I’m scared about our next generation of youth – Ofem

Hon. Nelson Eyong Ofem, a lawmaker in the Cross River State House of Assembly, draws a comparison between the Nigerian youth and their German counterparts in their nations’ political space. ABDULRAHMAN A. ABDULRAUF reports

This is Germany and having seen it all, will you want to draw a comparison between the parliamentary system in Germany and our own presidential system?
From experience, the parliamentary system here appears to be more cost-effective. The presidential system appears to be too bogus  and expensive. When we dare to compare the operation of the parliamentary system in Germany to our own presidential,  we notice that the expenditure that is involved in the presidential is excessively high, the number of aides and all that, that are employed   the system are not the same.
Although, it has to do with two things. Number one, the system itself  and number two, the historical orientation that the people have had. The people have been so structured and made to reason along the lines of service. In fact, the CDU(Christian Democratic Union), the largest political party is consistently complaining of lack of interest, or lack of interest  of the youth in coming to the party, something that is contrary to what operates in our own country. The young one are more concerned wih how they cam establishing themselves n other jurisdictions and other aspects of the society. They want to  be economists, they want to be bankers, they want  to be historians, they want to be academics, they  want to be accountants and not politics, and the CDU and other parties are trying to woo them into politics. Konrad Adenauer has really  done a lot for us by exposing us to what obtains in Germany in this regard.

In the case of Nigeria, if a senator  or a member ,House of Assembly is elected, they want him to pay school fess,  they want him to do this, to do that, to pay school fees. The youth appear to have lost integrity. It is not so here.  The parliamentary system is such that people are much more interested in what they can do for the state, they are more interested in making a name for themselves. When  we came, they were ready to open up on the salaries they take.  In Berlin state parliament, they told us this is what we take, and when we converted to naira, we saw what they take, because they are not under pressure. They are not under pressure, and they have a culture of integrity  and very transparent in what they do.
I am of the opinion that even if we must continue with the presidential system, there are certain things we should learn to do correctly. Number one, we must all open our eyes and have an attitude of transparency and integrity.  Number two, based on this, the collective over and above the self, must rule. How do I mean? We should be more interested in what we can do for our children of tomorrow rather than what I can do for myself and my child. There is a difference.

When a man sees a tomorrow for a whole state, it changes how he behaves. When a man does not see a tomorrow for everybody, what he does is let us eat it and kill it now. Let us change from that path. If we change from that path and teach our children integrity in labour, then we are in a safe society.
As I am sitting down here, I am very scared about the next generation of youth we are producing. Those of us who were in the universities in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, we didn’t need to go to any legislator to ask for school fees.  We had to hustle on our own, we had to plant cassava, rice, we had to plant beans, we had to plant maize, we had to go to construction site to carry blocks to do a few things. We got small, small money to pay our school fees to protect our integrity.
Today’s youth, because he voted for you,  expects you as a senator or state lawmaker to pay his school fees, to pay his house rent, the mother is sick, child dedication , burial. They have lost their self-confidence and integrity. It’s a dangerous trend. All these put pressure on parliamentarians. He doesn’t manufacture money. So he begins to look for money everywhere, which shouldn’t be.

Where did we get it wrong?
Where we got it wrong has to do with two things. One, our orientation was not right. We misinterpreted democracy to mean lack of work , where we just go and  take money without work. We have not been given that sufficient orientation , either in the civil service or public service, to    understand that government is not a place where you can go and enrich yourselves.
We saw military men, we  politicians who suddenly from nowhere, become millionaires. So, the orientation that everybody should get there and when you get there you carry, should stop. The second one is that Nigerians believe we suffered for a long time under the military, now democracy has come in 1999. What it means is that my farm work should be abandoned. Now  we have freedom. My yam, my rice, my cassava should be abandoned. The man  we voted for, after all, that day In didn’t go to farm , I stayed at home to vote for him, he should now be the one to pay for my children’s school fees. It might look like a theory, but if you get to our various constituencies, these things are happening. They may not be the same way, perhaps it may be peculiar here, but one thing that is obvious is that the degree differs.

Lifestyle of some our leaders
But I mentioned it, I said so.  I said, yesterday, you had no money and the moment you went in there,  you became a millionaire. Others then believe that if this man who was a nobody yesterday suddenly became a millionaire overnight , then, what is wrong in us not going after him to be part of it? In fact, some us who were civil servants  were ridiculed in the village during that period.

But before then, it was easy for us to do our Osusu(contribution), buy bags of cement, there was  reward , there was honour. All these died when democracy came , because we  thought what democracy means is that everybody would have to go to the Senate and wait for government to bring the money.
I just spoke with my colleague, the majority leader Enugu state House of assembly and he concurred, the  kind of labour we were doing during holiday, market days, we will ring a bell and the youth would come out and we would clean the market place,  go to schools and help students, go to cemetery , go to health centres. Today, none of the youths is willing to do it. The man who is representing the people, must bring out money. The society is getting terribly eroded, so that even if you like, change Nigeria from presidential to parliamentary without appropriate orientation , and that orientation must be seen to work at the top, so that it can be followed, because  leadership is a critical aspect of human development. The moment the right leadership is provided, people follow. We have a problem with the leadership.

The bulk of German economy, is sourced from 85 percent from small and medium scale businesses. How much of this can we replicate in Nigeria?
We are legislators. As we have been going round everyday, I am taking notes. The best we can do is to get back to agriculture and replicate what we have seen here. Let me be sincere with you. I was making some comments that look like joke as we were driving round, I didn’t notice any open drain anywhere and you know what that means. Their sewages are all coordinated and entering somewhere and so much mosquitoes are not around.

Number two, you  don’t find any untarred  road anywhere. Did you find? There is nothing called a village or town. Where anybody calls a village, everything in Berlin is there, everything that is Frankfurt is there. Why? Because their fathers saw tomorrow . That is what we should begin to learn now.
Number two,  there must be need for regional integration. The states can’t do it alone. The regions must come together and explore the advantages they have here and there. That’s how best we can replicate. If  you go to Anambra, there is so much you can find in art work in Cross River that you can’t find  in Cross River.  All these we are seeing in Germany, there are people who can do it in Anambra,  to come and teach my people. But we must create the environment that will make them see this place as their place, they  see governors doing some things, they see their leaders, they see their speakers coming. This is  regional orientation.   This medium- term thing will work if our orientation  changes, because quick money kills initiative. To manufacture, to invent, to learn a skill, requires time and patience. So, even if you try to replicate it and the orientation is not there and the issue of quick money is not changed, then , it will be difficult replicating same.