By Chinwe Briggs
New
York - The Association of Black American Youths, New York has said that
they are concerned about the economic woes, including insecurity and
societal unrest in Nigeria. They claimed to be blacks and that Nigeria
also represents the beacon of hope in the league of black nations of the
world.
Mr
Chukwuemeka Ezeoka, President of ABAY, while speaking with newsmen in
New York, charged the youths of the largest black nation on earth,
Nigeria, to avoid mortgaging the destinies of Future generation. He made
comments via an article titled WHICH WAY, THE LARGEST BLACK NATION ON
EARTH. See below
We want to at this point in time speak up on issues that concern the
progress of Nigeria, with particular interest on the recent protest that occurred
where some youths in Nigeria were packaged to protest for the resignation of
the senate president, Bukola Saraki and the incessant killings of residents of
host communities by the Fulani militia.
First of all, in our own opinion, the actions of the youths where
misguided, whether they were paid or not. Secondly, the action of the Fulani
invaders is condemnable. If the future of the largest black nation in the world
rests on the oars of the youths, it behoves on the youth to think properly
before they act, to look before they leap because any decision they take today
will decide the destiny of the future generation in the largest black nation of
the world. We are shocked and are in awe that some youths led a protest to the Nigerian
national assembly to protest for the resignation of the Nigeria senate president,
Bukola Saraki.
Although
we understand that they have the rights to do so but it should not be
said of this generation of emerging leaders amongst the Nigerian
youths that they sold their birth right for a plate of porridge just
like Esau.
They should rather be a Jacob generation, who instead of hunting,
killing and
eating of antelopes gotten in the forest, preferred to engage the
principles of
animal husbandry to reproduce more antelopes for personal and commercial
use.
We use this medium to advice the youths and youth organizations including the protesters and their leaders to look before they
leap; to take a decision that they will be proud of in the nearest future. From
our researches and investigations, the present problems of Nigeria are
barefaced. The exit of the senate president is not the problem; rather, it is
high rate of unemployment.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate is geometrically exceeding 70%,
i.e., in every 10 Nigerians, 7 are jobless, meaning that Nigeria is a major
contributor to the world’s jobless population. This should have been the reason
for a major protest in Nigeria not a protest to remove a Senate President from
office.
We don’t know if the Nigerian youths know that Nigeria holds a heartbreaking rate of incarceration in the world, that is, out of the
total number of people in detention across the world, Nigeria’s detention
facilities have an overwhelming number of detainees and inmates, competing vigorously
with countries like North Korea. Garri, a staple food, which was once 14 cups
for one naira is now between 80 naira and 100 naira per cup. With over 2
million charities and over 300 million citizens in the USA, Nigeria has only
less than 500 charities servicing the welfare of over 180 million people – this
is a need to protest for.
Next to Boko Haram insurgency, road accident is the second
highest source of violent death in Nigeria. According to WHO, one in every four
road accident deaths in Africa occurs in Nigeria; meaning that Nigerian roads are
death traps. These and many more are the qualities of the largest black nation
of the world, which had Britain as her colonial master. http://nigerianpilot.com/disturbing-road-accidents-statistics-in-nigeria/
Why wouldn’t the Nigerian youths learn to understand that
Nigeria produces more graduates than their colonial masters Britain, including France
and Switzerland put together, but the GDP of Britain is almost 10 times larger than Nigeria’s? The emir of Kano said that Nigerians studying
in Ghana pay over $1billion annually as tuition as against the $751 million for
all federal Universities put together; meaning that the monies paid by
Nigerians in Ghanaian universities should have contributed to the Nigerian GDP
if her educational system was not sick. This is a major reason to protest for. http://nigerianreviews.com/why-nigerian-universities-are-ranked-low/
Why wouldn’t Nigerian youths understand that their lives and properties
are endangered by the insecurities, ethnic and religious cleansing, inter communal
clashes, insurgences, robberies and kidnappings? Is this not a major reason to
protest for?
The power tussle between the factions of the APC led federal
government should not be the prerogative of the Nigerian youths, the most
important demands for the Nigerian youths, if they wish to protest is for the
federal government of Nigeria to show to the people, discuss and debate with
Nigerians the policies they have created to provide an enabling environment for
the private sectors because the Buhari led federal government of Nigeria,
cannot solve all the problems of the country, but only a combination of government
policies plus an efficient private sector response will bring the needed
facelift to the already damaged image of Nigeria abroad.
According to the ease of doing business index, Nigeria is ranked
169 in the world, meaning that it is better to do business in West bank-Gaza, Sudan,
Iraq, Niger, Burundi and others than in Nigeria. What will happen if Nigeria’s
executive and legislative arms concentrate efforts on this, will Nigeria not do
better? http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings
Our conclusion:
We hereby condemn the actions of these youths in the largest
black nation on earth. Majority of our members are Nigerians, and our unborn
generations will also be Nigerians. We will therefore not allow the actions of
unreasonable youths to jeopardize the peace, justice, and progress that we
crave for in the largest black nation on the earth. We would like to quickly
point out that we are not motivated by any political organisation in the world,
we just want to bare our minds because the future is more important to us hence,
we want the present decision of Nigerian youths to be geared towards
sustainable policies, institutionalized progressive economic systems, and
massive re orientation of the black race.
The killings of host communities by the Fulani herdsmen
should be met with stiff resistance from every quarter. The Nigerian government
should forthwith release the incarcerated leader of the indigenous people of
Biafra because his actions and inaction are relatively in tandem with global best
practices. We encourage the Federal Government of Nigeria to discuss and
negotiate with these Biafran groups because like John F Kennedy, the 35th
President of the biggest economy on earth, the USA, said “Those who make
peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.
Nigeria’s unity should only be
discussed if the component parts are unwilling.We don’t stand for any round of civil war in Nigeria again,
we stand for Justice, peace, unity and equal rights for all. We stand against
racism, religious and ethnic cleansing, injustice and deceit. If the world must
be a better place for our future generation, the United Nations and the World
must be seen practicing what they preach.
We also call on the World Leaders like Barrack Obama, Russian
Vladmir Putin, Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu, The beautiful Queen Elizabeth II,
the UN Sec Gen., David Cameron of Great Britain, AU, the EU parliament, ECOWAS
and others to live up to expectation, because leadership “nor be for mouth”. If
Nigeria wants peace and progress, then
#Nigerianlivesmatter
mailto: officialabay@gmail.com
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