“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by inferiors”- Plato Youths, most especially in a country like Nigeria, do not like to involve themselves in anything political. They prefer to spend such time or effort on things that are more social, like social events, social media and other things. Why does this happen? Did the old generation send the wrong message of what politics is to us? What effects does this cause on our nation? What can we do to salvage this situation? We will be looking at this in the course of this article. Now let us define some terms. What is Political Discourse? Political discourse “refers to the discourse practices engaged in by all actors – from politicians and organizations to citizens – in a political process.”[1] What is Social Discourse? “Social discourse is speech or text communication that involves a social element.”[2] Who is a Youth? “Youth is the time of life when one is young, and often means the time between childhood and adulthood (maturity). It is also defined as the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc., characteristic of one who is young”[3] Reasons why Youth Participate in Social Discourse. Parents and guardians of young people have not been able to understand why young people love to be more socially inclined than their generation. Taking social media for example, a parent can not rap their head around why young are constantly chatting, taking pictures, involving in challenge and checking the number of followers they have.These are some of the reasons for this; “1.Develop better social skills 2.Feel less isolated 3.Learn about new cultural and societal ideas and issues 4.Bond with their friends 5.Have fun 6.Be creative and share their own ideas with friends 7.Be better equipped to be active citizens in society 8.Develop real world skills to help them become more independent 9.Learn about world events and current affairs outside of their immediate environment”.[4] Reasons why Youth do not Participate in Political Discourse The change they want cannot be achieved in politics Lack of trust in the system. Lack of information Godfatherism 5.Absence of Security at voting centers. Other reasons why young people do not want to involve in politics or anything political are “6.The use of thugs, cultists, criminals and militants to intimidate political opponents. Hyper-critical negative media: Negative political news coverage and political criticisms, which in most cases are not always constructive, create cynicism in many Nigerians. Thus, voters are at times over-fed with falsehood and frightening images of the political environment. Illiteracy and poverty: Illiteracy and poverty are two powerful forces which militate against political participation in Nigeria. Victims of these forces have little or no interest in political activities. Failure of elected political office holders to honor electioneering promises and the imposition of candidates on voters by political parties. “[5] The change they want cannot be achieved In the world, young people are the majority. Being young is characterized by passion, energy and positive thinking. Young people believe solely in change, most live on the mantra of change being the only constant thing. Throughout time in history, young people have been seen causing great transitions, inventions and scientific discoveries. They also want to see good governance and security. They want to see a new nation, but these things are like mirages. They are dreams that are not tangible. This just discourages young people, and they just fold their ends to watch how it unfolds. Even when young people participate, it still lands in the hands of old people. It is just a cyclical system.[6] Lack of Trust in the System Trust is defined as, “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.”from Oxford Dictionary. A cycle of bad governance, with people having hope today and the hope getting dashed tomorrow. It becomes tough for young people to keep hope and trust in the government. The trust gets diminished, and young people get distracted in other things totally different from politics. Lack of Information Availability of information is one of the most vital keys to good governance. Making an avenue for young people to have access to public documents serves as a critical tool to shuning corruption, enabling them to participate fully in public life, making the governments more efficient, encouraging participation and investment, and then helping people exert their fundamental rights. [7] Godfatherism Godfatherism is “A form of political corruption in which an influential individual handpicks another, often less influential candidate, to attain leadership in order to exert authority or influence. This may be due to the unpopularity of one candidate, or to work around incumbency term limits”, according to Wiktionary. Godfatherism is like a cankerworm to the fabric of good governance. Where the godson has to dance to the tune of the Godfather. He listens to the will of the Godfather more than he listens to people. The God father gives him the platform to get to a position and in turn he returns the favor like a return on investment. Young people are lost not wanting to have a Godfather. You cannot beat them, you join them. The passion that comes is sipped out of them, and then they lose interest. What are the Consequences of Young People not Participating in Politics? It breeds bad leadership. It causes an economic meltdown. It reduces what democracy stands for you. Tyrant leadership There is corruption It breeds bad leadership Leadership is service. A good leader for a cause is a faithful servant to that cause. A leader that gets into office to satisfy his or her own needs would not bother about the needs of the people. In tough situations, he is not able to empathize with the people cause he has no connection to them. He sees himself like someone that just directs and not someone to emulate. A person who is not moved by insecurity once his family is safe or not concerned with the