There is no gainsaying the fact that youths are the bedrock of every society; I see youths as trustees that foster great nation. The discourse youth evokes myriads of concerns from all and sundry especially as to the age limit, sadly, everyone wants to be tagged a youth in our modern society, excluding age, one criterion for measuring whom a youth is should be vibrancy which ultimately entails vibrancy of the mind and physical vibrancy, however, there is a discrepancy between being vibrant and youthful age, not all vibrant persons are youths as all youths are not vibrant.

Inasmuch as I find it dicey to associate youth-hood with age this discourse will not be complete without at least, being clothed with age bracket, in terms of age, I will say that a youth is someone within the of 18-40 years, other distinguishing factors include but not limited to fashion, topics and the kind of crimes they engage in. The youthful age is a prime age that is replete with myriads of explorations and responsibilities; it is at this stage in life that you will definitely wield the cause of your stay on earth.

“Being called a youth in Nigeria” is an approach to x-ray what it takes to be a youth in Nigeria as regards tribulations and aspirations. I will commence by quoting the immortal words of Kofi Anan: “Young people should be at forefront of change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, they are left on society's margins, all of us will be impoverished. Let us ensure that young people have every opportunity to participate in the lives of their societies.”

With the recent global trends the youths are fast becoming the most endangered species, Nigeria at forefront leaves nothing to be desired of. The youth constitute more than 65 percent of the population. This is the population that should have upheld the integrity and unity of Nigeria. This is the population they incorrectly represent as leaders of tomorrow.

The youths should not dash the confidence reposed in them by simply believing that they are the leaders of tomorrow, it is a monumental fallacy committed by our parents and sit-tight leaders, so they can perpetuate themselves in power, there is nothing like tomorrow in a country like ours, a country where leaders are being recycled perpetually, a country where youths serve as thugs for their grandfathers, a country where a seventy year old man serves as the minister for youth affairs , a country where leaders compete to siphon the commonwealth . They crippled our efforts towards self actualisation by allowing the existence of time wasting ventures in Nigeria , things such as betting, lotto, BBN and so on, these are unfortunately what we youths have devoted our precious time to. It is time the youth say no to this broad day deceit, but have the youths played their own part?

Nowadays, the youth sheepishly believe that the easiest way to make it is to migrate out of Nigeria. Most of them tarnish our image abroad, some are treated shabbily. While the truth of the matter is that there is a huge increase in unemployment rate globally. Nigerian case appears to be unique because the citizens are over dependent on the government, an average Nigerian youth take pride in the notion that once he can acquire a university degree that it is a free ticket to Eldorado, with which he can secure a high paying job anywhere.

Sadly, finding a job with just a certificate presently is as hard as letting a carmel through the eye of a needle, the employers require a minimum of five years experience, where are you going to get that from, your mother’s womb? But I do not blame the employers of labour a bit, if I have my own business I will not employ a fresh graduate who has nothing to offer except a certificate which was acquired through archaic curriculum. Most youths regrettably failed to equip themselves with relevant skills while in school.

The sad reality is that if every graduate goes with the mentality of job hunting upon graduation, who will now create the jobs? The government? Your guess is as good as mine. The answer is no, definitely the government cannot cater for all the citizens in terms of job creation, even in advanced countries majority of the jobs are being created by private individuals. In America for instance, not less than 60% of the jobs are created by private individuals. What Nigerian youths should clamour for should be government presence in the areas of infrastructure, establishment of enabling environment for private individuals to strive. Surprisingly, the reverse is the case in Nigeria, the more the youth hope on the government the more they disappoint them, there is no enabling environment for small business owners in Nigeria, electricity which Nigeria purportedly supplies to other African nations is a nightmare, almost every business this era is run on electricity for optimal results.

A survey I conducted in major markets in Lagos state revealed that when an average business owner is done paying for all the levies he is left with nothing but a stipend. Unfortunately, there is no provision for loan or grant for youths who want to delve into business, I could recall the treatment meted out on me in 2017 when I approached one of the commercial banks in Ogun State for loan, they did not just turn me down but the young banker sympathetically reminded me that such provisions do not exist in Nigeria. According to him, there are some agencies established by government whose job is to disburse loans, one of which is BOI (Bank of Industry) but as they say in Nigerian parlance you need long legs to secure loans from them. It appears that the big players have catered away with the loans meant for small business owners that are a typical robbing from Peter to pay Paul, without ordinary citizens who constitute majority of the bank customers there would not be banks in Nigeria, most politicians and businessmen move their money and investment to tax haven societies.

Sadly, in the area of leadership, it is a pitiable situation that the leaders of tomorrow are actually waiting for tomorrow to take the mantle of leadership. They are contented with the peanuts they receive from our corrupt leaders who utilise them as thugs to actualise their selfish ambition. They are quite aware that the youths cannot decline their alluring offer because the youths have been impoverished. It is on the part of the youths to realise the repercussions of their actions in time; definitely the politicians will empower them with arms and ammunition only to label them terrorists when they get to the corridors of power. Most of these politicians have their relatives and businesses abroad. Over there, they receive the best of social amenities ranging from durable road networks to state of the art hospitals. These are major deathtraps in Nigeria; each year billions of naira is budgeted for road construction and maintenance by these unscrupulous sit-tight leaders in the long run they will embezzle same thereby constructing feeble roads with the leftover. It has become a routine for incumbent administration to overlook projects initiated by its predecessors. For them, government is not a continuum; this is a smart approach for them to have a medium of siphoning our commonwealth. These are monies that would have being channeled towards betterment of those they term the leaders of tomorrow.

In furtherance, Nigeria being one of the countries with the highest number of youths does not reflect towards positive angle at all, a case study being the educational sector that demands for urgent state of emergency. Rightly put, the amount allocated for Parliamentarian wardrobe allowance is twice bigger than annual allotment for educational sector. How do we achieve our dream of becoming leaders of tomorrow through shoddy education? How do we compete globally? Look at Singapore; if they have sat down clamouring “change begins with me” they would have remained a third world country till infinity. The government should stop the blame game and witch hunting of past leaders and do what they are elected for. It is saddening because 99.9% of these leaders enjoyed the best of education and facilities during their time; they were given scholarship, and were fed by the government with quality education.

I want to take out time to advise the youths because I’m one too. I want you to know that nothing lasts forever; ill-gotten wealth is transient. I want you to understand that internet fraud is a public menace, if it works out for some, you may do it and not go scot-free undoubtedly, karma will catch up on those who have taken it as a job someday. Do not be a bad influence or be used as a bad example to the society. I want you to desist from those bad acts, believe and work towards becoming your true self. Do not be an anointed consumer who cannot do without social media, doing unnecessary things that would not add value to your life when some are busy making exploit through the same platform. Be you, do not wine in mediocrity, you are not created to be a mediocre but to make meaningful impact to the society and country.

In conclusion, I will employ the youth to take the freedom they desire because it is theirs already, they should not wait for any leader to do so for them, we should also acknowledge the fact that we are from diverse tribes and now is not time to embrace bigotry, ethnic war and all form of negativity against one another. We should take pride in our number and unite for positive agenda, as one indivisible and indissoluble unit, we can disrupt the antics of the evil leaders who want to create more division amongst us so they can remain in power, we should skillfully take the leadership we need; if France can do it Nigeria can do it as well. 2023 is around the corner, many politicians will promise us castles in the moon, I wish we could think correctly and do the needful. We do not need to carry placards and occupy the street because it is ours already, the most effective revolution is the one achieved through the ballot boxes. We must be proactive and innovative in order to create jobs for ourselves. We should not carry placards and occupy the streets because we are the owners of the streets already.

God bless Nigerian youths.

•Isaac Success can be reached via olukoyaisaac20@gmail.com

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