Recently there’s been much ado about the Not Too Young To Run Bill, growing interest in the motives and intentions of youth proclaiming that if they’re old enough to vote, they’re old enough to be voted for.
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OCED) says, “At 2.1 billion, young people between the ages of 15 and 24 account for more than a quarter of the world’s population. Over 85% of this number live in developing countries, with as high as 30% in some countries.”
Africa is the world’s youngest continent. John Wilmoth, Director of the Population Division at the United Nations, said in 2015 that “Currently in Africa we estimate that 41% of the population is under the age of 15. Another 19% are between the ages of 15 and 24. If you add those two together you’ve got three-fifths of the population. This is a very high fraction.” Closer home, Nigeria’s 18-35 demographic is approximately 68% of its 180 million strong population.
Completely at variance with these numbers, however, is the average age of the ruling class across the continent. Interestingly, at 74, Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari is one of the ‘younger’ leaders. Exceptions to the rule include Joseph Kabila and Pierre Nkurunziza of Congo and Burundi respectively, who ushered into power via undemocratic circumstances, have unfortunately done little to advance democratic processes.
Why? How are the largest and most affected demographic the most excluded? Beyond Africa, India’s 422 million aged 15 – 24 is just about the combined total of people in the UK, US, and Canada. Yet this exclusion of the most by the least persists. How do we move beyond stimulating active citizenship, fringe civic participation, and potential political unrest to a truly inclusive political structure? Young people championed the movements that led to the tensions and subsequent change of governments in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, all the way to Yemen in the last few years. Movements across the world in the last 20 years have made elections the primary vehicle for changes in government. What key changes are needed to ensure that apprenticeship and pupilage, touted as the main reasons young people should not hold political office, do not become an eternal glass ceiling?
For Nigeria (and indeed the rest of the continent), the first step should be comprehensively addressing the barriers to entry, starting with the Constitution and provisions relating to eligibility and age.
Enter the Not Too Young to Run Bill, which seeks to foster inclusive political participation by altering Sections 65, 106, 131, and 177 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) to reduce the age of qualification for the offices of President, Governor, and House of Representatives from 40 to 30, 35 to 30, and 30 to 25 respectively. The Bill also champions independent candidacy and reforms for election spend.
The Bill sponsored by Hon Tony Nwulu in the House of Representatives and Senator Abdul Aziz Nyako in the Senate both promote inclusive participation for young people and has passed second and first readings in the lower and upper chambers of the National Assembly.
Midwifed by the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth, and Advancement (YIAGA) and currently at the peak of discussions across the continent and beyond, the bill has seen rounded support from the international community, notably The Office of the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, which not only endorsed the campaign, but now leads and moderates online discussions on the various barriers to political inclusion, whether they be financial, legal, cultural, or otherwise.
There is a wave of reforms sweeping across the globe; from Turkey where the National Constitutional Committee has approved amendments allowing citizens above 18 to serve in parliament as deputies, to the African Union Commission who are not only championing the Bill at the regional level but have “harnessing the demographic dividend through investment in youth” as the theme of their activities this year. In November 2016, the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth (OSGEY), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the European Youth Forum (EYF), and YIAGA launched the #NotTooYoungToRun Bill as a global campaign at the first Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law in Geneva, Switzerland. A similar launch will take place in New York on the 30th and 31st of January 2016 at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ESOSOC) Youth Forum.
Back home there have been #NotTooYoungToRun town hall meetings held in several states in Nigeria, several engagements with legislators and stakeholders, but there is still so much more we can do to make this journey to a truly representative democracy shorter.
It’s the little things that count – ask your representatives both in the state and national houses of assembly to support the Bill, mobilize your peers to have a discussion about it, educate yourself on how the Bill affects you as an individual, join the conversation online – YIAGA has a lot of ideas for us to ‘own this’ from our little corners. It is not a young vs old debate, but a call for inclusion.
Young people are saying that we want to, and are ready to be actively involved in the decisions and policies that affect us, saying we are no longer interested in being leaders of a tomorrow that never comes – the time to take charge of our lives is now. I’m in. Are you?