On Sunday, April 24, 2017, the front runners of the first round of the presidential elections in France emerged.
They are 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron of the En Marche! political party and Marine Le Pen of the National Front. Le Pen is 48 years old.
The
emergence of both candidates in the general elections indicates that
the French people are tired of mainstream politics and are in search of
something new and fresh. It's not only French people that are in search
of something new, young French people want something better for
themselves.
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French presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen are at odds on many issues(AFP/File)
Both candidates,
Macron and Le Pen, are very popular among young voters in France. The
former is seen as a young outsider who could break into the dreary world
of politics and galvanize it, like Obama pre-2008. The latter Le Pen who has very nationalistic views is popular among French youths also.
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Emmanuel Macron, a former banker, is running an unabashedly pro-European campaign(AFP)
The result of the
first round of election in France has a clear message, young people are
breaking the structure of old politics. Macron is way too young to
challenge for President of France but here we are. Polls indicate he
would win the run-off with Le Pen.
This political
change in France proves that if young people get their acts right, they
can determine their own future on their terms. Young people in Nigeria
can learn from the French. We groan, rant on Twitter about the old men
in politics mortgaging our lives but we never do anything about it.
At the age of 39, you
would be expected to be a personal assistant or the errand boy of a
politician who has been in the game since the 2nd Republic. The
political scene in Nigeria kills the spirit of young women who want to
seek change and make the country better. Politics in Nigeria is an 'either you join them or gerrout' from here business. It's a place of bitterness and frustration.
We
are now woke to the situation at hand, political parties are the same
irrespective of their acronyms. It's the same old politicians with the
same old agenda, empty the treasury. We need something new, something
vibrant, something that has purpose and urgency. The old cargoes can't
do it.
It's two years to 2019. What needs to be
done now is for a youth-based political party to emerge that will do
away with the old way of doing politics. It should be a grass-root,
mainstream political party that will embrace all and shun meaningless
speeches and catchphrases. We need this party to map out the future of
Nigeria and its citizens. This cannot be done by the cabal of corrupt
and backward thinking politicians. We need young and the young at heart
to do this.
Unfortunately, the
young people involved in politics are caught up in the matrix. If they
are not part of inefficient power structure as behind the scene
'boy-boys', they are 'Twitter warriors' defending the corrupt and
incompetent.
Where do we go from here? We can no
longer abandon our future for bants and trending topics. Young people in
Nigeria need to have a sense of purpose and direction for anything
meaningful to happen. We need to be actively involved in politics which
is beyond voting on election day. We need to go for town hall meetings,
hold our senators accountable and challenge the system. If we continue
to fold our arms, nothing will happen.
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Youths protest killing of 4000 Nigerians in Southern Kaduna(Pulse)
Young people all over the world have shown that they can make things change. It is possible. Will this ever happen in Nigeria?
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