First Baba Isa|26 May 2017
21. Most young people miss the opportunity to get political mentoring because of greed, impatience and ignorance. Most of us don't even know we need political mentoring, we don't understand what it means and we don't know how to go about it.
The hard truth is that mentoring is mostly the job of the protege, most especially in politics and leadership. You should be the one to identify a mentor, contact him, prepare your own lesson plan and start learning from him. If you wait for a mentor to do all this for you, then you are not ready. These guys are busy. Life is happening to them too. You have got to understand this. I'm not making excuses for them. I believe every leader out there should have a plan or program to mentor young people deliberately. But since this is not happening, we have to locate them, contact them and develop a strategy to learn from them.
22. Very often even when providence brings us to these mentors we abuse the privilege and opportunity. You meet an ex Governor or Presidential aide today and instead of you to see it as an opportunity to get mentorship and learn, you start seeing it as an opportunity to beg. Instead of asking him to recommend books you should read, trainings you should attend and people you should meet, you are begging him for house rent and money to go and drink beer and chop dog meat.
Just one month of meeting him, you want him to share his products with you instead of asking him to show you the process of producing the products. And if he gives you beer money today without giving you tomorrow, you go to town with the news that he is a selfish person who doesn't empower youths. The only empowerment we know is sharing of money. What a generation.
23. If you have a relationship where you work for or with a mentor, there is nothing wrong in being paid or getting financial help from him. But even then don't just be there for the money or stipends. Learn all his tricks, drink his knowledge and access his network.
Let's drop the entitlement mentality.
24. Youths in Cross River State need to start organizing and achieving some level of results where we are if we must be taken seriously. We are failing to a large extent in organizing ourselves and making meaningful impact in the polity.
Student unionism across the state is a fiasco. We cannot even hold a credible election in NACRISS and other student bodies. Student bodies can't even organise themselves to stand against the extortion, sexual harassment and intimidation going on in our campuses. Make a young person SUG President or exco member and he will loot the treasury naked.
The biggest project most student bodies embark on in the state is to produce almanac/calendar and sell awards plaques to sleazy individuals in the name of giving merit awards. How can you give what you don't have?
25. We need a mindset transplant among young people. We need a cleansing and revamping of the Aluta movement across our campuses. We need a mighty inspiration to spread across the length and breadth of the state. I hear the sound of abundance of rain… Something is about to happen. Watch out!
#JustMyThoughts
See you soon with more thoughts
Firsts Baba Isa (FBI)
Is a Legal Practitioner and Social Activist
