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The Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, yesterday, at a public lecture at the
University of Lagos, urged students of Nigerian universities to get
involved in governance.

The event, ‘A day with an icon’ drew a
lot of students from the institution and other schools, filling the
main auditorium of the university to the brim. Mr Bankole, who spoke on
the topic, ‘The challenges and prospects of transforming the Nigerian
democratic polity’, told the students to get involved in politics in
order to chart a better course for the country. “We need the youth
working hand in hand with only mature and responsible adults,” he said.
“Adults with vision, sense of purpose and maturity that could chart a
course for the future of Nigeria. You have to stand up, you have to
defend democracy. You have to become real actors and not just
spectators on a national and political level. A frightening high
percentage of Nigerian youth are totally disconnected from the society.
They are alienated, they are annoyed. It is this sense of alienation
that led to the growth of Niger Delta militants. It is this that has
led to armed robbery and much more.”

Youth as spectators

The speaker accused most of the youth
of being spectators in national affairs and refusing to get directly
involved in governance or speak out on any injustice done to them. To
buttress his point, he asked the students how many of them knew the
names of their local government councillors and House of Representative
members and less than 10 hands were raised among the hundreds of
students present. “We don’t even know who represents us at grassroots
level and we don’t even care,” he said. “In Nigeria this year, we spent
N2.3 trillion on local government level and councillors are going to be
in charge of this money. And you don’t care how this money is spent?
And you people just sit quietly in the university and take it, and you
accept it.”

Mr Bankole recounted the early years of
Nigeria’s independence under the leadership of people like Nnamdi
Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello. He recalled how these leaders had formed
enduring educational institutions like University of Nigeria,
University of Ife and University of Lagos while lauding their
initiatives. But 50 years after, he said, Nigeria is faced with a
myriad of problems. “It is a problem that has taken 50 years to build,”
he said. “It is an inherited problem. Nigeria is the sixth highest OPEC
crude oil producer in the world, yet we import petrol and diesel. We
are now experts at exporting what we do not have and importing what we
have. We have doctors and nurses in government hospitals who fail to
attend to patients after receiving salaries. We have lecturers who fail
to teach students after receiving salaries. We have universities that
give degrees and certificates to people of questionable character.”

The way forward

He pleaded with the students to stop
being spectators but to turn their institutions into recruiting places
for future leaders. “I’m begging you, I’m pleading with you not to be
spectators anymore,” he said. “I am pleading with you to turn your
universities and those of your friends from other universities to a
recruiting ground for future leaders in this country. You have to form
a movement. It is important because you can’t have this kind of people
continue to run the affairs of this country directly or indirectly and
make decisions that would affect you. We should stop sending our worst
to represent this country. We must be vigilant, we must protect our
democracy. I charge the Nigerian youths to use your collective strength
of about 70 percent of the entire population to contribute towards the
transformation of our democratic polity.”

Some of the students also had an
opportunity to ask the Speaker some questions. Oluwaseun Clement asked
him how much senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria earned. “The
only commission that can state the salaries and allocation of any
public office holder is the Revenue and Mobilisation, Allocation and
Fiscal Commission,” he said in response. “Go to the Revenue
Mobilization, they would give you the list of allowances. And do not
confuse allowances with mobilization and constituency allowances. Our
job is to make laws and follow the money not to spend it.”

Also in response to a question on the plea bargain undertaken by
corrupt officials when found to have embezzled government funds by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Bankole said the
suggestions of the students were welcome. “It is only the beginning and
we welcome any idea from this intellectual capacity,” he said. “You
have to intervene and the only way to intervene is to probe. I’d
welcome from the Law Faculty any idea that would enhance our
performance.”</