[OPINION] Gentle Letter To The Nigerian Youth By Onwusameka Ogbowuokara

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This reaction to Bayo Adeyinka`s Angry letter to the Nigerian Youth qualifies for at least one other title; Abuse of the Nigerian Youth. The article typifies the generational syndrome of production and use of high sounding words, most of it hollow, their perpetual distortion and the extreme degradation of concepts and values. This wrong mode has been going on since independence 55 years ago. In effect, many of those who were young at the time are parents and grandparents today, have inherited, except where the individual has acquired knowledge; the wrong concepts and have continued in the transmission of error, resulting in error in perpetuity.

You are probably unaware of your numeric number or strength. The sheer number of people that Bayo Adeyinka`s anger is directed against, a colossal 118 million or 70% of the population of Nigeria. He may have had enormous courage to address you the way he did, but he did not tell you the truth.

You were neither the reason why the standard of education fell in Nigeria nor would the attendance of a foreign university have been important if Nigeria structured its universities to meet international standard. Nigeria spends only 0.76% of its budget on education as against Uganda 2.0%, Tanzania 4%, Mozambique 4.1%, Angola 4.9%, Cote d´Ivore 5% Kenya 6.5% and South Africa 7.9%. Some scientists outlined this poor budgetary allocation as a basis for the poor standard of education. Yet others say that improper skills acquisition in schools is due mainly to poor implementation of school curricula is contributory. Accordingly, there is low domestic capital formation and declining foreign investment, heavy indebtedness and high unemployment. But which of these is your fault?

Yet, in spite of the poor quality of education in the universities in Nigeria, Olaoluwa Oluwadara in 2014 became the youngest PhD in Africa at the age of 24 and can compete with any PhD from any part of the world. Olabisi Adeyemi also earned his PhD at the age of 25 from the same university of Lagos in 2012. In 2011, Shehu Balami a 28 year old student of the Federal University of Technology Minna invented two solid –fuel rockets while Jessica Matthews 25, invented the socket ball. I could go on and on. So, how did your accuser not see these achievements?

One other way that the Nigerian State made sure your underdevelopment was assured was to make sure that libraries and books were not made available to you. Otherwise how would you explain the almost non-existence of libraries even in the so called universities? Just last month (May 2015), the library near CMS in Lagos, the only one in that vicinity, was shut down without reasons.

I know of a university faculty (not the city library) in Europe that holds four (4) million volumes and has high speed 24 hour internet services. Yet, you could find still in the same city 30 other libraries equally stocked with books, journals, newsletters, magazines, daily newspapers, games and internet services. I sympathize with you because while you can access books online, the economic situation will not allow you a sustained presence in the net. Nevertheless, while good universities, libraries and books may have helped you to acquire knowledge and to lay a foundation for yourself, many successful persons have made startling discoveries and inventions in times of seeming inactivity. And some of them did not have the privilege of Ivy League universities.

You also would have been startled by the examples of Kaduna Nzeogwu (29), Murtala Mohammed (28), TY Danjuma (28), Ibrahim Babangida (25), Sanni Abacha (23) and Olusegun Obasanjo (29). These people are no heroes. They were trained and given weapons by the Nigerian State to protect the sovereignty of Nigeria. They swore to the effect, but turned their aggression to the same civilians they swore to protect. They were very violent in their youth and disobeyed the laws of the land. They were coup and counter coup plotters who killed many people. The failure of the Nigeria State in rounding them up and executing them summarily did not make them heroes to be emulated by you. Their ignorance and naivety caused the 30 months old civil war and the killing of more than a million people. Some of them committed heinous crimes during that war. Those of them that are alive today have converted Nigeria into their own private property while their ravages have crippled Nigeria. They have not changed and cannot be good examples to you! //

If you wish to draw inspiration from the older generation, then your thoughts should find Professor Wole Soyinka who at the age of 24 was already an established author and playwright, or Professor Chinua Achebe who at the age of 28 had written a world renowned novel, Things fall Apart. Professor Ayodele Awojobi was the first African to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc), a degree exceptionally rarely awarded to a scholar under the age of 40, by the prestigious Imperial College London in 1974. Awojobi was the youngest professor of mechanical engineering in the University of Lagos. Professor Claud Ake was a colossus of political science who became a professor before he turned 30.

Chief Gamaliel Onosede has always been a glowing example of an incorruptible boardroom player who headed many boards since he was 34. As recently as 1990 he worked in the NLNG committee. Sir Victor Uwaifo (25), Dan Maraya Jos (24), Fela Kuti (31) and Godswil Akpabio are some examples of Nigerians who have made the lives of their fellow men better by the wise use of their own talents.

Talents! Every individual is endowed by one or more of these. Mathew (25:14-28) would inform you that there are many talents latent in each of you. The purpose of your earthly existence is your identification and development of these talents, the wise application of their result (skills) and their continual refinement, so that they will yield blessing (interest) and hence enhance maturity and progress. You should be aware then that even if you identify only one of these talents and have it developed the interest will be such to make you wealthy in the physical sense. As many examples have shown you do not need an Ivy League education to do this. Neither did the coup or counter coup plotters exhibited any talent till today!

But because of the differences in individuals (early and late bloomers or your requirement of an external pressure to blossom), some of you are unable to identify your talents. In that case a mentor or a good system plays a vital role. This is where the failure of the family, teacher, role model and a functional education system in Nigeria has done you much harm. If you were provided with consistent and sound messages, relaxed, loving and positive environment you would have been capable of making the choice to avoid risk behaviors altogether while developing a firmer sense of true inner being, more so if you were empowered by strong parent and family or mentor connection. Indeed, those of you who feel loved and cared for are more likely to make healthy choices and develop a firmer connectedness with nature. This is why you are likely to insist that parents, teachers, mentors, the State and in fact the media should play huge roles in the transmissions of good values to the young and the necessary exchange of the benefit of things that are good and noble.

Apart from the contradictions of the National Youths Service Corps or the National Policy on Youth, the Nigerian nation has not deemed it necessary to design and implement a capacity development program for the transition of the youth to adulthood or any form of security nets. At this age of the Nigerian nation, should there not be a national law through the Senate establishing what you the youth is, your responsibilities, duties and expectations? Should the law not state what the nation owes you and how it intends to settle this debt?

Unfortunately, according to Michelle D. Gavin (CFR´s International Affairs Fellow), “The most prominent role that Nigeria`s huge youth population played in the recent election (not 2015) was as party thugs. These young people are looking for jobs and ways to better lives, but Nigeria`s institutions don´t appear to be structured to serve anyone but the political elites. The younger generations is now rejecting the idea”. Quite an accusation!

In addition to the satisfaction and happiness that you will experience as an individual, the Nigerian socio-economic climate will receive an upward surge if perhaps 10% of your population is led to acquire the proper knowledge and skills through the implementation of capacity building. Assuming this number transits to adulthood successfully by 2020 or if such transitions occur every 5 years for the next 50 years, there will be full employment, a huge domestic capital formation and low crime rate.

It is your generation that should drive the change we need. In doing so, you do not need to imitate or compete but cooperate with one another. Discover your talent!