 Thank you for staying with us. Do you know that the term governance is derived from the Greek term kupimau, meaning to stare or to direct? This means the practices and activities such as administrative, political and legal affairs to be performed by the government for the development of the country. The publication of the World Bank's report in 1989 titled Sub-Saharan Africa from Crisis to Sustainable Growth defines governance as the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This considers the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced. The capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies and the respect of citizens and the states of the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them. The predominance features of governance include participation, following the rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, consensus-oriented, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, and accountability. So today we are asking what is the responsibility of the youth in all of this. Please let's hear what you have to say. Remember you can join the conversation. Send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 081 80384663. You could also tweet to us at Weshaw Africa one with the hashtag Waze Show. So when I saw this topic today, I was like, yes, we're back. We're back. We're back to talk about good governance. And we always say that it starts from us. It's okay for you to go out and then vote. And that's why I like what we're doing with the enough office of the citizen just to be able to educate people because there's something we've realized that there is actually a political illiteracy in town now. So people don't even know. All they know is that we're going out to vote. And then if you ask them with your local government chairman, a lot of people don't know. A lot of people are directing questions that should be directed to the local government chairman, to the president. So we need to stay aware. We need to understand that we have our responsibilities. We have our rights. The other day we talked about our rights and responsibilities as citizens. We have our responsibility as the youth as well to maintain good governance. And that's the essence of this conversation tonight. And again, thankfully, we have enough of the publication to actually guide us while we have this conversation. But then let me just hear from you ladies briefly. Well, I think you've said it all. It's a high time. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, the voices you will hear now would be the youth. Everybody is seeing the problem, but we fail to understand that we must see beyond the problem. We must begin to look towards the solution. And the solution is us taking a stand to say, okay, you know what, I choose to do this. Again, when we talk about good governance, I think most of the time we just, I don't know, maybe consciously or unconsciously, we forget that followership has responsibilities. So for you to demand accountability from your leaders, for you to expect that they should do right by you, you need to be in the place of that responsibility to understand that you also need to do your part. If you don't know that you should ask them, if you don't know that you need to hold them accountable, for them it's just going to be business as usual. And they will just think that, I mean, the people are good with it. So until we begin to stand up to bring about these issues the right way. Because there's also the wrong way, the right way. We follow the due process. Then I think that we are not really doing so much that we should and that we are capable of doing as youth. Absolutely. I totally agree with you because just to be give back of what Adela was saying, youth are a majority of the population that we have in today's Nigeria. And it's funny because back in the days what was considered youth was up to like 30. It was just recently, when the not too young to run bill, finally came into play. Initially it was for something for older people, leadership and all of that until that act came in and it was open for young people to be able to hold positions of authority, hold positions of leadership. And we are still in that journey, right? But the importance of the youth cannot be overemphasized. This is where the strength of the nation is. And if we do not put perspective to the resource called the Nigerian youth, we will waste what we have. I think in the past most of the leaders, it was, I don't want to use a word that is common, but it was like, oh, wait for your time. But now we've seen that it's in the prime of your youth that really you can bring out the best in you. And if we engage the youth constructively, and that's why I love what Enough is doing in the place of information, because like you rightly said, it's important that people know that they carry potential, whether it's in the place of keeping leaders accountable or even rising up to leadership opportunities because we have been able to establish you're not too young to run. There are people who have qualities that people can emulate, whether they are old or they are young. So it's very important that we harness the resource in terms of information, in terms of preparedness, in terms of mentorship, raising leaders, raising people that will take over. You're not going to be there forever. So when you are going, who is going to replace you? And if there's nothing to learn from your leadership abilities, then what are they going to offer the community? So it's a, I think it's a very symbiotic relationship where you were feeding off one another. We can't do without the old, because they have the wisdom, they have the experience and the expertise, but we also cannot do without the young because they have the strength, they have the zeal, they have the passion to drive whatever decisions that are for the benefit of the community. So when we harness these two, when we merge these two, then you can see that we will raise a community that continues to churn out the right kind of people, not just in the Nigerian community, but anywhere in the world. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's very profound. So let's now narrow it down now to, first of all, because the truth is most people don't even know what their responsibilities are as citizens. And unless now come to do youth, what exactly is the responsibility or what are the responsibilities of the youth in the role of good governance in Nigeria, even as a citizen, right? I think the first responsibility is to abide by the constitution. How many of us know the constitution? What is the constitution saying? A lot of people don't know. We don't ever know. So you see, this is why I said there's so much electricity around. And we're not pointing fingers here. How many of us on this table really know everything that resides in the constitution? So you know the other day, I was somewhere, then someone asked, what's the circumstances of the national anthem? And a lot of people froze. They were like, okay, I don't remember. And I'm like, it's funny because that's even more profound. That's the circumstances. It's actually part of it. Oh God of creation. Oh God of creation, yes. It helps you even the national pledge, the national anthem. That way you even know what it is that what makes you a Nigerian in the first place and what you should stand for as a Nigerian. So I've realized that a lot of people don't, they're not even familiar with things like the national pledge, things like the national anthem. They don't even know the legitimate authorities. It's as little as knowing that, okay, the FRS is in charge of waste services. Knowing that the law is in charge of waste management. Some people don't know the bodies that are responsible for what. They don't know who is supposed to do this thing. If anything like this happens, they were talking about, what's the conversation we're having, and I think we're talking about human trafficking or something like that. I remember it was NJ. We were saying, okay, so what body are we supposed to report to? Is it NAPTIP? And these are things that we actually need to know. So first of all, your responsibility is to actually abide by the constitution, be familiar with the legitimate authorities, know who and who is responsible for whatever time it is. Know the hierarchy. Okay, we're going from this person to that person and that person, and I think that's one very important responsibility as a Nigerian. I like that. And again, I also think that in knowing the hierarchy, it's important that part of our responsibility is to understand what each of these offices, what they're supposed to do. So you know that okay, at local government level, this is what is expected at state level, at federal level, because again, it goes to why we focus so much attention on the precedents during elections. And the honest truth is, you can't even at the grassroots level experience democracy through the precedents. The closest you will get to democracy is local government. It's local government. So if you're not even experiencing that, and then of course we have so made that position, so we don't dance. We don't even care when it's local government election. Nobody cares. Men will come out. Nobody cares. So we just let this and that. So people see it as let me just go there, make whatever I need to make and nobody is holding me accountable. I mean, for someone like me, I was shocked when we had the guest the other day, Electoral College, and he was saying that you can actually sue. Oh my goodness. I was like really? Now I am interested. Local government elections. Because you see, from that level, if we can build, yes, I know some people believe that you have to build from top to bottom. But I also think you can build from the ground up. If your local government chairman or chair lady understands that the same. This seats, there is no what's it called? There's no there's no room for being like a desical. Yeah. And then there is no the law does not protect you. Like you can be sued. Even if there is a godfather somewhere, he's going to tell that person that you know they cannot sue you but they can sue me. So please let me do my own job face. You understand? And gradually gradually me I've always believed sometimes the change we want may not be so drastic. It's a process. It's a slow process. But we must understand our own role in all of this. For us to grow. Absolutely. Just to come in there. I think another key aspect is culture. The Nigerian culture. I mean when you were saying some people don't know the national because a lot of people cannot identify as Nigerians. And that's the real truth. With all that is going on now a lot of bad blood is going on as well. The elections revealed a lot to people and they are like are we really one Nigeria? It's a question. So people are questioning what are we doing as a country? Do we even need to remain as a country? You know those concerns are burning at the forefront. And there is where the government whoever the government is will have the responsibility to unify the nation through the decisions that they are making at the presidential level, at the government level, at the state level and across the local government. Because when Nigerians begin to have a sense of togetherness even in our diversity we say that now unity and diversity. Do we really practice it? Do we look out for one another? When we are saying proudly Nigerian are we proudly Nigerian? If you are saying living in unity can you even live in unity with your neighbor who is from another tribe from another state you see when there is an uproar there is riot all of a sudden somebody who is living in harmony becomes your enemy and you are wondering how did we get to this point? Nigerians need a complete reorientation, a mind shift to bring a new culture a new system of operation so that when we begin to foster I remember when South Africa was in that position it took several I remember watching a movie a team to play at the international level for both the blacks and the white South Africans to play in one team for people to begin to see that these things are possible so it would take a lot of reorientation to help Nigerians begin to feel a sense of identity and a sense of culture in what they are doing they begin to take ownership of Nigeria what we are seeing is because a lot of people are not taking ownership of Nigeria Nigeria does not belong to me in fact there are times when they would say oh I am not even Nigerian they will quickly bail but you see other people they say oh I am American and this and that even though you totally know that you are an immigrant or something in the place of our culture our cultural heritage it will help to foster that sense of responsibility for one another and begin to help us even in our strive for good governance that is very true I think another thing is community engagements we need to learn to make positive contributions to our community because the truth is that it actually begins with you I say this you live on a street and the drainage the road I understand that it is the government's responsibility but who throws those things inside exactly you have an estate community what have you done in the meetings what suggestions have you brought up what is even your contribution in that environment what have you guys done have you mounted a gate what have you done this is actually one of the very primary responsibilities of the youth as citizens so we need to learn to make meaningful contributions to the well-being and also to the progress of our community I think another thing I would also want to mention is paying taxes that's a big one most people don't declare their incomes honestly that's the truth because they don't trust the system well just like you said a lot of people would not come out boldly to say they are Nigerians we would not come out to claim that we are Nigerians because we feel like the system is not making us proud enough you are your own PHCN you are your own infrastructure youth you do everything for yourself so I wonder what really is the government doing for you but it still requires it's your responsibility this is one thing I would actually applaud for it's a very large expense you can see that our taxes are somewhat I would say somewhat working in this state I don't know about any of it I have not lived in any other state in Nigeria but then in Lagos I think this is actually working but then I would also want to you know indulge the youth actually those that have now started the small and medium enterprise it's very important that you declare your income and then pay your taxes your taxes I'm just going to be like okay so I also I mean when this topic came up and all that I also thought that one of the key things as youth that we have to be very mindful of it's actually a responsibility is to be mindful of the information that we carry we share we distribute I'm not sure many people know that information the wrong information can burn a nation it really the effect is so because you say something not true it has gone out of your it has gone out of your and that says and people now things now escalate discover it's all false but the damage has been done so we need to yes there's a whole lot of passion yes there is well almost free media yes I can do what I can do nobody can hold me there is freedom of this freedom of that but we must be mindful that as powerful as our freedom is we must not abuse it we must rather use it and inclusive and cohesive society if we want night because I mean really at the end of the day everybody jackmas it's not everybody that can jackmas some people who still remain sometimes I've had a major struggle going back to twitter twitter was my first love but I put it in my head I see all the and I take off literally because like my goodness this is really toxic and then the way they come for anybody it's good to keep people accountable but the venom you just see that a lot of people are bitter a lot of people are down so they are looking for where to just project their anger and their hatred on and it's really sad to know that this is where we are it can be better because imagine that that passion is channeled in the right direction you know it would yield much more results than what we are seeing now okay I'm glad we've talked a couple of responsibilities but then let's take a short break and then we'll come back to continue the conversation if you are just tuning we are discussing good governance to the youth please let's say what you have to say remember you can join the conversation send us an sms on whatsapp to 081-803-84663 you could also tweet it to us as we show Africa one with the hashtag we show so we've spoken about abiding by constitution we're talking about paying taxes living in harmony university we've spoken about being proudly Nigerian we've claimed they are Nigerian we've come to the electoral governance process now when Noma was talking about the chat she talked about RSVP and then we know that RSVP is R for register S for select V for votes and P protects your votes on election day we've gone through all of that although some states still have some gubernatorial elections to go through and this might come in handy as well as a responsible youth not a lazy Nigerian youth part of your responsibility RSVP to register to register to vote to select credible leaders to vote not to fight and then to protect your votes I think we have an image of that if we have that we can just flash that on the screen meanwhile so yeah we've talked about I remember when we were doing the voter sensitization we spoke a lot about things like this we talked about your PVC protecting yourself your vein making sure that you're registered knowing and being familiar with your polling again now this brings me to thinking enough is enough because now if you have the chat but you can actually send messages with your polling unit and then you will get where the location of your polling unit so very importantly it's important that you register you select you vote and then you protect your votes some people are still recovering from the experience of this election I am some people because some people were willing to protect their votes some people were they did everything they selected seemingly credible candidates they didn't fight they voted and then things happened it's tough but I think I want to use the opportunity to encourage people sometimes they say that the break of the dawn is usually the darkest moment in the night so it's not even the time to give up it's a time to keep fighting fighting with your votes because this like they say Rome was not built in a day that we have struggled and we didn't get as much of the results that we were seeking to achieve does not mean that this is the end I know a lot of people were we have had conversations with people and they said I believe so much that my vote was going to make a difference this time it did make a difference it may not have made as much difference as we would have wanted but it's a beginning, it's a start the more we are consistent the more we keep fighting one day we'll get there it looks like forever but definitely we're going to get there surely I think I would also like to add when it comes to selecting credible candidates it's very important that we look out for competence and capacity and put away every form of sentiment because I saw that happening lots in this past election people are still struggling that can only happen if the people who emerged at party level so that's always the problem everything starts from the party level so if competent people were not selected from party level so if we all keep saying I don't want to get involved in politics it's dirty then we'll keep having the same set of people which brings the begs the question how many of us are registered even though there is the school of thought that would say that we don't see credible parties to be part of we still struggle with what the ideologies around some of the existing parties are and even though some people did see one or two parties that looked like the ideal that they were focused on the ideals that resonated with them they still did not get the results that we were looking for but like I said it's still we are still trying and we are still making progress little steps but the more we keep pushing then we will be because now it has been what I took away from the elections was that we hadn't seen people being put on their toes like they were put in these elections people now felt the need to do something extra compared to before when it was like oh it's it's a given now you see that there is power in your and your responsibility as a citizen to keep the leaders accountable then they know that it's no longer a walk in the park that I need to put in the effort that is required if not I will be voted out yes in fact you just even you thought on where I was going to pick from you know that's the beautiful thing about democracy actually you can actually vote people out for non-performance right so yeah it's okay to say okay maybe we didn't have credible people alright then we now decide okay maybe we should give them the chance I mean this is the lesser evil of all if the person comes into power and then you see the person is not doing whatever it is actually your right and your responsibility so vote the person out for non-performance I remember we had the lady pushing the enough is enough campaign she mentioned that about a popular senator that she actually spoke with over the phone and then she said okay no problem I'm just going to share your number and then we will just come to the front of yours and the man panicked and he was like no it's not that deep what do you want you know so we actually have and that's what most people don't know are aware that you can actually vote these people out for non-performance so if at any point in time you realize that this person that you have voted in is not carrying out what they are supposed to do please please and please you have every right as long as you have tangible reasons actually if the person has had maybe like a debate or a manifesto or something and you said they are not going by the promises that they have made in that manifesto or whatever the case may be at the time you can actually take them out and I love that part so much actually okay so let's talk about protecting our votes I know we touched on that a little bit and then we spoke about how that didn't really play out in the past election so a couple of things happened here and there but then like normal has tried to encourage us because even me I didn't get the encouragement let's not be dismayed if we have to go out to vote again in another four years please let's not look at what has happened now and say oh can we vote our next chairman out it's an appointment so if you vote in the right kind of people and they appoint the right kind of people then the processes can be as transparent as we want it to be so it still boils down to our responsibilities as citizens when we call out leaders when we say okay these are the things that are working can you do something about it I know there are times where they have these petitions that people write and when you get the numbers nobody has the authority to counter that they have to pay attention so I think we keep the more we keep pushing it's not a time for us to be feeling down and give up I think the more we push like the quotes that we used today the people as they don't underestimate what people whose minds are set no matter how little they are never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world indeed it is the only thing that ever has when people are pushed to the world they will find a way to push back so I think that should be our power and we should use it intentionally and deliberately that's right so very importantly register select vote and protect your votes we're also still looking forward to receiving your whatsapp messages and your contributions remember that you can also tweet at us at Weishu Africa one with the hashtag Weishu so closing off on this now do you have any final words first of all you must identify yourself as a citizen of Nigeria you must believe in Nigeria you must be committed to Nigeria and you must understand that you have a duty you have a responsibility to the growth and development of the nation because as long as you reside in the country or as long as you you you identify as a Nigerian then the the good or the bad it would always it's a part of you if it can be good and if you can contribute your own quotas to make it good and great, why not you have nothing to lose absolutely nothing I think I'll take it from where Dheela because we are talking about the Nigerian a lot of times again we throw a lot of blame the government has its own part that it needs to take ownership for but we as citizens need to take ownership for our individual actions when we do not do anything that's an action not doing anything about a situation because you feel you can that's an action in itself and definitely there are consequences when we don't do things things go wrong when we do things no matter how little it's a right step in the right direction and then when we individually take responsibility as little as what you're supposed to do in your office or your job or your community where you are what are you doing it's not just enough to hold the leaders accountable how are you holding yourself accountable what are you saying about Nigeria there are a lot of messages we talked about bad news or spreading fast people they say keep forward into school and home it gets to the president but the truth of it is that how much of good information are we also spreading so what are we saying with our mouths right they say that it's the definition of a fool is when you keep repeating the same thing over and over expecting a different result we cannot continue to cry wo wo wo and expect that Nigeria is going to change some of the nations that we are looking at today did not become what they were until some people started speaking some things into power when you remember the likes of what's their activist the Martin Luther King junior when he was saying I have a dream we are quoting some of those things but in the context in which he said what he said he was looking at a future America that would allow the black man to be able to own his citizenship and be able to be part of restructuring of the system of America that is anyway supposed to be the united states so a unity of diverse people so if we take that away and we say we are diverse people as Nigerians how are we integrated how are we understanding ourselves how are we trying to live in harmony how are we trying to be assets to our nation then it's a ripple effect it's not just something for one person it's for all of us and every part is very important whether you are a cleaner whether you are a manager whether you are doing in your cleaning the road you are you are preventing color exactly so you will not even see it in that perspective so when we begin to change again like I mentioned earlier mind shift when we begin to change our mind to Nigeria is me what I do what I say how I act represents Nigeria it's not just the ambassadors that represent the country we wherever we carry ourselves people say you are from Nigeria it's our conduct it's the words of our mouth it's the actions that we carry out that will show whether or not we are true citizens and we are living in good governance wherever we find ourselves thank you so much you have a comment okay let me okay yes I do have a comment and this is okay from our regular fan good evening my dear beautiful sisters of what are you saying hashtag ways good governance and the responsibilities of the youth the youth have to be ready for good governance and it is not only by utterance a lot of action has to be involved we need to register vote select and implement governance is meant for the matured and not for kids my name is Daniel Ilu thank you Daniel thank you this one says good evening my sister of ways what we need is grassroots education this is what can save our country I agree that's actually very true and so if we now look at things like what the enough is enough campaign is doing I think we also need to look for ways to actually penetrate certain areas because the truth is that the market women the purpose of the organizer these people actually also need to know citizens and they also have responsibilities to play as well so they don't just wait till that time when the politicians come out for camping and then they are giving them bags of rice and whatever it is and that's what is now informing their decisions at the time so that person is actually very correct okay so on this note I hope we have truly and indeed learnt and understood that we indeed have rights and responsibilities most importantly responsibilities to play in the part of good governance we always talk about good governance good governance but then how are we participating what are we doing to ensure that in Nigeria we begin to experience good governance I always ask these good governance will ask me for are we also ready for it to show those bad behaviors are you ready to let all those things really go ask yourself that question anyway before we go do ensure you follow us on instagram at weishuafrika you can interact with us further drop a comment and most importantly follow us on social media engagement and remember to like share comments and invite your friends and family to watch us and follow us if you miss today's quotes here it is again never doubt that a small group of thoughts full committed people can change the world indeed it is the only thing that ever has that ever has ever has this is by my great smid see you tomorrow at 8pm as we bring another great conversation to your screen thank you ladies