President Bola Tinubu was widely expected to announce some political reforms of geopolitical nature in his 64th independence anniversary speech to the nation.

As we approach the halfway mark of his four-year tenure, Nigeria urgently needs an electoral reform that will restore fully the independence of the electoral umpire, whereby the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will be totally weaned from political actors. Some even expected a move towards a new constitutional order as being championed by The Patriots led by Chief Emeka Anyaoku.

Rather, the president only reiterated his determination to push through his so-called Local Government Autonomy. He, however, announced his intention to convene a 30-day national youths conference where the young people of this country will be afforded the opportunity to discuss their future.

Since the return of democracy in 1999, almost every regime has convened a conference or made some overtures to the youth which never really addressed the nation’s problems or those of the youth. President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005/2006 convened a Political Reform Conference. Also, President Goodluck Jonathan called a National Conference in 2014. Both were to help reshape our constitutional order but were scuppered. Indeed, Tinubu and other leaders of the nascent All Progressives Congress, APC, boycotted Jonathan’s conference because they saw it as something to boost his faltering political fortunes.

President Muhammadu Buhari chose to capitalise on the Not-Too-Young-To-Run, NTYTR, Bill which he signed with a flourish into law in May 2018. The Act and the activities generated around it helped create a new awareness and activism which were evident during the #EndSARS protests in 2020. It ended in the Lekki Toll Gate shootings. The drive for massive youth voter registration for the 2023 general elections also ended in a cul-de-sac on Presidential election day, February 25, 2023, in a highly controversial election.

The question is now being asked as to what Tinubu seeks to achieve with this call for a youth conference. Is it, as some allege, just another means of diverting attention from the harrowing economic conditions his policies have plunged Nigerians into? Is it to break the ranks of the various youth coalitions planning one form of protest or the other over the sufferings in the land? Or is it a genuine measure to enable the youths meet and decide on the future of the country they will inherit from today’s political and economic elite?

We call on the youths to get prepared and attend this conference. Boycotting is not an option. The conference should be so heavily attended that no one will be able to divert it. Nigerian youth must learn to fight for their future without resorting to arms. It is always better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.

We hope this will not be just another gathering of rented groups.