If you want to find young Nigerians who are bitter and angry with the Nigerian “system, Twitter is the place. I am, equally, on Twitter and I am an angry young Nigerian too. But I’m doing something different about my anger.
Nothing unites Nigerians like football. The patriot is easily awakened – in any Nigerian – the moment any of our national teams is locked in a battle of supremacy with another country. From the cadets to the senior teams, the fervour is the same.
When Nigeria’s national teams are on the field of play, Nigerians are united behind them in prayers.
Nobody cares how the players were selected. It doesn’t matter if the goalkeeper is Hausa or the captain of the team is Igbo. Nobody wants to know how many players are Muslims or Christians. Nigerians just want to watch a good game and see their beloved team win.
Some weeks back, the widespread joy and celebration that heralded the emergence of our Super Eagles as Champions of Africa is a clear pointer to the fact that the idea of Nigeria as one united happy nation is not a myth. It is indeed, a reality.
Nigerians love Nigeria. You know how passionate Nigerians are about this country when it’s Kenya against Nigeria on Twitter.
In the run-up to the Nigeria versus Kenya 2014 Brazil Qualifier, there was a humorous – and, not so humorous – tug-of-war on Twitter between citizens of both nations.
Nigerians brushed aside their political, religious or ethnic affiliation and, together as one united army, unleashed fire and brimstone on our friendly Kenyans. It was one salvo the Kenyans will not forget in a hurry.
The Nigeria-Kenya saga reflects the power of the Nigerian spirit when we come together united as one in pursuit of a common ideal.
But why is this impossible in politics? Why do we turn against ourselves with bombs, guns and daggers when it comes to the politics of how we should build a new Nigeria?
Let me focus on the youth space, which in the next six years will remain my primary constituency, as according to the National Youth Policy, I am still a youth until I’m above 35.
More than ever before in the history of our nation, there has been an awakening of youth consciousness in politics especially through the social media revolution.
If you want to find young Nigerians who are bitter and angry with the Nigerian “system, Twitter is the place. I am, equally, on Twitter and I am an angry young Nigerian too. But I’m doing something different about my anger.
While some of my friends have chosen to channel their anger at insulting politicians and everybody in government, I am striving very hard to make a difference in my little sphere of influence.
As young Nigerians who love this country, there is so much we can do working across party lines and reaching out to people who share different political views, different religious beliefs and, diverse, ethnic affiliation. We can do so much to impact this country not by the volume of our anti-government tweets per second but the value of ideas we constantly bring to the table of constructive engagement.
Today, it is impossible for anyone in government to engage our generation on social media without getting abused or insulted. If truly we are the turning-point generation, our ability to intellectually engage our governance systems on issues ought to be one of our greatest assets. Unfortunately, gossips, insults, cheap sleaze and rumour-mongering have taken the place of intellectual debates on social media.
We vent our anger at anything or anyone that disagrees with us. We demonise people we do not even know based on our worldview of what we think is the ideal. We condemn and fight systems we do not even understand in the name of freedom of expression. How can we be the generation that thrives in the age of so much information and yet exhibit such little knowledge?
How can we construct a new nation when we occupy ourselves with the business of tearing down people we dislike on social media? What really do we hope to achieve with ours Masters and PhD degrees in Destructive Criticism?
Eminem must have been referring to us when he observes in Like Toy Soldiers: “It ain’t just words no more is it? It’s a different ball game, calling names.”
How do I convince one brother that the time he spends on Twitter “subbing” the ruling PDP government could be spent building strategic alliances with young Nigerians who are equally passionate about this nation?
How do I get my rejoinder-loving friends across the blogs to understand that Mr. Fix Nigeria is not their problem but also a young Nigerian who loves Nigeria just as much as they profess?
Barack Obama said: “We can disagree without being disagreeable.” Is it too tall a moral?
How does one pass across the message that we are soldiers on the same mission but when we turn against ourselves in our journey to rebuild a new Nigeria, we are on our way to crumbling like a pack of Eminem’s toy soldiers?
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Ohimai Godwin Amaize is popularly known as Mr. Fix Nigeria, Amaize was born on September 9, 1984. He is an alumnus of the premier University of Ibadan, Nigeria with a post-graduate certificate in “Managing for Integrity”, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. He is a registered member, People’s Democratic Party. He tweets @MrFixNigeria.
