Presentation by Rt. Hon. M. O. Kolawole at Kogi West Youth Dialogue on Saturday 25th November, 2017.
Youth and Money Politics; Kogi West in Focus
Protocols,
It is a privilege and honor to address this august gathering of youths across Kogi West on Youths and money politics with a view to setting a youth agenda as we approach general elections in 2019.
A look into who a youth is and what money politics means are therefore imperative.
In today’s context, I will define a youth in agreement with the Nigerian National Youth Policy (2009) as those between the ages of 18 – 35 years. (Contrary to the global trend, it excludes those between 15 and 17! Nigeria’s total population in 2016 was projected to be 193,392,517 (NpopC July 2017). Youth population was estimated at 61,306,413 or 31.7% of the total population. This is one of the highest percentages of youth in any country in fact Nigeria is said to have the largest youth population in the world within the framework of this definition.
There is a dire shortage of young persons occupying the political realm, either because of disempowerment, or alienation, or their perception that their involvement would not matter, given how elections are rigged and how policies are haphazardly conceived and implemented without input from critical stakeholders.
In any electoral process, it is not unusual to hear about allegations of money politics, but how is it defined? Money politics is basically defined as an act of changing people’s minds through the use of money and anything that involves some form of inducements, promises and even threats in the polls. The practice is anything that involves money to influence or change the minds of voters to favour the giver which is more prominent when people make use of money to get votes during elections. Even if it is only a pledge, so long as it is being done through promises or trades that may change the outcome of an election.
Unfortunately, money in politics is an insidious thing as politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the youth.
The history of Nigerian politics is entangled with money politics. In fact, here, the term ‘politics’ can be used interchangeably with ‘money’. The size of a politician’s campaign ground can be an effective yardstick for measuring his wealth and influence but not for estimating how much people believe in his leadership abilities and potential. Time is money to the electorate. Ears are rented. They chant aloud and sing praises when they clearly can’t understand or hear the campaign speech being delivered by the candidate.
Democracy in Nigeria has been heavily battered. An average youth sees the election period as a blatant opportunity for him to grab his share of the ‘national cake’.
Huge financial demands of political campaigns, with the masses stretching opened hands to receive cash and other resources from competing sides. This could be likened to the “game theory” in political science where both parties aim to win by exploiting weaknesses of an opposing side.
One fact the youth should seriously consider is that the politician recklessly spending his/her hard-earned funds isn’t dumb or that magnanimous. The youths constantly demanding for financial resources are not smart; they will pay an unimaginable exploitative interest rate over the next four years at the success of the candidate.
Money is name of the game; the politician has to have plenty of money to be in the game and stay in it. To stay, he has to be armed with sumptuous amounts. He must be prepared to spend money on daily basis; to buy or “oil” everything – including support and consolidation of support.
He would hold meetings at all levels – in groups or parties, communities, districts, wards, local government and even up to state level.
Politicians must possess or have to access to incredible amounts, if not they won’t be able to compete.
Throughout the world today, politics has become an expensive affair, to the extent that money is now among the greatest threats to democracy. In essence, the greater the influence of money on politics, the less influence the average citizen has.
Commercialized and expensive electoral campaigns are more prevalent than ever. Money determines the ability of candidates to compete in—and sometimes even win—an election
Politics is speech, money is also speech, but whose money speaks in politics? In politics, money is not just speech, money is power!
A politician cannot represent the interests of his or her community/constituency when he has solicited and taken contributions from special interests to finance a costly election. Such politician can only be governed by a sense of obligation to his/her benefactors.
For a candidate to win election in Nigeria, he must be prepared to spend lots of money. Money has long dominated our elections, and the problem is worsening. People spend unlimited amounts of money during campaigns and before or during election, in order to win the posts they are contesting for.
The major problem with money politics is that politicians tend to invest by spending in the campaigns and expect profit in return. This can also affect public policy and spending priorities. Politics in Nigeria becomes business in which the contestant invests during campaign, and later recoups after winning the election. Immediately they land in office, their agenda changes. They set out to take back what they spent during campaign, including the profit, before their tenure ends. And as we know, the ‘profit’ is usually many times more than the ‘investment’. At the middle of their tenure, they will focus their attention on how to win election for the second time. At that time they will begin to show a little seriousness about the Masses by still giving them money, but not doing something that will help in developing them. The politicians use the opportunity of giving money in order to deceive the masses and the masses assume that is best of what they expect from their leaders. If you are to share your view with the both sides (politicians and masses), you will find that both of them have contributed a lot in spreading the problem. History shows that Nigeria was not like this before. Our past leaders went into politics in those days to serve for development, not to just steal money and properties of the country and enrich themselves.
These are the type of leaders that we need in Nigeria today. The most terrible problem with money politics is that it causes unemployment in the mind of our youth. It also affects development of the nation, because people take politics as business not something that will help in developing the country. It causes crises and violence, among other problems. Looking at the present situation, it shows that we are very far left behind, economically, socially, morally as well as politically and it is time to start thinking of ways out of this problem. Money is name of the game; the politician has to have plenty of money to be in the game and stay in it. To stay, he has to be armed with sumptuous amounts. He must be prepared to spend money on daily basis; to buy or “oil” everything – including support and consolidation of support.
He would hold meetings at all levels – in groups or parties, communities, districts, wards, local government and even up to state.
Politicians must possess or have to access to incredible amounts, if not they won’t be able to compete.
Throughout the world today, politics has become an expensive affair, to the extent that money is now among the greatest threats to democracy. In essence, the greater the influence of money on politics, the less influence the average citizen has.
Commercialized and expensive electoral campaigns are more prevalent than ever. Money determines the ability of candidates to compete in—and sometimes even win—an election
Politics is speech, money is also speech, but whose money speaks in politics? In politics, money is not just speech, money is power!
Of course, it can be argued that money alone does not dictate the outcome of elections
However, big money still sets the agenda. It defines the development and deployment of campaign methods as well as the policy. It takes skilled candidates, favourable media coverage, and strong organizational efforts to offset the power of money. One can hardly name a country in the world where instances of bribery or political corruption are not present in their national politics but Nigeria’s case is alarming. The image of democracy is severely dented.
Financing politics is considered to be a good investment in Nigeria. Once a godfather chooses his protégée, profit is guaranteed. Corruption in financing politics in the country pervades every level of the government and takes many forms.
It is so sad that the kind of politics we play in Nigeria hasn’t reached its maturity stage. We are playing politics of the street. We trade insults rather than discuss issues. The youths who ought to know better are the worst culprits.
The issue of integrity in Nigerian politics seems to be washed away gradually by the “monetary erosion”. Everybody has a price tag, only prices differ. Once you meet the asking price, the individual accepts the contract.
Unfortunately, Nigerian youths are financially malnourished to engage in politics. It is not unusual to hear youths talk about founding a youth party to upstage the old politicians from power. A big grin always spreads across my face whenever I read this grandiose suggestion. ‘And how will you fund this party?’ is always my question to youths mooting the idea. The unassailable truth is: politics is an expensive enterprise. As obnoxious as it sounds, sadly, that is the nature of politics.
Elections are money business in Nigeria and it is amazingly incredible the amounts of money desperate politicians deploy to fight elections.
Therefore the youths should do everything possible to fight against these problems. Youths should bear in mind that they must fight against money politics because it will never lead them to success. This is especially important as we approach the general elections in 2019.
The youth must also understand that their future cannot depend on ‘find something for me’ philosophy’. It has to depend on the philosophy that I have this idea, how can you support me?
Additionally, there is a disjuncture between the old, the middle aged and the youth, in the sense of lack of appropriate and serious platforms for solidarity, engagement and dialogue. It hasn’t always been this bad. In the First Republic, the founding fathers ensured unity of purpose, empowered the youth, mentored them, carried them along and involved them appropriately. For example, the Enahoros, the Maitama Sules, all became prominent politicians, Federal/Regional Ministers, etc., as youth. The founding fathers themselves had been involved in students and other community affairs, political struggles and leadership roles quite early in their lives. But, somewhere along the line, a rupture seems to have occurred; perhaps beginning under military rule, and especially under politics of the Second and subsequent, republics, the youth came to be generally neglected and relegated to the background.
The marginalization of youth and their disempowerment cannot be adequately addressed unless and until more and more young people, both men and women, become engaged in the political, legislative as well as policy and governance processes. We must, therefore, reconnect with the youth, empower them, mentor them responsibly, give them responsible leadership roles and enable them become the key change agents for stability, unity, progress and development. Young people cannot afford to be apolitical, apathetic and indifferent to what is happening in governance and in the larger political economy. They need to get engaged and involved. Effective mechanisms and platforms need to be established to nurture and mobilize youth engagement in the wider political and policy-making processes. Credible youth leaders must necessarily help to organize and pilot such platforms of engagement.
Money politics has in several ways impacted negatively on the youth and this cannot be overemphasized but if the youth expect any benevolence from those who continue to use this to keep them down then the waiting will linger perpetually. The youth should focus on programs that will empower them economically and enhance their lives. It is only when they do this that they will have the leverage to demand for inclusiveness in politics.
Irrespective of the agenda set, money will for a while continue to play its unfair role in our politics but if the youth discard laziness and penchant for the crumbs that easy money is by implementing ingenious productive ideas, they will have found a way out of the quagmire money has placed them in politics.
The youth while considering money politics in setting an agenda must be convinced this brutal factor against their collective future can be defeated with the right mental attitude and willingness to pave way for a better tomorrow.
