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Angry Letter To Nigerian Youths. by Joelaking(m): 8:05am On Oct 28, 2015 |
This got me really thinking
Angry Letter to Nigerian Youth:
The future is here with us
October 27, 2015 at 10:59 am in News, Viewpoint
By Bayo Adeyinka
My dear Nigerian Youth,
It was Albert Einstein that said “No problem can
be solved from the same level of consciousness
that created it”.
That, unfortunately, is what you are doing. You
complain about the problems and challenges but
that’s all you do. You follow the same people who
created the problems and eulogize them to high
heavens. You are guilty of lack of depth and
originality. Your level of thinking is pedestrian.
Since no one can rise beyond the level of their
thinking, you have remained at the aboriginal state
of being- the same with your progenitors.
Universities and tertiary institutions shape and
mould their products such that they stand out in
the originality of their ideas.
Alexandria, the first University in the world was a
centre of enlightenment. Harvard turns out
products who impact the world. Yale and MIT
products leave their indelible footprints
everywhere they go. Our own local universities
and tertiary institutions churn out mass
ignorance. They produce graduates who should
know but don’t even know that they don’t know.
You only have weight and occupy space. Your
constant thought is only about today while you
don’t seem to know that tomorrow is already here
with us. You wallow in the past while your
contemporaries the world over leave you behind.
Africa is behind the Western world by almost 250
years. You know what that means? You’re a relic.
You’re a museum piece. You’re stuck in your
ways. You’re becoming a liability to the entire
world.
While youths all over the world are innovating and
inventing things, all you do is to fight over one
politician or the other. You carry placards at the
screening of ‘wannabe’ ministers when your
brains actually need screening. There is no other
country in the world where people love their
oppressors like you do. You think you change
governments but all you do is change one
oppressor with another.
While the demographics of leadership the world
over is getting younger, yours is getting ancestral.
The youngest person in your government’s
cabinet is 48 while the oldest is 68. Justin
Trudeau, the new Prime Minister of Canada is 43.
If he were to be a Nigerian, he won’t even get a
cabinet position. In 1973, Yakubu Gowon was 39
years when he visited Canada and shook hands
with Justin Trudeau who was barely 2 years then.
Today, Justin Trudeau is the Prime Minister.
The future is here with us while we remain stuck
in the past. While others are carrying the destiny
of their nations, you are carrying the bags of
politicians. In 2012, 19-year-old Proscovia
Alengot Oromait was elected as a member of
parliament. Now 22 years old, she is the
youngest person ever elected to office in not only
Uganda but the entire African continent. While
some are solving the problems of their nations,
you Nigerian youth are one of the problems of the
continent.
Does it not bother you that once you’re above 40
years, you have lesser years to spend as you
arrive at the departure lounge of life? Should you
not be thinking about the future more than the
present? For instance, by 2050 Nigeria will hit the
1b population mark. Thirty five years before 2050,
we are still stuck in subsistence farming. We can’t
feed 170m people now so how can we feed 1b
people? We can’t provide housing for 170m
people now, so how can we provide housing for
1b people? While the rest of humanity is trying to
land on Mars with 200,000 applicants vying for
just 100 slots, we still find it difficult to run an
airline.
While Fulani cattle run amok on people’s farms in
Nigeria as a result of the archaic nomadic
husbandry being practiced, future cities are being
built elsewhere to raise cows on rooftops. Within
five years, Europeans will swipe their smart
phones or watches to pay for most goods and
services, use phones as digital wallets, use them
to borrow money, invest it and transfer it to other
countries while we are still stuck with brick and
mortar.
Mercedes-Benz is developing a system that will
learn your schedule, tastes and even moods after
a short while. For example, it knows that you
leave the house every weekday at 7:30 a.m. to
take your kids to school and the right temperature
you always want in your car. Based on GPS and
satellite data, it quickly learns your preferred
routes and tracks real-time traffic problems, so it
can suggest detours to help you save time. The
car can even tune the radio to the Inspiration FM
channel until you drop off the kids, at which time
it will recommend Wazobia FM. In the afternoons,
it knows you usually prefer Classic FM. A car can
make smart decisions but you can’t.
Almost 3,000 cars and trucks equipped with
prototype vehicle-to-vehicle(V2V) devices have
been driving around a city in Michigan, over the
past year-and-a-half as part of a pilot program by
the University of Michigan and the U.S.
Department of Transportation. What they are
doing? Cars equipped with these devices emit
beeps when they detect potential hazards such as
another vehicle entering an intersection, a
pedestrian, a patch of ice or even their driver
speeding too fast around a curve. It is expected
that these devices could prevent up to 76% of
crashes on American roads. All we do here is to
erect speed-breakers. We are always arriving very
late. The first ATM in the world was installed in
1967. Nigeria’s first ATM was in 1990- twenty
three years late.
Why am I so angry with you? Shouldn’t my anger
be directed at your dealers erroneously called
leaders? It’s because the destiny of this nation lie
in your hands and you know not. A nation is as
hopeless as its youths. A nation is as helpless as
its youths. A nation is as creative as its youths. A
nation is as clueless as its youths. A nation is as
energetic as its youths. The strength of a nation
lies in the promise of its youths. The greatness of
a nation lies in the potential of its youths. A
nation’s destiny is then essentially that charted by
the young population. Whatever a nation will be,
look no farther than the youth. I look at you and
I’m afraid for Nigeria.
You are a mass production from the factory of
ignorance. You are victims of a dysfunctional
society. You are inheritors of an estate of crass
foolishness. You are like Nabal of whom it was
described that folly is with him. All you know how
to do is wear designer labels- from Gucci to
Prada, from Versace to Armani- you’re obviously
well dressed but you’re a well dressed fool. You
refuse to dance to the beats of the future rather
preferring to wallow in the shallowness of the
past. Wole Soyinka described his generation as a
wasted generation. Will you be wasted also?
It is time to force your way to relevance. It is time
to take responsibility for the future because the
future will not be inherited- it will be earned. Stop
playing the blame game. Stop blaming your
circumstances because you can rise in spite of
them. Stop blaming your ancestors because they
bequeathed a legacy of ignorance to you- they
don’t know any better. Organize rather than
agonize. Don’t just think outside the box. Throw
away the box. You have the numbers- use them
to force a real change. As you ask questions, go
further by seeking answers. Rather, be the
answer. As you talk about the challenges, go
further by seeking solutions. Rather, be the
solution.
Find your niche. Faajihub was started when a
cousin of Olaotan Oladitan, who’s one the
founders, was coming in from the United Kingdom
for her wedding. It was a challenge for her finding
the people needed to make the event a success.
Faajihub now has at least 700 vendors of different
kinds. Faajihub is solving the problem of choice in
event management. Brian Bett is a Kenyan
agriculture techpreneur who designed a locally
made greenhouse for the equivalent of N250,000.
The cheapest greenhouse in Nigeria is about
N1.5m. Brian is solving the hunger problem.
GoMyWay is a ride sharing service started by
Damola Teidi, a model in her 20s. Damola is
solving the transportation problem. Hotels.ng was
started by Mark Essien and has over 6,000 hotels
on its portal. Mark is solving the hospitality
problem. PrepClass is an app by Olumide
Ogunlana aimed at helping students prepare for
exams. The app assists you to identify your weak
points apart from the core functionality of
preparation for exams.
Olumide is solving our educational problem.
Jobberman, one of the top jobs websites in
Nigeria was started by the trio of Opeyemi
Awoyemi, Ayodeji Adewunmi and Olalekan Olude
in 2009 during the famed ASUU strike. Jobberman
is tackling the employment challenge. What
problems are you solving? Stop merely existing.
It’s time to start living. Let your life be a
contribution to humanity and not a contamination
to humanity. The future is already here with us. 2 Likes |
Re: Angry Letter To Nigerian Youths. by Bhayomi(m): 5:01pm On Nov 02, 2015 |
Big Sigh after reading this. |
Re: Angry Letter To Nigerian Youths. by sholay2011(m): 3:09am On Nov 03, 2015 |
Paragraphs please. This is not good for the eyes. |
Re: Angry Letter To Nigerian Youths. by Gwan2(m): 5:01am On Nov 03, 2015 |
What a challenging n encouraging masterpiece 2 d youths..I wished every Nigerian youth could read diz piece.... . We keep on basking in d illusion dat Naija is juz growin, no doubt about dat...Buh i think u can tell how diz country wil be in d hands of d so called youths wit a preconcieved tribal hatred, bigotry, ignorance and get rich quick syndrome in d comin years. |
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