The youth in Nigeria includes citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria aged 18-35 years according to the new youth policy (2009). However, the African youth charter recognises youth as people between 15 and 35. Nigeria has been stated the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country on earth, with an estimated population of over 200 million people that is still growing at a rate close to 3 per cent per annum. The country’s population is primed to double and reach over 400 million by 2050.
The national youth policy (2009) aims to, “Promote the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and protect the health, social, economic and political well-being of all young men and women in order to enhance their participation in the overall development process and improve their quality of life.”
According to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, “Youth constitute Nigeria’s only hope for a greater future.”
Also, the Nigerian government characterises youth as ambitious, enthusiastic, energetic and vulnerable in society because of the rapid change they experience at this time in their lives.
Despite its potential, the youth demography in Nigeria, as in many economies, projected as spurring enormous growth for increased social provisioning, remains largely in the realm of rhetoric.
In a developing country like Nigeria, youth interests and roles have being undermined, resulting to poverty, alienation, destabilisation and conflict in youth.
Since the advent of independence, the youths within the political and governance space have had fairly complex, if not contradictory roles that were both progressive and less than fortunate. They occupied both a messianic and destructive continuum.
As an instance, it was the youths who took over government from the colonial powers, and drive huge national advancement in terms of human and infrastructural development. Also, it was a youth who led the first military coup of January 15, 1966, and the counter-coup of July 1966 which accentuated the slippery slide of Nigerian politics into the ethnic cauldron.
However, the Second Republic, starting in 1979, ushered in the era of sit-tight leaders and diminishing frontline public roles of youths. According to Amzat and Abdullahi, 2016, the youths are now consigned to youth wings of political parties.
We are in the middle of an election cycle already imbued with a post-truth disregard for facts; that is charged with lots of emotions. Politicians deploy a lot of tactics to elicit an emotional response from us. They know how to play with our emotions. And they succeed too often because relying on emotion and defaulting to unquantifiable criteria like moral, religion and communal to make decision or to take position is often easier than analysing the data and numbers to do so. Elections are all about numbers. Numbers are important for winning. The election process, elective periods, and progress factor are dependent on numbers.
The inability to scrutinise and distinguish between bad and good math in political contexts is detrimental to effective citizenship. Greater numeracy leads to greater agency in political decision making and can make us better consumers of democracy. As long as we are fooled by unsubstantiated math or perplexed by its rigor, our democracy is in peril.
The only substantive solution to this problem is more education aimed at cultivating political numeracy. Like knowing the mathematics behind some key democratic processes such as voting, apportionment of legislative seats etc. is quite important, as this will provide the tools to identify political matters that should be tackled mathematically, recognise when mathematics is being misused for political gain. Interestingly, one does not need to understand mathematics to use it for political gain, for good or for evil. On the other hand, more experience with mathematics does not necessarily translate into greater understanding of the usefulness of Mathematics.
There is therefore need for informed participation of youths in our democracy, and not just a mere involvement for the sake of it. The absence of informed participation in politics is obvious in our democratic practice.
Equally important, is the need for all concerned to empower our kids and our youths, by giving them the tools of mathematical political literacy with which they can transform politics and ensure that it remains based in truth; the only place where democracy thrives. And it is never too early to start.
Mathematics can help students and youths to analyse different choices and possibilities, and therefore make better sense of their upcoming duties as voters and members of civil society. That goes for issues of national importance like the healthcare etc.
The kids and youths are going to run this country one day and make the rules and determine the policies that govern everything in this nation, and mathematics is a prism for understanding that. And it may be the most powerful prism. The role of mathematics in youths’ live fits a vision of citizenship that includes functioning in society and becoming economically productive members of society.
Mathematics therefore has a role in understanding social and civic issues, to engage as civic members of the society and participate in democracy. Mathematics could be an empowerment in sociopolitical struggles. Having this understanding influences the youths to see themselves differently as agents of change in society.
In conclusion, Mathematics is a core subject in Nigeria education system in the basic education and secondary education levels. It is a pivotal subject in other school subjects and career and touches every aspect of life of the beneficiary of the education system. The reality of the change and the birth of a new Nigeria we clamor for are dependent on the classroom Mathematics. Character transformation as well as the ability to engage meaningfully to take civic action is possible through effective mathematics classroom instructions.
Written by Joshua Ibeazor, a PTA Mathematics teacher, JSS Wuse Zone 3 abuja
