SORO SOKE: A Youthful Nigeria

I am very proud of the Nigeria youth. I am heartbroken for the heroes we lost all over the country by the poor crisis management and lackadaisical attitude of the top leader. Rest in Power heroes. I sympathize with their family and friends. Their death would NEVER be in vain. I am disappointed by the level of damage the hoodlums levied against properties especially in Lagos but it’s expected when some youths are used as tools in this current political climate. Tools tend to malfunction when misused.

On a positive side, I am elated by the level of organization and momentum that was achieved within 2weeks of the EndSARs protest. I am happy that when it mattered the most, the youth shunned tribalism and embraced the oneness that defines Nigeria. I was impressed by all the teams that came together to run a seamless impromptu protest. An impromptu functioning call center in Nigeria that provided health care (mental health inclusive), legal, welfare and security services were created by the end of the first week. The soro soke generation showed that we are more than the phone pressing generation. Everything was done with military precision. Big Ups!!! I am excited for the future of this country. 

The suspension of the Lagos protest CANNOT and WILL NOT be the end of change in Nigeria. It should be viewed as internship before the main entry level position. It would be naïve of the youth to expect zero resistance against Nigeria’s oppressive system. This protest was to make our grievances against police brutality known, observe our leader’s strategy and wake other sleeping youths that business as usual is a thing of the past. It was a necessary but expensive experience.

Since we are on the 5-for-5 level for everything, from the IG’s response to the Youth’s demand, I would like to propose a 5-for-5 strategy as we explore the way forward.

1. 1. Creating an Enlightenment Website: The aim of this website is to keep every citizen/ youth informed about all the happening in the house, senate and federal level. It is important for EVERYONE to know what is going on in the country. This website would be a one-stop shop which would help with transparency and accountability. Reports from existing companies/websites like BudgIT and Tracka can be summarized or mapped to a SECURE website with every state represented and the various bills decomposed into layman terms (a page summary). If people are duly informed, it’s easy to hold elected officials accountable whenever there is gross mismanagement.

      

      For example, the state paid for our street to be tarred and our gutter cleared out severally but it hasn’t changed in 20years. We always find out after the tenure ends. Timely Knowledge is definitely power. This Website should also give weekly tidbit on the Nigerian constitution and how the government really works. However, it’s our responsibility as citizens to read, digest and spread this information via social media and other means and prevent the spread of misleading information.

   2. Community Outreach: The major takeaway from this endSARs protest is that there is still a lot of work to be done on the uneducated youth  as well as youths in rural areas. Work needs to be done to ensure that every individual is informed and carried along on the growth of the country. It is very important in order to prevent these individuals from being foot soldiers to the current politicians, which currently led to the loss of properties and businesses.

      It is also important to educate them and ensure they understand the need to ask the question ‘why’, instead the ‘how’, whenever they are sent on a disruptive errand. For this strategy, we need to break down the summary from strategy one and print it on a flier. This summary should include current events, voting, open seats in the house or senate, current bills and milestones of specific local and state representatives for the prior month as it relates to that community. Community representatives would circulate these flyers in the zonal language and hold impromptu town hall meetings.

      

      Brainstorming sessions need to be done to explore ways of increasing participation. The individuals in the grassroot need to see and participate in what a working government looks like. It’s imperative we provide private consistent topnotch welfare services (health, feeding and entertainment) since an average Nigerian is used to mediocrity. We should remember that this is a crusade to win lives for Nigeria. These monthly online and in-person sessions done in all states would keep the current politicians on their toes and might force them to actually perform. Leadership opportunities should also be made available to every reputable Nigerians regardless of their educational background.

   3. More Political Representation: It is not enough to just complain, lament and trend on social media about incompetence, lack of accountability and transparency from the current leaders. It is time to get involved and be properly represented by appointing capable and reliable individuals to represent our interest. There are currently 774 local governments, 360 house of representative and 109 senate seats in Nigeria. In a 2019 population distribution via statista.com, the youths (<40yrs old) make up about 60% of the population but they are less than 1% of the total number of the public officials in all branch of government. How sensible is it that the less than 6% (>50years of age) control the whole country? Most are out of touch and siphon money forgetting that they were elected to represent their constituents instead of personal interest.

      

      All Nigerians should be blamed for incompetency and gross mismanagement of Nigeria’s resources because we were complacent. We choose to look the other way and make excuses for the glaring fraudulent activities that have been going on for years. For example, how can an individual (a 6%) with confidence submit a bill of $600,000 which is over 200million Naira for a logo with no fear of retribution? An average logo cost about 10,000 Naira (my website logo was done for less).

      

      He/she was not scared of the repercussions for billing to the exponent because there is an understanding that its business as usual and corruption is the order of the day. We need to understand that it’s not enough to just vote in a leader, it’s our collective responsibility as stakeholders to hold our elected leaders accountable for every naira spent while serving in public office. In our personal business, we act like hawks and make sure our sales representative accounts for every kobo so why should the elected official be any different since they work for us. It’s also our responsibility to ensure that all members of the constituency and international body know when an individual is guilty of defrauding the nation. Just maybe the 6% counterparts assume that 600,000$ is the appropriate amount to design a logo. This is why it’s important for the 60% to be duly represented to ensure checks and balances.

      

      It’s important to ensure that age population distribution aligns with the representation in the house and senate. It is time for the youth especially progressive ones with integrity to contest for public office. We would support you as long as you remember that you are there to serve everyone. The key strategy here is to have a short term goal (2023) of ensuring we own a third of the current public office seat in every state and long term goal (probably in 2027) of having a young president as well as ensuring the population matches the representation. I would propose creating a secure multilingual user friendly website that provides information as well as resources on voting, open seats and election. This website would have links to the official INEC website for clarity and ease. It’s important to push for early voters registration and educate the grassroot on the importance of good representation. Our PVC is more powerful than we think. 3years is too short to achieve even the short term goal so hard work needs to be done to achieve all goals.

   4. No Leaders, Only Messengers: This strategy was effective in minimizing corruption and intimidation during the 2week protest. Politicians are usually quick to offer bribes and issue threats when they are made a little uncomfortable and asked to be accountable. Henceforth, the NO LEADER motto is very important because it ensures our elected youth reps understand that they are only messengers in the struggle and are dispensable, if and when they become compromised.

      

       For the above strategies, a lot of messengers with diverse backgrounds are needed to achieve optimal results. Diverse representation would bridge gaps by avoiding miscommunication and minimizing the recruitment of youths as foot soldiers. It is important for everyone to be given the opportunity to serve and contribute. This was one of the lessons learned from our impromptu protest.

   5. Closing Out the EndSARS 5-for-5 Action Item: It’s important to ensure the government knows that the 5-for-5 request from the youth still stands and needs to be implemented to avoid a repeat of the prior weeks. I understand it might be difficult trusting anything from the government but we must do our due diligence to ensure and show up when our presence is requested or information is needed. We are the SORO SOKE generation so it’s important not to lose focus. A few states already created their Judicial panel. It is very important we encourage individuals from all walks of life to submit petitions to the Judicial Committee. We must respect everyone’s right including the police officers who are innocent until proven guilty and follow due process. It’s our job to educate and encourage the youth on the importance of giving their side of the story and ensure that the bad officers are convicted and taken off the street. The more authentic petitions we submit, the more rots we remove from the police force. I would recommend we put signs and sponsor adverts on local TV and radio stations calling for petition and ways we can help write it. I am hoping the state government put measures in place to avoid retaliation.

This is the end of being complacent and enabling bad behavior in Nigeria. This is the end of putting everything in prayer without action. We are not our parents who are fine with living mediocre lives for the fear of retaliation. As the SORO SOKE generation, we would speak up and make Nigeria, one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. Welcome to Nigeria 2.0. 

Note: In case pictures belonging to you were used, send me a message so i can reference you.