“You carry the weight of a generation on your shoulders, so make it count – what you want to do is not to gain self-accolades, but to be an example for other young people.” Akintunde Oyebode.
The quote above is a poignant message that resonated during my interview with Akintunde Oyebode (Akin), the current Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development in Ekiti State, who happens to also be my one-time line manager during my early career in Banking, a mentor and a passionate youth advocate.
Nigeria celebrated its 60th-year post-independence on October 1 and ironically, its average population age is 18.2 years. This is reportedly the trend across the African continent, where a substantial number of countries are between 43 to 60 years old post-independence, with an average population age of 19.
However, what was more jarring for me was the disproportionality between the average age of the African leaders at 80 years and the average population age of 19 years. These statistics suggested to me, a youthful population with no significant youth participation in decision-making, and when put side by side of developed countries, with a less youthful population with leaders averaging 52 years old, the question that comes to mind is– In Africa, are the youth really the leaders of tomorrow?
For as far as I remember, the narrative has always been the promise of leadership tomorrow for the youth, but when I look around me, specifically Nigeria, it’s difficult to validate or uphold this narrative because the youth, to my mind, has not become the leaders of tomorrow, and if they have, they are very few and far between.
In my conversation with Akin, he started by highlighting the need to understand that Youth by definition does not mean competency and the more important question to ask is, how do we prepare young people for leadership?
According to him, the real barrier to youth leadership in Nigeria and overarchingly, Africa is not necessarily age, but more importantly, about what you have done demonstrably, as a young person or an individual to earn a seat at the table. Conversely, from a systemic perspective, has the country been deliberate about building a pool or pipeline of leaders?
The thrust of the conversation was to shed light on the broad assumption that the youth have just been handed the short end of the stick, whereas the reality is that they have a role to play to change the narrative just as much as the governing system does.
Akin went on to share that, based on his experience from the private sector and as an “accidental public servant” (a phrase he borrows from Governor El-Rufai) who is young-ish. The secret was in putting in the work, earning trust and sacrificing personal hours to volunteer in political campaigns with people that shared his values of leadership. Additionally, being aware of the skills he had and deciding to offer them to the political network, were all part of deliberate steps taken to earn a seat at the table.
Essentially, for Akin, there will come a time when the talking and bright ideas will not be enough, and you will have to take the deliberate steps to back your talk with action. According to a Brookings Institution publication in 2018, about transformative leadership in Africa – the youth should prioritise being formally represented in decision-making processes and institutions, having a seat at the table instead of being on the menu.
Akintunde Oyebode, took that leap of faith, leaving the menu for a seat at the table when he conceded to set up and implement successfully, the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) – a public sector effort to drive youth empowerment through job creation and entrepreneurship for the State.
My key takeaway, following this engaging and enlightening conversation, was essentially this – to move from the menu to have a seat at the table; it is not enough to be young. What is important is to be, intentional, accountable and worthy of people’s trust in your capacity to deliver. You must begin to demonstrate these qualities in your personal circles and smaller constituencies.
On that note, I’ll leave you with yet another nugget of wisdom from Akin during our thought-provoking conversation:
“We are either going to shape our future or have it shaped for us – the big question is, do you want to do it during your most active years when your skills, experience and energy can be used for developing society”.
(In Conversation with Akintunde Oyebode)
Yours conscientiously.
To listen to the full interview, visit episode #2 on our podcast page.