A YOUTH MANIFESTO FOR REVOLUTION

Pursuant to the unchanged slogan that "youths are the leaders of tomorrow", and guided by the vigilant consciousness that we are the custodians and natural trustees for building the bridge of hope for any society's sustainable prosperity, I am prompted to write the cheetah generation which i also belong to.
Given Africa's heightening state of underdevelopment and poor leadership, it has become expedient to make our generation's determining role in rewriting the progress history of Africa.

Every society is blessed with nature's endowment of a youthful force with unique characteristics of strength, skills, energy, innovations, intelligence, and time for exploits. To ensure that the usefulness of youth's time is translated to stagecraft & national development, the formative period and educational system play fundamental roles.

In our time in Nigeria, I have however, felt the wide unconnected relevance of our educational theorizing to core societal dividends of development. And I have a grave fear burning in my heart because the more we keep producing young " leaders and entrepreneurs " whom neither have deep settled realistic ideas, innovations, skills and savvies nor the passion of patriotism to effect novel developmental order in Africa, the more blank our hope of Africa's greatness.

But it is established wisdom that power, greatness & success is never Christmas gifts; hence, though the system may be functioning on a set back scale for creating an enabling environment and opportunities for youth participation in the socio-economic and political landscape of our country, it is the duty of every young African to work outside the limit of our systems for active patriotic participation in social affairs.

THE REVOLUTION OF OUR TIME
The experience of failure is never a pleasant one and nothing ever succeeds more like success particularly societal change and revolution. When, why and what manner of revolution is needful therefore to salvage our current socio-economic and political quagmire?

In swift response, I would affirm that a revolution is apt & needful at a moment and time like this in Nigeria when all developmental strategies have defied and failed our entreaties, when disorder seems celebrated as normalcy, and when all possibilities of hope and optimism seem impossible.

Why do we need revolution? Our nation is in dare need of transformational revolution in all spheres and institutions of our society mainly because our current state of affairs of corruption, poor leadership, lack of sustainable innovations, ethnic divisions, and greed have remained weighty clog on the wheel of our collective progress.

What manner of revolution can sufficiently reconstruct and edify our almost decayed corporate existence? Behavioral and mental revolution remains in tandem with the age long commonsense demand for societal renewal. This will help we the people to alter our self-centered attitudes and imbue our spirits with the philosophy of collective good and progress; knowing that all major changes in the world started with the individual self.

THE MANIFESTO OF THE YOUTH
As a youth, I hereby declare myself for service to my society in honest patriotism and sincerity of selflessness, to network with legion of other young people with similar interests & purpose for state development.
1. That I shall apply my youthful energy, intelligence, time, ideas, aspirations, hope & learning to the pursuit and actualization of our collective national dream of a more equitable, prosperous, sustainably developed, and globally relevant nation.

2. That we as youths as the societal hope, shall continually seek knowledge to show forth the ingenuity and uniqueness of Africa's positive exceptionality.

3. Whereas, our forefathers complained of the associated evils of colonialism, and our fathers complained of bad leadership, now our fathers are the leaders but with special certifications on failed leadership; history beckons on us therefore to evoke quality leadership of hope for the common good of our people.

4. That we the youths shall seek leadership and enterprising savvies relevant to prompt stellar and transcendent contributions to national sustainable development.

5. That we shall shun all elements of greed, selfishness, and corruption.

6. That we must network widely to build collaborative and corporative leadership with other young like minds.

7. That collectively with one vision, one purpose and one dream of a great Nigeria, shall we bash forth in sparkling victory of development success.

8. That I had rather die with a golden name in our history book of wisdom than be buried with golden casket of shame for short changing our people's opportunities.

9. That I had better be studied in schools as a curriculum of hope for humanity's advancement than to be sentenced to disgrace in the Court of Greed and Corruption.
10. That I fully understand that Africa is far from being developed, and great need abide for true development and real change in Africa.

This is my dream as a young man, and I challenge you to dare dream bigger dreams than mine that we may set our continent free from our current shackles of underdevelopment.

Yours-in-Hope of a Developed Africa,

Ekpa, Stanley Ekpa

A Part 5 Law Student OAU, is the Author of The JURISPRUDENCE OF RESTRUCTURING NIGERIA, and President ALL TIMES GROUP.

This is lovely!

Especially coming from a youth!
The question is, if he gets there, will he actually fulfill all these?

Will youthful exuberance allow him to fulfill what's in that manifesto?

Anytime we talk about youths taking over power, youths like Dimeji Bankole, who became the speaker of HOR at the age if 42 and that of present Kogi state governor who was 41 years old when he became governor last year usually comes to mind, and then, frightens me, makes me wonder if youths are truly ready to serve as expected or just going there to have their shares of the national cake.


May God help Ekpa Stanley and other youths who are zealous to serve this nation with passion, patriotism and enthusiastically.

Nigerian youths can not change the fortune of this country for good. I'm sorry to sound pessimistic. But it's the honest truth.

If this was a time before mobile phone and social media, maybe we'd have a chance.

But these days, our girls would rather spread their legs for any dolt, allow themselves to be led on a leash like dogs (bitches actually) just so that they can afford the latest iPhone.

While our guys obsessed with walking around with an erection looking for where to insert it, that is when they aren't planning and scheming about how to make quick money.

If you ask me, this isn't the stuff revolutionaries are made of.

Our generation and the younger ones coming behind us have been reduced to phone hugging, social media loving zombies, so much so that taking selfies and posting on social media, jumping from one social media to another and so on have left the realm of past times and become a necessary lifestyle.

No sir. Nigerian youths are not and won't be relevant in the scheme of things in the present and in the future to come. And not just Nigerian youths, youths all over the world too.

Just look at the leadership of countries in the world, how many youths do you see there?

That's because all the youths are busy on FB, and texting and sexting and whatsapping, posting nudes, sharing nudes, making sex video, etc.

No country will ever leave their governance to wimps who don't know the first thing about honor and sacrifice.

Hmm....

Nice one, join the crew

The country is doomed. OP you are just dreaming. Quote me when you wake up.

Nigeria isn't a country to lose a hair for. Too bad it's the politicians that know this. I'll join politics and loot as much as I can. Yimu!