Nigerian youths are not too young to run
Over the years, a mind blowing question has been dissipated about the youths of the society. Is it the inadequate educational system or lack of opportunity that has made the youths null and void in our society? Have we been so engrossed in our traditional culture that we cannot let the youths partake in major political activities? I refuse to say that only the elderly ones or the so called leaders are the problems of our great nation. The problems we face today are mainly because the youths refuse to act.
According to the Oxford dictionary, youth is the time of life when one is young,but often means the time between childhood and adulthood. It is also taken as appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit. Youth is an experience that may shape an individual's level of dependency, which can be marked in various ways according to different cultural perspectives. Fortunately, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with one of the largest populations of youth in the world, comprising of 33,652,424 members but yet we have nothing to show for it in our national development.
Youth constitute Nigeria's only hope for the future as they are the ambitious, enthusiastic, energetic and promising citizens of the country and yet nothing is being achieved, why? because of the unprocessed and displaced youths. The unprocessed youths in your society contribute to the problems we're facing today. I used the word "unprocessed" why because the youths are not utilizing themselves. Great potentials are cooked with little spices thereby making the society filled up with crisis. When I talk about potentials, I'm not just talking about school, because a great man once said "just because you have colleges and universities doesn't mean you have education". Potentials in the sense that they haven't found their place, they lack innovative ideas,they choose bad societal influencers as role models and they have detest for academic brilliancy. Many things have been said but it all boils down to the "PLACE OF THE YOUTH" .
The shakers and movers of the world are mostly people that have found their in place in life. There is a place for me. There is a place for you, there is a place for everyone. It's just left for us to find that place. You will never find your place in life by selling your bodies and being like everyone else. We have the power to be the change we wish to see in this great nation. We have the power to change whatever damage that has been done in the society.
Archimedes, the legendary Greek mathematician and physicist once said, "Give me a firm place to stand and I will move the earth". When Ussain Bolt was asked to clear the ambiguity on whonthe fastest man was, between him and Michael Phelps, he said, "I won't compare myself with him. I'm on the track, he's in the water. We can't compare too much. He's the best at what he does". People that have found their place in life only shake the world, they don't compare themselves with anybody. Find that thing in you that can be beneficial to the society. Nothing in nature lives for itself; rivers don't drink water, the sun doesn't give heat for itself, trees don't eat fruit, flowers can't get the aroma of their own fragrance. Living for others is the rule of nature. Yes, we all know that opportunities are limited, but that shouldn't make you give up. Good things come to those who wait, better things come to those who chase. So go out and chase that dream, that opportunity.
Go to school, engage in business activities, do something new and if it fails, you have an experience which you will use in doing something new again. Don't be a raw material, process yourself to that finished product. William Wilberforce found his place in seeing to it that slavery was eradicated in England. Nelson Mandela find his place in challenging the demeaning scourge of apartheid in South Africa. Rosa parks, the woman that is mostly referred to as the first lady of civil rights found her place in a bud in Alabama when she vehemently refused to give up her seat for a "white" as stipulated by law. Martin Luther King Jr. found his place by fighting racism and bringing it to it's knees. Bill Gates found his place in programming thereby unleashing and stretching the capacity of the computer.
Steve Jobs found his place by putting the whole world into a phone. To find our place in life, we must follow our passion, discover our talent-gifts, discover and reach our audience, find the right company and turn out experience into expertise.
The unprocessed youths are not just the ones we have in the society, we have the displaced youths too. Those who have found their place in the society, who keep pushing hard to be in that place only to find out that their place has been displaced because of the leaders of the society. And hence, they give up. Youths are no longer allowed to partake in political activities. We have people with to be out living ancestors as our commissioners, ministers, senators, etc.
Notable posts are also given out to this who are not specialized in it. Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, formerly the President of Nigeria from 1999 until 2007 believes that identifying and addressing that would enhance the lives of youths would improve overall national development. So then, why are youths being shunned? Why are they being neglected and marginalized? Every year we have thousands of youths who graduate as political scientists which they find utilize in their environment.
The leaders of these great nation needs to hear or audience and learn that although we're youths, we may not be as wise as they are, corrupt as they are, selfish as they are, intellectual as they, but we're productive, innovative and creative; and that is why we're not too young to run.