The Leaders of Tommorow Have Risen Today.
How Nigerian Youths are Reclaiming the Soul of Their Nation.
Arise O Compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey. These are the opening words to the National Anthem sang across school assembly lines all over the Country. However, those words seemed to have increased in significance due to recent events as the once “Young boys and girls” who merely sang have grown up to become men and women who act and demand.
The Youths of Today have risen to take control of their nation from the Old Guard of Apathy, and their demand right now is simply to be allowed to live.
The #EndSars Campaign is quite simple in its claim- Stop Killing the Youths, Stop using Prejudice to attack Nigerian Youths. That it is being met with resistance only further embellishes the need for a protest.
However I am writing this article to celebrate the millions of youths across the Nation who have risen to take their nation back and O how Beautiful it is to observe.
3 Things I have Noticed that Spark Joy.
- A Common Problem
The divide and conquer style of derailing conversations/movements is well documented across history but this time it seems different. The Nigerian youths are united over a common issue(Police Brutality).
Politicians are not willing to listen to the protesters and most parents are not willing to let their children protest because of apathy and fear. So what we have now is a generation of youth with their backs against the walls and all they have to turn to is each other. This has been very heart warming to watch with this movement breaking barriers across the geographical, social and religious class.
The future of the world belongs to the youth of the world, and it is from the youth and not from the old that the fire of life will warm and enlighten the world. It is your privilege to breathe the breath of life into the dry bones of many around you -Tom Mann
This generation has woken up to this truth
2. The Rise of New Media
If the lion does not tell his story, the hunter will”,
-African Proverb.
The old media pledges allegiance to the Old Guard. The government largely dictates the narrative that comes out of traditional media and so it has become increasingly important for the change makers to also become storytellers.
There have been several attempts to label the protests as violent but these attempts have been met with contrary evidence from the phones and cameras of ordinary citizens. The generation once vilified for always pressing their phones have now turned these devices to tools of mass communication to spread the ideas and stories that matter to them. What a way to flip the script.
Every time we tell a story, whether it’s when making a speech or taking pictures, we create something. We discover ourselves and each other and what we can accomplish together. Sometimes the stories we tell are the change we make, and they change us just as much as they change the audience. By creating, we stay hopeful and strong, we testify. — “Storytelling and Social Change,” by Paul VanDeCarr for Working Narratives, second edition 2015
The Office of the Citizen
“While the government is “studying” and funding and organizing its Big Thought, nothing is being done. But the citizen who is willing to Think Little, and, accepting the discipline of that, to go ahead on his own, is already solving the problem. A man who is trying to live as a neighbor to his neighbors will have a lively and practical understanding of the work of peace and brotherhood, and let there be no mistake about it — he is doing that work -Wendell Berry
The solidarity amongst the Nigerian youths has peaked during this protest. The people have finally realized that power belongs to them and they are using this power to drive change in the nation while demanding it.
The Youths have been found-
- Protecting the Police
- Cleaning the Protest Grounds
- Crowdfunding Medical Bills for the Injured
- Providing Legal Services
- Controlling Traffic
- Providing Food at Protest Grounds
This is the Nigeria of our dreams and I do not want to wake up from it
I have never been more proud to be a Nigerian than right now and maybe sometime in the future when the National anthem rings loudly, we will have a personal connection with it because….
The Leaders of Tommorow Have Risen Today.
