Here I am looking forward. The basis for my argument and the reason for my lack of faith in the Nigerian youths of today is for just one thing, which is the fact that there is nothing deliberate going on anywhere about the dilemma Nigeria as a nation is faced with. I mean the dilemma of either continuing to recycle old faces in leadership positions or trying out the younger folks who are mostly ill-prepared, uninterested and confused. And I could go on and on about how complex and complicated things are.
The word for me in this long talk is ‘deliberate’. There should come a time in our lives when we take responsibility for all our actions and their consequences, a point where we think before taking decisions, a point where we deliberately do things because we chose to do them. The possibilities ahead of such a lifestyle are countless. The journey for such a life goes only upward and forward.
I love Nigeria. That is not just a passing statement. And I am not saying this because it is what I am supposed to say, or because I have no choice. I mean it. I love Nigeria a lot. In a billion more lives to come, I’ll still pray, wish, hope, and chose to be a Nigerian.
But love alone, without corresponding action cannot tilt this massive structure in the direction of progress and development.
Here is my proposal. What deliberate things I believe Nigerian youths of today ought to start doing now. First, study about Nigeria. Let’s go back to the very beginning, before 1914, before the white man came to our land, way back into the very cradle of our birth as a people. Please remember the key word here is ‘deliberate’. Read about our history. Study the details. Read, read, and read. Is it not yet clear to you this is one culture Nigerian youths lack? That we know very little about ourselves? People perish for lack of knowledge. A government comes into power; we criticize it, and compare it with the immediate past. I am saying this is not enough.
Why do we need to study our history? They say knowledge of the past is the basis for today and the divining of the future. We need to know clearly where we are coming from, we need to know how and why we got here, so we can accurately discern what must be done to move us forever out of the League of Nations referred to as “developing countries”. (As in, e don tay wey dem dey call Nigeria developing country. Shay we no go ever develop ni?)
The second thing is for us to sit down and think. Yes, think. Think about Nigeria. Hausa people call it ‘Tunani’. Is it joblessness? Not at all, this is called being deliberate. What thinking will do is to open your eye to where you in particular stand in this entire story about Nigeria. The unique role you are to play in the unfolding story and history of this my dear country. Deliberate is still the word here. I know I have over mentioned that word. I just hope you get the point. Things start happening when we become deliberate about the actions we take. After proper study of our journey so far, the next thing we should do is to think. That is how you get the ‘hands-on’ role you are to play. That is when you start to realize that no, things are as bad as bad can be, but yes something can be done about it. What’s more, you and I have a role to play!
I am not the one to tell every young Nigerian out there what their individual roles are, I am not God. Some young people have to enter into politics, deliberately. Some have to pursue their talents by doing sports full time, some have to become business people, some have to become industrialists, others have to pioneer other ventures and enterprises, with a basic mentality that says ‘I am doing all of this for the love of country’. I am not the one to tell you where you stand in the big picture. You will find out for yourself when you make up your mind to study about us, and you make out time to think and reflect on how to deploy you inherent and acquired skills into nation building. And let me mention the word again for the last time. Deliberate. You just have to be deliberate in all of this.
True, some young people have started, I for one, and some of my friends. And a few others somewhere I don’t know of. But the figure is little when compared to the total number of young people we have in Nigeria. I hope more and more and more young Nigerians infuse this into their daily lives. I hope this spreads. But until this, NIGERIAN YOUTHS MY FOOT!!
David Yunana
Yunanadavid4@gmail.com
