayodele Obe and also the media consultant to the NYP.

He contested and won the house of assembly election to represent ondo west constituency 1 on the platform of the ZENITH LABOUR PARTY(ZLP) in the 2019 general election. 

He was the deputy-minority leader of the house and former chairman of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) committee,and presently the chairman of the house committee on international relations and diaspora matters.

INTERVIEW SESSION

Q.  We welcome you to our midst honourable @⁨Hon Akinribido TOMIDE, with this one will know that u are a man of many part, lets meet you briefly.

HON. TOMIDE: Good evening comrades and dear friends. It’s a privilege to be in your midst today. Thank you for the honour

host: Thanks for honouring our invitation within the short notice sir.

Hon. TOMIDE: I would do that anytime. students and youths are my first constituency

Host: Let’s go to the business of the day, it is divided into three “NIGERIA SYSTEMIC FAILURE, YOUTHS AND STUDENTS INVOLVEMENT AND THE WAY TO GO” but let’s dissect it one after the other

Q. Honourable, on Systemic failure, whats your take?

Hon. TOMIDE: Thank you again. Firstly we need to understand what “systemic failure” means. For me,I will say it is a dysfunctional collapse of standards in a society or an organization,that happens in a predictable fashion and from a certain recognizable cause.

Poor political leadership? It has always been with us

Bad economy? It has always been with us

Poor infrastructures? It has always been with us

Neglect of the education sector? It has always been with us

Q. Hmmmm... Honourable, to you, is our country suffering from all of this?

Hon.TOMIDE: Definitely. I will be deceiving myself if I’m being politically correct here by insinuating that Nigeria is not a dysfunctional society suffering from systemic failure

The problem remains that we have FAILED to correct these anomalies despite the fact that we know the causes.

Host: I think it might not be totally true to believe everybody know the causes as you had opined and as an actor who now see the in and out, can you help us highlight some of these causes in a layman language?

Hon.TOMIDE: Poor leadership. That is the singular problem and the root cause. If we get the right leadership,every other thing will fall into place!

Q.  On the other hand Youths are defined as the pillar of the society, How do you see this?

Hon. TOMIDE: In words,not in deed. We(the youths) are ignorant of the pivotal role we are meant to play in nation building. Nigerian Youths are exceptionally brilliant and intelligent,that is why we excel in overseas. But here in the country,we have turned ourselves into a wiling tool for further destruction of the country which we are meant to save from collapse

And what do i mean? We have failed to deploy our critical voting population as agents of political change during electioneering. Instead,we are perpetually in bed with our own tormentors. We fight ourselves in order to get crumbs from the tables of our aggressors. We collaborate with bad leaders against our own interest. We forget it is better for the country to work so that individuals can thrive and prosper at their own pace and on their own merit.

Q. Comrades, you are not the only youth representative in public office, we’ve Yahaya Bello, Desmond Elliot and many more, with the recent played out from this actors, how can you assess our youths in politics?

Hon. TOMIDE: I beg to differ. Desmond Elliot and Yahaya Bello are not youths. the definition of “youth” by UNESCO is 16-24. But the international youth council extends it to 18-35. So while I’m younger than 35,the duo mentioned are well over 40 and even close to 50. So they are not Youths

But talking about Youths in politics…it’s not really encouraging. Firstly,there is no fair atmosphere for us to contest for leadership positions

Secondly,the game is rigged against us because of the high amount of financial resources needed to get a seat at leadership table.

Thirdly, when the few youths who are in government get there,they become sycophants and enablers of bad governance. Why? Because they have been pocketed by their godfathers who demand their timidity as reward for helping them into leadership posts

Host: Don’t you think the political terrain of our country has given room for this?

Hon. TOMIDE: Of course! Don’t forget that i actively contested an election. There’s a cancer that will destroy our country faster than war,i call it the EXCESSIVE MONETISATION OF THE POLITICAL AND ELECTORAL PROCESS.

Why does a Nigerian who wants to serve his constituents need as much as 100 million naira to contest for a house of assembly seat?? Why does anyone need as much as 250-500 million naira to contest for a house of Reps seat??

Q. Comrade, what do you think youth were doing right and they are no more doing because if to fall back to history, Gowon, Muritala and co shook this country at their tender age, Do the students’ society have stand in all of this?

Hon. TOMIDE: Well I don’t want to go into history. Lol. But a lot of it has been distorted too. So i personally don’t have kind words for Muritala or Gowon. One was a mass murderer and the other,alongside Ojukwu,led our country into a needless civil war because of their personal egos!

But yes,they were young and occupied top leadership positions which will be pretty difficult for young Nigerians to attain now.

The major issue now is that the political process has been rigged against the youths. Like i said,it will be difficult for a credible and competent youth to emerge in leadership position SOLELY ON THE STRENGTH OF HIS/HER COMPETENCE AND CREDIBILITY.

The student society need to redefine what “comradeship” is all about

Why is the NANS president in his 40s??? I can’t believe that we can’t find a 300,400 or 500 level student anywhere in Nigeria to lead NANS??

Co-Host: What a hit! Not even match ur age, They say age has to do with maturity

Hon. TOMIDE: NANS President should not be more than 27 years old,IN MY OPINION. It should be a real life student who is currently in the public institution system and experiencing the challenges of Nigerian students. Not the godson or aide of a politician who should be contesting for a senate or governorship seat in his state

host: Will it be right then to say, no space has been given to youth in our National polity since independence?

Hon. TOMIDE: Why not? There are are several youths even occupying top political positions today. If I’m right,I’m the youngest state legislator in ondo state since 1999. I would have been the youngest in the history of the state but D.I Kekemeke was elected into the house of assembly at age 28 in 1991, While I was elected at 30

Hon. TOMIDE: What i see now is “commercialization of student activism”. And it needs to stop. Student leaders need to have some self-esteem and get serious so that they can be taken serious.

Q. Can we say students’ society are not forces to reckon with?

Hon. TOMIDE: Not presently,and it’s sad. We need to get our acts together and understand what “comradeship”

Entails. Student activism is ideologically based,it is not a society to raise money or to give awards. It should be a watchdog in the society that calls the attention of the school management and government to the challenges students are facing. And also,to demand accountability on how the education sector is being run

Host: I meant it when I said we will love to keep you but ur schedule won’t permit us, what is the WAY TO GO in all of these?

Hon. TOMIDE: Way to go is for us to firstly acknowledge that Nigeria is in severe crisis and the current governance structure is not sustainable. Then youths and students need to turn their participation in the political and electoral process to be based on patriotism where the best candidate is supported to lead,as against the current norm of “tokenism”.

co-host: Please Hon, can you be more elaborate on the word “tokenism”

Hon. TOMIDE: Lol. I have mentioned it severely. We must shun tokenism(act of demanding or expecting monetary and material gains) and embrace patriotism.

Host: We are coming to the end of the program 😌, but before you bid us farewell do you have anything to say to lift the spirit of the genuine comrades who always put in all their efforts and to the house in general.

E.g @⁨BABTEE @⁨Aluta Rugged⁩ @⁨Surprise⁩  and others we can’t mention their name

Hon. TOMIDE: Yes! There are several comrades in the youth and student society who are vibrant,patriotic and versatile. They want the best for the student and youth body but the bad ones outnumber them. My advise is that they should find means of engaging the student populace and enlighten them on the need to sanitize the system.

Co-Host: God bless you Capacitated Honourable, this is soul lifting

Host: Thank you for coming, seeing ur face on the E-flier, many people want to be part of the program but we can only accommodate little. Sir we believe next time we beckon on you, you will honour our call? maybe on telegram where we can accomodate more.

Hon.TOMIDE: Definitely. I will be willing and ready to honour your call anytime please.

The program ended with a closing remarks from Hon. babatee and different reactions from ondo comrades shows their excitement as they appreciate the MHA for his words of wisdom.

That concluded the maiden edition of the WEEKLY NUGGETS of NANS JCC ONDO AXIS, the axis with a difference ✅🥳🥳..

Event covered and Reported by:

Comrade Akinbolusere Michael O. {McBOLOUS}

DIRECTOR OF SOCIALS, NANS JCC ONDO AXIS. 

+2348101738678

mcbolous2015@gmail.com