Dr Sam Amadi muses on how Nigerian youths can make a difference in politics by not trying to be different but by being intentionally effective.
Sam Amadi
Dr. Amadi, former Chair of the NERC, the Nigerian electricity regulator, is now a university law professor.
Don’t focus on being different. Focus on being effective. The difference that makes a difference is the difference that is effective. Be effective.
This thought rings in my mind as I take my morning walk this morning. It comes from reflection about efforts by some spirited young men and women in my local government area – Ngor Okpala – to change the political game in their LGA.
I think about how many visionary moments end in crash failure and how impressionable young people fail to discontinue the old and create the new. And my mind races to Wole Soyinka’s ‘The Lion and the Jewel’. That play highlights the exuberance of youth that often disconnects with wisdom.
Grammar can be effective, but only when it is uttered in voices that real people, trapped in real situations, can hear and answer.
We cannot say it enough. Reality is important. Nothing is impossible. Everything can be changed. Yes. But to change everything, you must know what everything is, why everything is the way it is. And how everything can be changed.
We cannot change anything by assuming what it is, and acting on our fancy.
There is a reason old politicians keep recycling themselves. There is a reason the spirited when they get into politics lose their steam and act like the rest. And yes, there is a reason the worst represent Ngor Okpala all the time. Know that reason and you know how to change it.
Above all, always remember: the difference that makes a difference is the one that succeeds.
how youths make a difference in Nigerian politics
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