Sometimes in 2014, some political office seekers promised to tackle unemployment, insecurity and improve standard of living; we bought into their campaign promises. Fast forward from then to now. What has changed? The unemployment indices haven’t improved and insecurity has grown from one zone of the nation to every zone having its own pockets of trouble. One hears that Zamfara state is filled with bandits even in broad daylight.
We have a President who has had a job for three years but has been away from work for quite a good number of days during the course of this three years call a teeming youth population lazy. Lazy?
- Has he employed them and they didn’t show up at work?
- Did he fix electricity and these lazy bunch failed to be productive?
- Did he tackle cattle grazing and these men didn’t go back to their farms?
- Does he not know how many young Nigerians have lost hectares of produce, time and resources to cattle rearers?
- Has he overhauled the Nigerian education system to make sure that graduates come out with the right skill sets to make them employable?
- Has he been able to curtail Lassa fever? Have we not lost in the recent past over 3 ‘lazy’ doctors on their jobs to this disease?
- Has he done anything to industrialize Nigeria?
- Are the few industries ran by the federal government not in comatose already?
His generation failed us. The generation after him failed. They only sit down to tell us stories about when there were jobs waiting for you immediately after your first degree. They tell us about how their first employers enticed them with Peugeot 504 or the popular tortoise Volkswagen. They tell us about living in University of Ife, living large and feeding on milk and chicken. They tell us about when £1(one British pound sterling) was N1.50k (one naira fifty kobo).
Who and what destroyed this nation?
Were we part of the Oil boom era? The oil boom of the 1970s has been said to be responsible for the emergence of disorderliness in Nigeria because of incredible boost in the foreign exchange earnings when the price of oil sky rocketed. So what oil money was he talking about? Have we handled this money? The only oil many of us have seen is palm oil.
Despite our so called oil wealth, depression and poverty has boomed in place of wealth. We were not even born before our elders brought the ruins upon us; the greediness of our fathers and the recklessness of our leaders have brought us to this sorry state of affairs. They have worked hard in 40 years to ensure that Nigeria only favours them, after they have enjoyed free education, working infrastructures and a great economy, they still hold on to the reins of power and stay put on thrones to ensure their chosen few continue in the legacy of enriching themselves with the nation’s wealth. Our fathers failed us, and our current President is not excluded
Nigerian youths are courageous and resilient. We live in a country whose leaders have no plan for the next generations than to wave at us at political gatherings and coerce us to vote for them and in a good number of cases rig themselves into political office. It is totally unfair and unconscionable for them to denigrate us.
An average Nigerian with a 9-5 job has a side gig to support his $300 monthly income. Then there are others who are forced to work about three businesses to stay afloat – the baker with her hands in the dough at night and her make-up brush by day. There is the graphics designer who is also a carpenter. There is the video editor who is a photographer and actor. There are scores on jobs they have no joy doing but can’t quit because bills have to be paid. Daily we fight hard to keep our sanity while trying to earn a decent living despite the odds. We fall, we rise, we stumble, we shine and now insult is now been added to injury in a nation that has no agenda for its youth.
Ask the about-to-retire generation what holds after retirement, they are clueless and scared. They are not willing to leave a job they have had in 35 years to the ‘lazy generation’, Even the commander in chief is not willing to go back to Duara at his present age.
I cry for my beloved country; I cry for my “fellow lazy youths” who are doing their best to survive against all the odds. The irony of it all is that it is these ‘Lazy youths’ that voted Mr. President into power hoping that his time in office will herald a brighter future for them. Our youths deserve praise and an enabling environment to thrive and not insults.
The opinion expressed in opinion pieces on Pride magazine Nigeria online are those of the writers and not those of Pride Magazine Nigeria.