NIGERIAN YOUTHS NOT LEADERS OF TOMORROW, BUT READERS OF TODAY
- YUSUF ALHAJI YUSUF
Every nation attach a significant importance to the growth and development to its youths. The deliberate determination of a nation to upgrade the lives of its youths must be a major concern of the leaders. In Nigeria today, reverse is the case. Nigerian leaders do not show concern for the well being of its entire citizenry.
The future leaders are the youths, who are expected to serve, protect and rule the nation. They hardly are celebrated and cherished. Every youths grow up with the belief that they are the leaders of tomorrow, as a promise of hope and some sorts of assurance of a better tomorrow.
In Nigeria, the government has been designed by only the leaders of previous years; rule by the geriatric. Down the memory lane, when we were in primary school, we all chanted the song that "we are the leaders of tomorrow", but it was a fantasy and fallacy stage; only the gullible will still believe the deceptive words.
Meanwhile, the elites appeal to our conscience by giving us what I described as "false hope", in order to give them room to carry on with governance and the overall control of the economy and continue to whisper that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow which is false hope.
In the same vein, Nigerian youths are not lazy simply because the issue of unemployment is the major source of concern which has eaten deep into the bone marrow in our societies. It has become every youth nightmare. It is no longer about going to school and graduating with good grade or learning a trade; but about how to face the reality of graduating and joining the chain of the unemployed youths.
The issue of unemployment has negatively affected Nigerian youths in many ways. It has led to increase in crimes, like kidnapping, fraudulent, smuggling, armed robberies, prostitution among others. All this came to being as a result of the unemployment situation in the country.
It is worthy of note that our politicians do not represent us, instead, they represent their pockets. Our politicians are too extravagant, they lavish our treasuries on white elephant projects. They do not make progress for their nation most importantly the youths; instead of the youths to contribute to the national development, they are being used for destructive activities by the politicians. Some youths today are negatively used in electoral malpractices and other vices like thuggery, snatching of ballot boxes, blackmailing and assassination. The question now is, how do we wriggle out of this colossal mess?
Incidentally, the same elites who use the youths to perpetrate these atrocities do not involve their own biological children in the acts. They send their children abroad in order to get proper training and quality education, which they will come back years later, to represent their parents' seats, which they have turned to hereditary post while the less privileged youths continue to be the leaders of tomorrow.
It is high time the youths wake up from their slumber and take their rightful place in the nation-building. Our parents have spent fortunes on us to be a graduate and a great person in life. We should not disappoint them. The key for achieving these goals should be development of the necessary capacity to be able to deliver the much-needed good leadership that the nation so dearly desires.
However, Nigerian youths are no more the leaders of tomorrow but readers of today. Also, to eradicate all these atrocities made by our politicians; the geriatric leaders should give rooms for the youths to rule. We need new, young, talented and energetic Nigerians to rule our nation for better development.
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