By: Olanrewaju Ojuoluwa
President Mohammed Buhari has said that, Nigerian youths are lazy people who do not want to work but want everything free. This, he said in an international business meeting held on Wednesday 18th April 2018 days after he declared his interest to run again for a second term in office, a move that generated mixed reactions from Nigerians.
I wonder why Muhammadu Buhari is calling Nigerian youths lazy people. Youths that wake up as early as 4am in search of what to eat. Youths that do all it takes to pay their school fees. Youths that push wheel barrows around in order to make ends meet. Youths that ride Okada in order to survive. Youths that do all sorts of works and businesses in order to make ends meet. Youths that confronts Boko Haram and herdsmen in order to maintain peace and order. And most importantly, youths that voted for you.
Meanwhile, in like manner some weeks ago, Itse Sagay, Chairman of the of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), has said Nigerians may regret having a youth as president because they would be embarking on a dangerous journey if elected.
Sagay's unreasonable reason was that, those thinking that youths would perform better in positions of authority in Nigeria are being shallow-minded. He said, “It is very shallow thinking because, as I see it, it is the youths of Nigeria today who believe in overnight wealth, who want billions overnight, who don’t want to work for their living and gradually build up their assets and business. That psychology of overnight wealth is almost exclusively a youth attribute."
These two comments have one thing in common - daring tone. After they have rendered the youths incapacitated by not providing them with jobs or friendly environment/policies to thrive, they still stare us in the face and tell us we are worthless. They still blame us for their incapabilities and negligence? What a cruelty! What an injustice!
It is interesting to note that the ongoing sociopolitical revolution led by Nigerian Youths has so much given the established politicians incurable headaches to the point that a supposed revered professor would cheaply shoot himself (and others who share the school of thought that we Youths are mere misfits) at the foot simply because he felt like opening his mouth to make a statement. No apologies!
So dumb an utterance he made that he practically highlighted his generation's failures as parents, leaders and role models who do not deserve to lead the human folks save the zoo. Professors that I know are always careful with their words because they are considered weighty. Sagay's claim that the agitation for fresh and new breed of leadership being championed by Nigerian Youths is 'irrational' and shallow-thinking leaves his professorship questionable. For the record, let his friends and associates advise him to start using his brain rather than thinking through the anus!
In answering him proper however, I will start with an adage in Yoruba that says "it is shamelessness that makes a bed-wetter to probe the laundry, asking why soap is expensive." The question is why he urinated in bed in the first place. He has no moral right whatsoever to complain, should soap cost a fortune!
Same applies here, Sagay has no moral pedigree to: (1) judge Nigerian Youths (2) discredit our generation by behaviours of lesser than 5% of our population (3) blame the said few for taking after him and his cohorts (4) ridicule the patriots' quest and struggle for a better Nigeria (5) ridicule Nigerian youths who are die-hard hustlers, who against all odds and what is obtainable (the mess Nigeria's leadership has caused them) still strive to make it in life (6) Blame the youths for being visionary. The list can go on and on. I would have said he needs to tender a sincere apology for his words, but, no worries about that, he will be sorry when I'm done with him!
He got it all wrong when he said, "...youths don't want to work for their living and gradually build up their assets and business." It's a pointer that they all have failed and are too far to see our plights hence the need to have a paradigm shift to the youths. That we've always look up to the recycled losers in governance to help fix our problems for us has never worked. That is understandable as they tend not to know what our problems are or are too selfish to admit them. Then, why can't the youths take charge and fix our problems ourselves. That, is the summary of the sociopolitical revolution for those having a misconception.
In case they do not know it yet, venturing into politics at this point in time is taking steps backward for some of us. Should they have managed the country well, we wouldn't have bothered ourselves by virtue of the potentials embedded in us. In fact, we would have been too busy impacting the world. But, in a situation where we strive and strive, hope against hope and, dream against dream yet to no avail, because the environment is unfriendly due to their shortcomings, we have no other options than resolve to first, fix the fundamental problem of leadership.
I have always emphasized that youths are victims of circumstances. We have our legs chopped off, yet, blamed for being cripple. It is quite interesting that in this part of the world, the youths have given to the society virtually all that the society demand of us. We were asked to get educated, we did and as a matter of fact, many of us have upgraded to Masters and PhD yet, there's nothing to show for it.
The society also asked us to acquire vocational skills, telling us certificate alone is not enough. Even though we felt like asking why the hell we went through the traumatic experiences just to acquire such 'useless' certificates, we still got vocational skills, though, with lingering unanswered questions. But, rather than support us, and finance our enterprising ideas, we are left stranded, strapped and frustrated.
And, who gets the blame? The youths of course! Whereas, the society has given us nothing in return, not even hope! We're tagged failures, misfits, thugs, touts, jobless, lazy and miscreants even when they (the leaders) are found wanting in doing their own parts.
Dear professor, what were you thinking when you opened your mouth and tagged us as misfits? Let me help you rephrase your statement: "it is very shallow-thinking because, as I see it, just like we their progenitors, some Nigerian youths believe in overnight wealth, who don't want to work for our living and gradually build up assets and business. That psychology of overnight wealth is almost exclusively a Youth attribute kudos to their upbringing (by us)"
Apologies to the great men and women of Sagay's generation who have distinguished themselves to be good role models in various walks of life. However, if their generation will keep seeing our shortcomings, and, keep using the misconducts of a microscopic few to judge us at will, then I have this to say, that: every Yahoo-Boy you see among the youths has an old 419er among you to match him. So, do not be quick to lay emphasis on us when the subject is brought forward, as it is also a pointer that you have failed woefully as parents. And, so also does it applies to any prostitute/asawo from among us who is matched by a Baba Alaye; a Sugar Daughter matched by a Sugar Daddy; Sugar Son matched by a Sugar Mummy and so on... REJOICE NOT! Everything you complain about concerning us is a pointer that you have failed, WOEFULLY!
I understand that Sagay's intentions were to gain cheap points by that statement but, it has also highlighted that he and his colleagues are feeling the heat already. If nothing else, it has dawned on them that our quest for a better Nigeria is not mere fantasy? No! We were not created here to suffer like this. Yes, we slept for just too long but, now we're awake. They all had better enjoy this last moments of their tenures characterized by poverty and sufferings. Let them live every moment of it with utmost consciousness because what they are experiencing now, is just the beginning of their end. It's over.
However, when we talk about the youths taking over, we are not referring to those spoilt brats you raised. Rather, a generation of passionate young adults who want nothing but the betterment of Nigeria. What we have invested into this project is unquantifiable. Some of us have virtually shutdown our lives for this sole agenda of building the Nigeria of our dream.
I may not know much but I know this: that, the long awaited time for liberation has come. A generation of unrepentant haters of evil is here already and they shall rid this land of every evildoer to the point that the world will pity them. Every Nigerian Youth must at this point in time know that the battle line has been drawn. We have been wronged collectively, therefore, we must fight for ourselves collectively.
I rest my case for now...
I am Olanrewaju Ojuoluwa, Youth Advocate and Social Reformer. I charge you fellow countrymen to step out of your shells and let these dealers rather than leaders know what we are really worth! That without us, they cannot be. That, the people's existence is not to only elect them into public offices, rather, that, those public offices exist for service to the people!