Youths and political apathy

Political apathy has been observed to characterise the conduct of election in Nigeria. This was clearly evident during the conduct of the 2015 general elections especially the presidential poll in which the total population of the registered voters stood at 67,422,005 while those that voted were 29,432,083. The number of those that voted did not even reach the average as about 37,989,922 voters did not participate in the election. This is rather unfortunate for people who want good governance as over half of the registered voters were just card holders.

Political apathy can be seen as the indifference of citizens towards election and political activities. It also includes campaign, sensitisation and public meetings on political activities. Apathy is mostly seen among the younger generation, most especially youths who have turned themselves to cyber bullies on election days instead of making their votes count. They sit in the comfort zones of their house to cast their votes on the internet but those that actually want representative leadership and good governance go to the polling booth to cast their votes.

Though, there could be an excuse not to blame the youth for their non-challant attitude towards voting as some of them have great cynicism about our government and leaders. The youths no longer believe in our government as they think the government only pay lip service to campaign promises. They at times get affected psychologically by the failed promises of our leaders.  Also, the sit tight syndrome is affecting the youths as most of our politicians have refused to leave power willingly and this discourages others from going into politics because they feel they don’t have a chance.  The general believe now is that politics is only meant for some set of elites in the society and they will continue to rule not minding the efforts of the others.

Nigerians and how to deal in 2018

I want to urge the Nigerian youths to change their orientation and see politics as part of their lives. If we decide to stay calm and continue being politically apathetic, things would go from bad to worse and can be detrimental to the country’s democracy. Most importantly, the coming 2019 elections should shape things for us the in the country. As it stands, about 65% of eligible voters in Nigeria presently are youths which give the youths a chance to participate more in the coming 2019 elections.

As 2019 beckons, It is time for the youths to end unnecessary cyber bullying and take it upon themselves to be physically active in our government by following political activities, contributing to the state in our own little way instead of continuously criticizing the government, carrying out research on any aspiring political candidate before voting for them because it’s not just about voting but voting right. This I believe will help. For the younger generation, civic education should be inculcated into the children syllabus across all schools in Nigeria in order for them to be politically conscious from childhood rather than preaching negative things to them about the government.

I will end this peace by saying that “What will the electoral body count if we don’t vote at all: and so it’s high time we stop ranting and start voting. Remember, voting is our power and our right.

Dosumu Adedoyin, Orogun