History’s eyes are heavy with tear, agony; pain can be seen on his face, he laments “another promising generation is about to perish.” It is unfortunate that they refused to heed history’s call. Karl Max aptly put “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” The number of times we have gotten it wrong in Nigeria is a fact that ridicules us as a nation.
They have eyes but they can’t just use them, failing to identify and learn from the mistakes of their fathers. Our youths should understand by now that crime does not pay, it only drags the country down. The youths take the easy route of playing the blame game at every opportunity. They blame their fathers for destroying Nigeria while they make no attempt to rebuild it. Instead, they engage in fruitless frivolities, their desperate quest for fame is despicable, they do all these without adding a cent to the country’s development. The youths are blind to the opportunities that have arisen from the thousands of problems that have infested the country. They are blind to see the honor in humble beginnings, the strength that emanates from growing from grass to grace. They are blind to see that quick money finishes quickly. It lasts for only a while, that is if EFCC does not get to them on time.
They are blind to see that the next generation of leaders are volunteers, passionate citizens, selfless leaders, innovatives and so on. The youths are blind to see that stressing how bad the country is and not stressing their brains to profer solutions to existing problems is a fruitless venture.
They fall into the ditch of mediocrity, failure, poverty, and darkness. If they had asked for help to remove the blindfold they would not have to suffer. The youths are too proud to submit themselves to mentorship, they believe they can “blow” overnight. It is a sad reality that the youths are not ashamed of the numerous insults hurled at their country. Their father waited for the problems to solve themselves and they are doing the same thing. They are hopeful of a change they didn’t affect. They intend to behave like the rest of the world even when they are cut off from their local government. They compete only in social vices and not productive and intellectual things. They are not ready to make any effort, not to talk of going the extra mile.
Our youths are expected to be creatives and entrepreneurs but a large number of them are not living up to that expectation. Renowned filmmaker Femi Odugbemi said, “the future is about a story, the future is about technology, the future is about creative entrepreneurship, the future is about you.” The stories of young creatives and entrepreneurs like Azeez Makinde, Seun Osewa, Japheth Omojuwa, Sydney talker, etc. should be learned from. Nigerian Startups like Farmcrowdy, Jobberman, Piggyvest are revolutionizing Nigeria with initiatives that have made our lives easier. These are just figments of the true potentials Nigeria has. The untapped resources in Nigeria is enough for all its youths because the more the problems, the more the opportunities.
History cries because he has called them a thousand times but they refused and fell into the ditch. They told him to shut up and that they can take care of themselves. History is a lesson that must not be forsaken, heeding it would give life to our youths. We are to extract knowledge that will impact our lives and by extension the society from history. The history of Nigeria is a compendium of lesson volumes. Reading even one volume is enough to change the mindset of a youth to a positive one.
History does not need to be accepted, it just needs to be learned from. We can now see clearly, we cannot fall into a ditch. We are pushing Nigeria forward, marching as a strong army would into battle. It won’t mean anything to win individually, we are victorious collectively. We are leaving no one behind; no ethnic group, sex, social class, economic class, political class will be neglected. Good Bless Nigeria
[su_divider text=”By Sultan Quadri” divider_color=”#000000″]
I am a development journalist, digital storyteller, and content creator. I am passionate about helping to renew the Minds of Nigerians to make the much-required progress.
Do you wish to connect with Sultan? Be sure to follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter. Also read so your child won’t be the next corrupt politician, The problem of the sea of bribery and corruption and The youths, Africa’s problem.
