Tag Archives: Young

A Case For The Young – By Tosin Ashafa

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“Our answer is the world’s hope; it is to rely on youth. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement of danger. It demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.”

 – Robert F. Kennedy, South Africa, 6-6-1966

 

I want to first start by saying that I am a young man and my passion is linked to seeing young people defy norms and conventions to blaze trails and herald new vistas. I love the youth “age group.” It’s quite a league in itself. There’s just this sometimes unexplainable energy. You just have to love them.

 

And in the times when I can articulate a reason for my love for youths, I feel that the reason I like this particular group of people is because they are old enough to envisage and comprehend their life, why they are in a certain situation, and how they arrived there.

 

They are frequently willing to look at the prospect of change and go with the flow, through the phases. And, they can generally discuss their feelings, even though it is in an outburst of anger. They are receptive to new and fresh ideas and are willing to share these ideas of theirs with you. And, like every person, I have something to learn from each of them!

 

I have had the privilege of listening to a lot of short, positive and powerful speeches from young people. You know, so often we hear about youths talking but almost rarely do we pause to hear from them. Things I have heard have ranged from person after person sending messages that they care about the earth, their community, each other, and the future.

 

Youths are deeply associated with one another and they are proud of their varied heritage. They are keen, lucid and they don’t pull any punches when they tell adults just what they see.

 

In my journey through life and in the process of trying to comprehend the transformation that has characterized the digital age, and investigating the opportunities that abound in helping youths prepare for their integration into civic and political life, I have concluded that civic engagement and political participation stresses the interplay between individual growth, organizations, networks, communities, and platforms.

 

Like my father, I decided long ago that I would turn myself into a “platform” that facilitates the interplay I talked about in the concluding part of the previous paragraph. I have become a model of civic education that leverages on youth enthusiasm for digital tools and the networked life.

 

I have chosen to support my peers and younger individuals that want to participate in the political and governance system in Nigeria. I have opted to be a source of morale booster, financial and logistical centre where they can draw on tools that they need to use effectively for civic purposes.

 

My involvement in politics has proven to be more effective and result-oriented when I’m behind the scene and my passion for the advancement of young dynamic individuals in the politics of Lagos state and Nigeria as a whole is really unmatched.

 

If we want young people to become more engaged and become effective civic actors, then all youths need to be provided with civic learning environments that are “connected and participatory,” and all youths need to engage in practices that offer a range of civic learning opportunities enabled by new media. This is my humble opinion.

 

The Importance of Youth in Politics

 

A quick look at a “global” list of what has been termed as “issues in youth politics” according to politicians, the media and some other sources illustrates some interesting perspectives e.g. Age of candidacy, Child labor laws/Right-to-work laws, Climate Change, Drinking age, Driving age, Education policy/reform, Environmental issues, Healthcare, Immigration, Minors and abortion, National service, School reform, Student rights, Youth vote, etc.

 

Unfortunately, youths are termed culprits when only a minority of people create social disruptions. Since most youths are generally self-motivated and want to do well in everything they get involved in, doesn’t this mean that they could excel in politics, leadership and governance? This is a question for us to take home.

 

When we open up the conversation space by allowing youths to voice their opinions, there could be a chance that we would be opening up, moving and deepening the political space. This is not only good for society, but necessary for society.

 

If the young do not engage in politics, even through pressure groups, imagine the chaos our political establishments would be thrown into just attempting to keep policy impartial and sustainable for coming generations.

 

Take, for instance, the pertinent issue of rape and sexual harassment, it would be required that many young women engage with the issue at hand because it is an issue a lot of women (young and old) are quite opinionated about.

 

I would love to end this article by asserting that if as a society, we have not done enough for the youths of today to get involved with politics and, as a large portion of our society, they should be allowed more access to politics to shape the world they live in, I will continue to walk in the steps of my father who mastered the approach of identifying young talents with the ability and the potential to move this nation forward.

 

Basheer Tosin Ashafa is a real estate / social entrepreneur with a strong interest in the early involvement of youths in politics. He can be reached via basheerashafa@rioconstructionng.com 

I Was Blinded By Love, Young ISIS Recruit Confesses

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His friends know him as “Mo.” And he is the most unlikely ISIS recruit you will ever meet.

In fact, in virtually every way Mo, whose real name is Muhammad Dakhlalla, was an ordinary and typical American college student. But he was arrested with a fellow Mississippi State University student just over a year ago, trying to board a plane to go join the notorious terrorist organization.
“Where do you want me to start exactly?” he said, laughing somewhat nervously, as he sat recently for the first extensive, tell-all interview with CNN in a federal prison.
Today, Mo, just 24, is at the start of an eight-year prison sentence for trying to join and help ISIS. But he is hardly a radical Muslim extremist. Remarkably, he said he got into this whole mess because he fell in love.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Mo is the youngest of four brothers and has both Muslim and non-Muslim friends. He dated very little and had few girlfriends until his senior year at Mississippi State. There, he met and fell for Jaelyn Young, a sophomore studying chemistry who was a one-time honors student and cheerleader.
“In the beginning of my senior year I met this lady,” Mo said, recalling his strong feelings for her.
“She was beautiful and things like that,” he said, “but also another thing that I find attractive in a woman is one who’s, you know, bright, intelligent, open-minded. And that’s how I got to know her a bit. We started hanging out. She not only was interested in me, but she had told me prior to us being together that she was interested in Islam.”
Islam is the religion in which Mo grew up. His father, Oda, is an imam, who originally hailed from Bethlehem in the West Bank before settling decades ago in Mississippi. Mo’s father, along with his mother, Lisa, a New Jersey-born woman who converted to Islam, helped found and build the Islamic Center of Mississippi in Starkville.
Not long after they became a couple, Jaelyn converted to Islam, and it was a complete surprise to Mo.
“At one point, you know, she told me that she’s very serious about Islam, and she wanted to become a Muslim,” he said. “Then on that day when she did, actually it was a big surprise for me. My parents actually found out first that she became a Muslim. I was actually at the mosque at that time, saying my prayers. And I came back to find out that she had become Muslim, and I had no idea.”
Then came another surprise, he said.
“A few weeks later, and I never said anything to her about this, or, like, tried to, you know, force her … she decided to wear the full hijab or niqab by herself. Like, it was on her own — her own choice. You know, she was wearing it from her head and full robe that you typically see of Muslim women.”
The niqab she wore covered every part of her in a black shroud, leaving only slits for her eyes visible, according to Mo’s family.
Jaelyn was changing fast, he said, becoming stricter and more conservative in all parts of her life.
“As far as, like, the rapid stages that she was going through, I may have, should have been, like, scratching my head a little bit. I should have had … a skeptical, like, analysis of, like, ‘OK, maybe we’ve gone a little too fast,’ ” he said laughing.
But, he said, he was deeply in love.
“And, you know, that love can ultimately … blind out your intelligence, your reasoning. I believe that. I mean, without that love there, I don’t believe I would be here today, with my charge and talking to you today. … I wouldn’t have even considered it at all.”
Read More: CNN

Boko Haram Lures, Traps Young Nigerian Entrepreneurs With Business Loans

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Boko Haram has lured young entrepreneurs and business owners in northeast Nigeria to join the Islamist militant group by providing or promising capital and loans to boost their businesses, aid agency Mercy Corps said on Monday.

According to Reuters, seeing successful business ownership as a way to escape poverty, many Nigerian youths – ranging from butchers and beauticians to tailors and traders – accepted loans for their businesses in return for joining Boko Haram, Mercy Corps said.

Yet the lure of business support is often a trap, as those who cannot repay their loans are forced to join the militants or be killed, said the report from the U.S.-based aid agency. “Boko Haram is tapping into the yearning of Nigerian youth to get ahead in an environment of massive inequality,” said report author and Mercy Corps peacebuilding adviser Lisa Inks.

“It is incredibly clever – either such loans breed loyalty or Boko Haram use mafia style tactics to trap and force young people to join them,” Inks told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Six in 10 Nigerians live in absolute poverty, on less than one dollar a day, a figure which rises to three quarters of the population in the northeast of the country, according to the latest statistics from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics.

Many young people told Mercy Corps they would struggle without the support of powerful “godfathers” to provide capital for their businesses, or cash transfers for equipment and goods.

Credit: Thisday