THE NIGERIAN YOUTH STORY
With an unapologetic bleeding of my pen, I write to all Nigerians in the secondary schools and tertiary institutions. The Nigerian youth all had a dream of becoming doctor, lawyer, engineer, president,...to mention a few. They salivate on how their future will be, they are all ready drawing an enviable picture in their imaginations of how their future would be. If you ask a student in secondary school, what do you want to become? With a smile on his/her face, he/she would reply by mentioning some of the above named professions. The reason is, it has been wired to their brain that once you study hard and make good grades, the future is secured for you.
There's a common prayer line our parents do say, "when you're done with your tertiary education, may God provide you with good jobs." But I haven't listen to a parent saying "when you graduate from the university, may God make you a creator of employment." This automatically has a direct message to their brain, thinking that, they can't be a creator of jobs unless they seek for one. A lot of dreams have been shattered because the youths are robots working according to the programming language developed by the parents.
When Chief Obafemi Awolowo introduced free education, most youth didn't value what education would bring into their entire being as a nigerian. The few youths who got themselves educated were rewarded with robust salaries, good jobs, a car and shelter in government reserved areas(GRAs). So, parents who their children were not educated became envious of the good life they saw in other children. This become a slogan and the poem ensue "Ti o ba kawe re, bata re adun kokoka, bi o ba kawe re bata re awo serere nile" Once you are educated, you have the good life, otherwise it's the other way around. So, parents dictate what their children will become because of the rewarding future they foresee which is myopic when the interest of the children is not sought. We have mediocre as professionals.
Fast forward to this present day Nigeria, same idea is seen in parents but the only difference is our educational system. It is in utter chaos. Imagine a student wanting to use an equipment in the lab and still have to pay; a technician not wanting the student to use the lab because she feels its not yet time for them to be introduced to the various equipment and devices; lecturers who wants you to do throw back for them in the exams, if you try expressing your ideas, it is zero.
Tell me, are we instilling education in their minds? Or creating a "cramming" machine?
Since the students are aware of the fact that you can't find good jobs unless you make good grades, so they resort to "cramming" their way out of the university. The ones who can't "cram" give up when they start having low grades, the next stage is to turn to defrauding people. The state of our educational system is in utter chaos, no hope for the youth unless they rise up and challenge the status quo.
Our parents have a lot of work to do but not to the level of tonnes of work the youth needs to put in place if they want an end to this menace.
Dear youth, before you sit for UTME and Post-UTME, I know you are having a dream of good score and a wonderful journey through the university. Do you have a skill you can sell aside your "cramming" ability? Have you assured yourself you will remain undaunted in the face of adversity and not allowing the campus life sway your dream life away from you? Have you planned on how your life will be after school, if your dream job becomes a punishment for you(when you seek a job but it turns out to be locked in a maze)? The ultimate question is have you ruminate on how you want to see yourself after completion of your tertiary education even when the game seems to be ready for you to hunt it down? There is a saying amongst nigerian undergraduate:"education is a scam." The reality had dawned on them that there's no provision for them.
To back this up, I will relate a story of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of America; and also Meriwether Lewis. Jefferson wanted to launch an expenditure on the American west because he had interest in exploratory expedition before he became a president. He chose Meriwether Lewis because he saw him as a compleat scientist in botany, natural history, mineralogy, and astronomy. But the problem is Lewis is talented but green. So, Jefferson had to train him in all aspects regarding the expedition, and this lasted for a little more than three years. Lewis and his team embarked on the trip which lasted for more two and a half years. The expedition was a success but there was a problem. When Lewis came back he was out of place, because he didn't prepared for life after the expedition. So, Jefferson made him the governor of Louisiana, a task for which he was not prepared, and he did not succeed in that post. He suffered from depression and took to medicines laced with opium, when he could no longer bare it, he shot himself.
Most nigerian youths are like Lewis, our parents(Jefferson) trained us to become what they wanted us to become. The strong and spirited will make it through but some fall short halfway. For those that made it, a hard life begins because of the lack of passion in their course of study and also high unemployment rate. Frivolities display the tune of their day like an aria, and they ended up dead physically, morally, emotionally, and intellectually.
The time is now to put an end to this, "it's not until it is; and then it must be." Raise your voice and fight this now or remain in this to savour the bitter taste it offers to you.
P.S The story was culled from talent is never enough by John C. Maxwell.
©AdeGneus
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