NIGERIAN YOUTHS AND THEIR LACKADAISICAL QUEST FOR CHANGE.

December 28, 2017.
Revised Edition.
Please read patiently.

Some days ago, I stumbled on an article which was said to have been written by Professor Wole Soyinka. In that article, he(Professor Soyinka) asked lot of rhetorical questions. The questions which he askedset to draw a comparison between the youths of the immediate post independence era and the youths of today in Nigeria. Prof. was curious to know why at the age of 25, an average Nigerian youth still moves in a circle with little or no sense of direction. He was particular about why in Nigeria today, we celebrate fresh graduates at the age of 30, whereas in other countries, at the age of 18, young people already are being celebrated for the exploits and contributions they are making in their countries. Prof also underscored the fact that the guys who made things happen back in those days were in their twenties, thirties and forties; according to him and facts, the likes of Kaduna Nzeogwu, J.T Aguyi Ironsi, Olusegun Obasanjo, Obafemi Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello etc, did all theirexploits at young ages.

In fact, the now senator Ben Bruce purportedly became a federal adviser at a young age of 27. The big question is:" what could have happened to the Nigerian youths of today to explain why their case appears different?" Consequent upon the above questions, permit me as I pour out my grievances against my fellow Nigerian youths without any apology or recourse to how they feel.

In response to the introductory questions above, I must admit that it is sometimes quite tempting to want to cast the entire blame on the government, but funny enough, doing that will amount to a sheer denial of the truth or reality(which is synonymous with deliberate self-illusion).

The truth is in as much as it feels great and relieving to cast the blame on the government or its policies, one must not fail to admit that the youths have not helped things on either. In other words, not only the government but also the youths are to blame for the degree of reluctance prevalent among the youths.

Brad Meltzer, the author of 10 CONSPIRACIES OF ALL TIME,had this to say in his book: "
Indeed, to this day, I think ifyou blame everything on the government, you're not justwrong,you're being reckless.It's as silly as blaming everything on the.Freemasons, the Illuminati, or insert bad-guy-here.But I do believe that someone must ask the hard questions, especially of our elected officials as well as powerful men who become members of so-called secret societies.
Remember:Governments don't lie. People lie. And if you want the real story, you need to find out more about those people."

It is time the blame game stopped. Let us face the hard truth. We clamour for change but do not appear ready for it. If we continually remain as unprepared as we are, when the time the responsibility or task to lead is handed to us, things might be worse off
than they currently are because of our lackadaisical outlook or dispositions.

It was Niccolo machiavelli who said, "...when Princes devote themselves rather to pleasure than to arms, they lose their dominions." The truth is when a man is passionate about his mission, it always reflects in his attitude. It so consumes him that it causes him nightmare. Passion will make a man prepare for opportunities even when there is no concord between his prevailing circumstances and his mission.

It is unfortunate that the average Nigerian youth only talks change on the social media but does not do change. There is yet to be a point of intersection between the mentality of the Nigerian youths and the change they clamour for. Truly, the government has failed, but what have the youths done as an attempt to salvage the
situation?! These days it is rare to see the youths engage in a meaningful
debate without almost getting into a physical "mortal" combat; one can only imagine what would become of this country if these folks were to enter the house of assembly with such mentality and corresponding attitude. This makes it no so surprising to see the youth wings of political parties being headed by elderly men and not youths (which is quite an irony). In a view to proffering a solution to a problem, it is quite natural for disagreement to occur; I'm yet to understand why we(the youths) often let our emotions get the best of us when trying to reach a point of logical agreement. It is so disheartening to note that the average nigerian youth thinks and lives for himself(i.e the average nigerian youth is selfish). It almost rare to see one who thinks for the common good of the country anymore. All we want to do is graduate from the university, get a job, get married, build a house, own a car and just continue to live for ourselves.

This is quite alarming! The country can not get better that way! For our country Nigeria to get better, we must be ready to give up something for that purpose. And that one sacrificial lamb we have to surrender comfort zones. We must be willing to get out of it and starting doing something for the country even if there is nothing to gain at the short run.

The high rate at which priorities have been misplaced among the nigerian youths is something worthy of note. While others take pride in racking their brains to make their countries better, the nigerian youth takes pride in how expensive he looks in appearance. What moves us is the number of times we can have sex or the number of bottles of beer we are able to consume at a time; we take pride in frivolities a lot. Our change quest really lacks the enthusiasm with which life can be brought to it. The average nigerian youth spends more time feeding his stomach than he does feeding his mind. Maybe our challenge is that we have gotten too used to the lie that we are the leaders of tomorrow. A man who cannot lead his today has no business leading his tomorrow because a man cannot battle with the unknown. The earlier we realize that
we are the architects of our own misfortunes or fortunes, the better it is for us. The average nigerian youth has not learnt to delay gratification, he expects every thing to impart on him rapidly.
Sadly, it does not work that way! The place of process must
not be ruled out in every reasonable venture.
A man who craves desperately to eat, wear and use what he can not afford or does not need, has the tendency to steal. Interestingly, we have had enough thieves in the system already. So, save us the stress, please. To become a good leader, you need to spend more time investing in yourself. There are a lot of books out there on the basic things of life. Get them and study. Study extensively. Learn the basic things of life. Know as much as you can.
We understand that the system of education is structured in such a way that how much we get to know per time is regulated. That not withstanding, nobody can determine how much you want to know these days if you are determined and sincere with yourself. There is information touching virtually everything on the, internet. Instead of the social media activism and rants we do all day, we can actually spend our time and vigour building our knowledge base to be able and ready to take over when the opportunity presents itself. We spend more time on the social media than even the
initiators or inventors. The "hi,hello, fine, yes etc" that we do on the social media all day can not help us in anyway. I would not understand why we just enjoy channelling our energy the wrong way.

My beautiful ladies, your lives are way beyond getting married and having kids. So, stop spending time unnecessarily camouflaging your body with cosmetics for one man out there who is of the opinion that you belong to his kitchen and his other room. I can almost imagine a home without a woman, the result would be a home with unharnessed potentials; little wonder Nigeria even up till this moment is unable to harness or maximize her potentials.

To me, women are the real agents of positive change. If you are a woman and reading this, you need to change your mentality and start getting prepared for the task ahead. Stop being unduly lazy. You should spend more time building your mind than you do building up your face.

Finally, if Nigeria must ever get better than it currently is,then there is need for the youths to start getting the right things right. Nigeria is not the worst country in the world neither is it one you could be proud of. However, Nigeria can get better again as far we can stop living for the now and start projecting into the bigger picture.

Attitude is said to be everything; so, my dear youths, there is need for us to change our attitude because it sucks! If we don't change our mentality which is reflected in our attitude, our dear country Nigeria will be worse than it's current state in the foreseeable future.

God bless NIGERIA!
IkedichiEGWU (Explicit).
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