By Donu Kogbara
Last week, President Goodluck Jonathan made his way to Eagle Square in Abuja; and, surrounded by a large crowd of cheering supporters, firmly and formally declared his intention to run for a second term in 2015.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by his speech and body language.

Inspirational self-projection has never been Jonathan’s strongest point; and I doubt that he will ever be an absolutely brilliant orator. But he sounded much better than he used to sound and looked much more comfortable in his skin.

A governance expert who has closely monitored the performance of Jonathan’s administration tells me that several paragraphs in Jonathan’s declaration speech were “highly suspect”. According to this critic, “most of the achievements for which he claimed credit were non-existent or exaggerated.”

But appearances can sometimes be as important as reality within a political context; and I think it is fair to say that Jonathan came across, on this occasion at least, as articulate, focused, credible, passionate, sincere and confident.

Having said this, he struck an extremely false note that made me laugh when he thanked the Cattle Breeders’ Union (Miyetti Allah), the Market Womens’ Association and the National Association of Widows for “encouraging me by coming together to contribute to the purchase of my nomination form”.

Anyone who believes that these organisations suddenly woke up one morning and decided – spontaneously and unprompted – to vigorously back Mr President with their own hard-earned cash and widows’ mites needs his or her head examined!

Totally skewed priorities

According to a recent Punch newspaper investigation, many state government houses in Nigeria are so lavish that they have cost much more to build – up to nine times more in some cases – than many of our universities.

The investigators painted a really depressing and enraging picture of gross neglect of our academic institutions. Thanks to chronic under-funding, they are inadequately staffed and poorly maintained and often find it impossible to get their courses accredited by the National Universities Commission.

In serious countries, governments regard it as crucial to properly educate the next generation; and most universities are satisfactory or impressive temples of learning. Here, libraries, laboratories and other facilities are pathetic.

In serious countries, politicians cannot get away with wallowing in luxury while the general population struggles for basic human rights. Here, anything goes and an utterly selfish disregard for the welfare of the majority is the norm.

When will we get our priorities right and have the guts to insist on higher standards on every level? When will we kick out leaders who don’t deliver the benefits we need and want? Is it that we are suffering from inferiority complexes and feel that we and our children do not deserve a better deal?

Excessively tame youths

I have long felt that Nigerian youngsters are a big part of the problem…in the sense that they are (in my opinion) too conservative, too cautious, too untroublesome and too deferential towards their elders and the nation’s rulers!

When I was growing up in the UK, it was normal for young people to question their parents’ values and view The Establishment with intense suspicion.

If Mum, Dad, aunties and uncles condemned homosexuality, banned nightclubs or turned their noses up at trendy dressing, it was your job as a teenager to regard them as ridiculous reactionaries. If you didn’t have the courage to be overtly rebellious, you and your pals complained about them behind their backs.

We used to describe them as “wrinklies” and sadly shake our heads whenever we discussed their obsession with discipline, religion and conformism in general.

Teenagers who were “teachers’ pets” were mercilessly teased. Slavishly obedient adolescent sons and daughters who did stuff like WILLINGLY going to church every Sunday were regarded as irredeemably boring. University students who didn’t prefer drinking and partying to studying were objects of pity.

When William Hague – now aged 53 and the current Leader of the British House of Commons – was 16 in 1977, he spoke at the Conservative Party’s annual conference and made lots of prissy comments that thrilled lots of wrinklies.

Most of Hague’ peers, including this columnist, were appalled. As far as we were concerned, he was the ultimate sychophantic teacher’s pet and Mummy’s Boy.

As far as we were concerned, he should be demonstrating against the authorities and going on protest marches, not getting into bed with wrinklies.

In a nutshell, when I was a UK-based youngster, the most un-cool thing you could do was think, dress, behave and totally agree with the older generation!

And things haven’t changed much on the British social landscape since I eventually embraced adulthood and made the transition from youth to maturity and abandoned most of the radical ideas that excited me when I was a kid.

I have a l9-year-old son called Oliver. Oliver is doing a psychology degree course in London; and he is a handful who constantly challenges me and his father.

If I ask Oliver to follow me to church, he grumbles. If I make negative remarks about his irritating habit of wearing torn jeans that hang from his hips rather than from his waist, he accuses me of not having a clue about modern sartorial issues and patronizingly informs me that he has no interest in “dressing like Daddy and your male friends – who, let’s face it, were born over five decades ago.”

If Oliver’s father lectures him about the need to budget and be sensible about expenditure, he breezily dismisses his father’s concerns. And you know what?

Even though part of me would like my son to be a docile, easily controllable mini-version of his exasperated parents, part of me is GLAD that he is going through this phase because it is HEALTHY for the young and old to be different.

I’m now a wrinklie myself and am, like most of my contemporaries, under pressure to conform because I have to contend on a daily basis with huge family/work responsibilities, demanding bosses or business clients and endless bills that must be paid, including Oliver’s college fees.

But our student offspring are relatively carefree. And they might as well enjoy this freedom for a while…and use it productively…and be a bit unruly and fight back against injustice and carry placards whenever the authorities mess up.

UK residents enjoy substantial benefits like round-the-clock electricity and first-class healthcare and primary/secondary schooling they don’t have to pay for. Corruption exists in the UK but is rare and punished when it is discovered.

To cut a long story short, the UK has not been damaged by the rebellions to which it is subjected by every new generation. And I am convinced that Nigeria will become a better place when MOST Nigerian youngsters emulate their foreign counterparts and quit carrying on like lethargic sacks of garri!