Ok what is success, I know you must have one charming
definition for this most revered term; for me its simply overcoming every
challenge that comes every step of the way. It may not be the best of meaning,
for me doing everything I set out to do in a day is success; due to the paucity
of time, we may not be able to discuss your own meaning of success. What is
success for Nigeria? By my opinion, surviving from 1960 till this day as a
geo-political location is a success, so for me; if Nigeria is not yet a
failed-state, then it is a success; question is how did we become a state in
the first place? How did we remain a state till today; I think this
module(answers) will help us a clue on how we can solve our many other problems
as a nation(state). In summary, with collective efforts and a spirit of
nationalism our leaders gave us state; however I must say that with a sense of
ownership and tolerance we have remained a state, no doubts there are glaring problems
choking us on the throat, but we have managed to breath; problems are path a
man’s life, lets not assume that Nigeria cant have one or many! Problems are
meant to be solved, the reasons why we have problems is so that we can task our
brains and resources to solve them; not to complain and raise blame but to ask
objective questions and attack the problem from the root; with this approach
answers are bound to surface, not just solutions but lasting ones.
I beseech us a stop apportioning blames to people and take
ownership of the problem, lets stop asking God to come down and do a miracle
(because we would be living in Mirage) the only Miracle we must be grateful to
God for is that we have Hands, Legs, Brains and Minds which is all we could ask
for; Moreover this job of understanding our problems (as a result of asking
objective & real questions), analyzing the problems, finding lasting
solutions and solving the questions (holistically) is solely for the Nigerian.
There are no more readily Nigerian than the Youth; the youth is an Integral
part of Nigeria’s success story, the youth is key to implementing whatsoever
change is needed.
There are quite a number of reasons why the youth has a
significant role to play in making Nigeria a success in the shortest possible
period of time (because that’s our yearning) we would consider a few; due to
lack of time. The youth signifies the energy level and texture of Nigeria; in
other words a typical youth in Nigeria is full of energy & tenacity due to
fact that he/she has only himself and his future to think about and spend time
on, due to the economy most are still dependent on their parents; during the
fuel subsidy saga early this year the energy level that was demonstrated
through several medium(occupy Nigeria) was one of those; so in science we were
told that energy can be channeled, converted an distributed. If the Nigerian
youth synergies her energy, channel & distribute it in the right direction?
Change will occur in the speed of light.
A sizeable chunk of the Nigerian Youth presently are
educated(formally or formally), I believe they have the pre-requisite
experience to understand and name the problems and challenges Nigeria is facing
today; so if that can happen? Then its a huge step towards solving the problems
Nigeria; because you cant solve a problem if you don’t know exists, if you cant
name it and if you don’t understand it. The Nigerian youth must brace up to the
fact that, it is her duty to know and understand the problems of Nigeria and
not wait to be told by the media or by some older generation who may have
vested interest; (this brings back to what I said earlier that the right
knowledge & understanding can only come as a result of asking Right &
objective questions, making insightful researches and understanding the
problems without victimization or vested interest.
A clergy defined thinking as “taking one problem out of your
list of problems, ponder over it until you find a solution, then you move to
the next question (one problem at a time) 6th edition oxford
advanced learning dictionary defined thinking as “to use your mind to consider
something, to form connected ideas, to try to solve problems” etc. am
particular about the time and tool involved; any thing outside this definition
is worrying or something else; the tool is the Mind which is used to consider a
problem at a given time; when this happens solutions and change happen in the
speed of light. Permit me to say that the older generation are too busy to
observe this ritual, so what they do is worry, they consider so many things at
a time, moreover we cant blame them because time is not in their favor. Most of
them are struggling to give we the younger generation a better life, so that
the responsibility to THINK rest on the shoulder of the Nigerian Youth. I
strongly believe that the youth is in the right position and capacity to
productively THINK towards making Nigeria a success story in place of complain
and worry. The worry leads to depression which gives birth to unrest and many
other things.
Moreover, there is no better time than now for the youth to
take up leadership of the nation’s sensitive and non-sensitive offices.
Leadership is about an OFFICE not a position, its about DUTY not title; a
friend of mine in politics once said to me that the place of leadership is the
place to implement structural and even development; More so its no longer an
option it is a choice that must be taken now; because it’s a platform for
critical and drastic decisions after objective thinking and consideration without
vested interest. However if economic wealth is shifting to the young people,
then I believe more strongly that the youth through leadership will make
Nigeria a success in a short possible time because leadership doesn’t start
from the office (when elected) it starts from the polling unit, it starts from
a rich political culture, it starts from utilizing peaceful medium to express
agitations, disagreement and opinions; it starts from making objective &
logical decision in relation to politics (leadership) rather than sentiments
and tribalism, it start from making objective & logical decisions in
relation to politics (leadership) rather than sentiments and tribalism, it
starts from doing the right thing at the right time without vested interest,
fear or favour, it starts from showing good examples and others taking a cue,
it starts from doing something about a situation or issue instead of
complaining and apportioning blame, it starts from saying No to corruption it
starts from you.
Another reason, I believe the youth is a critical part of
Nigeria success is that there is a gradual shift of economic wealth from the
hands of the old generations to the hands of the youth. In other words, before
today Money (wealth) is transferred to a new generation by the outgoing
(retiring) generation; but the wealth rotates and revolves around the Men/Women
the same age brackets. Today Entrepreneurship has never been tried by young
people like any other time in the history of mankind; from the likes of fela
durotoyin of Nigeria to Mark Zukarberg of USA etc. these are historic examples
that indicates a rather radical shift of economic strength from the old men and
women to the young people of the world; with a quick glance at our most budding
and commercial marketplace from the Araria market of aba to the Onitsha main
market of anambra, the sabon gari market of kano to the terminus market of Jos,
from the sabo market of kaduna a to the
ceddi plaza of Abuja to the oshodi market of lagos to (mention but of a few) one
is convinced that the youth is gaining economic voice which is instrumental to
implementing change (a must-critical element for Nigeria’s success).
Moreover, I believe that the youth have a crucial part to
play in the success of the nation; the youth must brace up to reality and
salvage the nation. If our fathers have failed us then we can’t afford to fail
the up-coming generations.
Chisom Anthony Bethel
(writer, poet, blogger, twit_ster, Volunteer, peer Educationist,
entrepreneur and speaker)
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