Wednesday 25 January 2012

THE HOPE OF NIGERIAN YOUTH IN THIS TROUBLED NATION



Civilizations through the ages have seen man always confronted with problems and challenges that have redefine and reshape human progress.
As man entered into a contract to live a civil existence, the journey towards making meaning has become the bench mark upon which societies have been adjudged to be civilize or relatively backward. This underscores the fact that the fundamental purpose for which man organizes herself into civil society is to create that mutual comfort for which every one uses as the basis for living a purpose driven life.
To this end, society creates that bond which makes man to always strive to be better than yesterday.
Nigeria today clearly reflects the opposite of what is said thus. For the foregoing account, A nation after over fifty years of independence is still grappling with issues of unity amongst her people.
Clearly this nation is troubled, troubled in so many fronts, from politics, economics, religion, cultural, ethnicity, education e.t.c.
Emeka Anyouku the former commonwealth secretary general stated during the last political reform conference held in the obasanjo years that “Nigeria is two generations behind the rest of the developed world”. What an irony you may say inspite of her natural wealth.
 Our country indeed is not only troubled but I make bold to add that it is sick and one could clearly say that it has lost track from the objective for which it was created, if there is any?
It is only in acknowledging these realities that we open our mind to the flourishing of ideas capable of transforming this land for the better. Anything contrary, not only means we are joking but making a mockery of our collective destiny as a nation.
The Nigerian youth, caught in the middle of this quagmire seem to have lost all hopes, belief and trust in the system that claims to serve their interest.
 Is there really that hope for the Nigerian youth in this troubled nation? Many young minds like me ask everyday?
How can there be hope when our higher institutions are shut down incessantly in recent history and all that is done is to fight over who gets what?
How can there be hope when the 2012 budget reflects security to be almost a trillion naira while education is just 400billion naira?
How can there be hope when almost 1.5million Nigerians wrote the last utme/jamb with barely four hundred thousand of them securing admissions in the universities?
How can there be hope with Waec and Neco witnessing massive failure?
How can there be hope when children rarely have the basics to complete their primary education?
These are just some of the questions silently running through the mind of our youth and it leaves them in awe since there is nobody ready to answer it for them.
If we completely take away the structures that will enable the youth of this country dream of a better tomorrow than today, then what kind of legacy do we bequeath the future?


Who are the youth?
UNESCO describes the youth as any person between the ages of 15 to 24yrs but I consider the youth to be any person with the courage and the heart for brighter tomorrow, for it is the youth that strives to better tomorrow because they know that they will be part of that tomorrow.
The youth in any nation are epitome of greatness and prosperity of such society. This is so because they carry the energy and potentialities to turn around things for the better.
They are the dreamers of tomorrow today. They are the hope that God is not finished with man and this is why when a child is born into a family, the joy of such family knows no bound.
Today, statistics shows that over 60% of Nigeria’s population is consisting of the youth. This means that Nigeria has what it takes to become whatever she wants to be if only we see the need to incorporate the youth in our developmental quest.
Today’s developmental innovations are championed by youth from Google to face book, youth are beginning to show the world how they want their tomorrow to look like. On the other side, recent uprising in North Africa shows a resilient youthful population to the government of their countries. From Tunisia where it all started with a youth putting himself ablaze to Egypt and then on to Libya, the youth are simply saying that we cannot be ignored, we are relevant if progress must be made. The youth of this country don’t want o be taken for fools any more, the just concluded labor strike on subsidy tells a good story of the Nigerian youth.
They are making statements through their actions, ingenuity, and these reactions of theirs are redefining human existence on planet earth.

The hope of the Nigerian youth

Though the hope of Nigerian youth seem to have withered away, now is the time the youth of this country have come face to face with history and we must dare to have that audacity of hope. A hope coming from the fact that though our fathers have failed us, we cannot afford to fail our own children. A hope built on the thought that we have no where else to call home except this God blessed land Nigeria. So we must make it work again.
In this troubled nation, we are the hope for peace, prosperity and the change Nigeria desires. We are the ones to heal the wound of this nation because we are the Nigeria of tomorrow today. To this end, we must begin to stand up, we must begin to talk and above all, we must begin to work.
Yes we must work, do something so you don’t remain idle and be tempted to do the otherwise.
Nigerian youth have gone to some of the best universities in the world and they come out amongst the best in their class and in some cases topping their class. Those that opted for other skills are becoming the best in their various fields be it fashion designing, farming, mechanics, cooks, barber/stylist, engineers, programming, software engineer, song writer, musician
You name it, Nigerian youth continuously proof that given the right environment and equal opportunity, they can become world champions.
I make bold to say therefore, that the hope of Nigerian youth lies in who we are and what we do.
The youth must dare to dream dreams because the trouble this country faces today id waiting for their ingenious ideas to solve them.


CONCLUSION
A Nation That Is Naturally endowed is technically a rich country but however, wealth without wisdom is prodigality of nature and will often lead to human misery, we must equip our youth with the necessary wisdom to turn our natural wealth for the benefit of all.
Louise Armstrong in his famous song what a wonderful world stated “I hear babies cry! I watch them grow! They will learn much more! then I’ll never know”. I say to you today, that Nigeria’s youth will learn much more than we all can ever know if we give them the enablement that will make manifest their innate abilities. When this is done in no distant time, Nigeria will not only pride herself as the giant of Africa but a power to be reckoned with in the world.






YEK KEME
Dept of philosophy
University of Lagos
yekeme4u@gmail.com     

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