National Issues
Nigerian Youths Are Not Yet Ready.
According to statistical report from the National Population Commission, NPoC, Nigeria’s population as at last census count lies in the boundary of “over” one hundred and fifty million (150 million). Young people, between the age range of 18 – 35 constitute 67% of this population and more than half of this percentage are practically jobless, at the same time, easily influenced. The debate whether or not the youths in Nigeria are capable of effecting the needed change, for me, is inconsequential because from what i have seen so far, they are not and cannot.
There are certain attributes that when you, a fellow citizen of a country, begins to see, tells you without doubt, that change is coming and it’s coming real quick from a certain group of people in that country. What we have seen so far in Nigeria, from the mouth of the young people, are talks about change and not actions that will lead to that change or make that change happen. I am sure you will agree intoto, that most Nigerian youths are afraid of taking a bold step when national issues are concerned. They fear the law, they fear those who make the laws, they fear to speak and even in that fear, attack those tiny number who dare to speak up.
The question whether or not Nigerian youths are ready comes with one straight answer, NO! They are still divided, they pursue different cause, they can easily be bought over, they are not hardcore nationalists, there’s no opinion leadership inside of them, and most of all, they see wrong as not right or wrong but a means to an end in a nation where what guides and rules, is corruption. It however, does not mean that there are not a single Nigerian with the required mindset of greatly effecting change in Nigeria. But the question is, how many are they?
Before youths in Nigeria can be said to be ready, they must speak with one voice, fight a single cause and stand together on a single issue that involves national development. Until then, they are still sleeping.