Chris Ihidero Unedited: Mister Minister, Pass the Mic, Abeg!

By Chris Ihidero

During the past week, my good friend and otherwise gentleman, Feyi Fawehinmi, went off on the speech delivered by the Minister for Youth Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, at the youth and social media conference organised by ‘Enough is Enough Nigeria‘ in Abuja. Feyi’s frustrations with governance in Nigeria could be heard clearly in his tweets and knowing that he isn’t one to sound off without a valid reason, I quickly sought out the minister’s speech to see what could have offended my friend that much.

I have just finished reading that speech now, and rather than anger, laughter is the word that best sums up my reaction. When you hand a Nigerian minister a rostrum, better expect some pontificating. It’s the stock in trade of those who have little else to offer. Straight off, Mister Minister fires his first salvo: ‘The goal of youth activism is mainly participatory democracy, defined as ‘a political model in which empowered people associate and organize’ in order that they can gain influence on issues and decisions that affect their lives’. Not satisfied with this abject over simplification of young people’s social media engagement, our dear minister goes further: ‘…permit me to briefly expand on my earlier thesis on popular culture and popular participation. I argued that the popular culture is generally driven by the market imperatives and this ironically is also its major drawback as a vehicle for popular participation’. Does one really need to school someone who has been put in charge of a nation’s 70 million young people that this argument is overbeaten, tired and pedestrian? Your thesis indeed!

Mister Minister’s speech wouldn’t have been too bad if that was all he said. Emboldened by what must seem to him as groundbreaking theorising, he pontificates further: ‘The rise of the new media has more or less dismantled the last barrier to free press; which is a major pillar of any democracy. This by itself should expand the scope for real participation by offering meaningful political education to a larger number of people. Instead, the market forces have invaded the media practice’. Wow. Just wow. This is mind-boggling to no end. Market forces invaded media practice a century ago sir; where have you been?! And yes, social media is an un-gated community that allows all comers, and that could be a problem, but a barrier to free press? How does everyone having the ability to speak hamper free speech? Dear reader, go no further in search of a classic example of infantile and obscurantist serving of ministerial nothingness…you have it right there.

But Mister Minister is not yet done with us, not by a long stretch. After laying down ‘his theory’ (more like a retelling of Hannah Arendt, a German theorist who died 37 years ago), he dictates young people on how they should use social media in their engagements: ‘We must be interested and active in politics. Having a voice is not enough if we must do more than perch on our moral high grounds and criticize government and lament how bad things are. The only process of political recruitment is through the political parties.’ No prize for informing Mister Minister that this is exactly what he is doing right here, mere moralising.

He continues: ‘Youth Activism must also become more inclusive, democratic and representative…We must also understand the nature of youth activism and not confuse it with labour unionism, gender activism or even pro-democracy activism…’ Yes Minister; when young people have labour, gender or pro-democratic concerns, they should not engage via social media or with agencies whose primary concerns are along those lines. We have heard. Still, he persists: ‘We must seek to build mutual respect. As long as young people continue to create the impression that other people and government officials especially, cannot disagree with them without standing the risk of being insulted, cursed, and abused, they would not be able to create the right environment for constructive engagement’. Yeah, you are asking for a fair fight. That’s okay. The only problem is that you are asking people you are raping in the arse with spiked sticks to fight back, preferably by raising their arses higher for deeper thrusts. That’s what your demand for fairness amounts to, Mister Minister.

And now (drum roll), the final bombardment: ‘I will conclude by arguing once again that unless the enormous power that is conferred on young people by the new media is harnessed to constructively engage the actors who have been vested with the power to act on behalf of the people’ Therein lies the problem, ladies and gentlemen. The man entrusted with the well-being of youths in this country still exists at the level of governance being ‘POWER’ to act on behalf of his subjects. This insipid and redundant proclamation has no place in modern societies; it is the stuff of primitive thinking and should be condemned to the rubbish heap ancient times.