NIGERIAN YOUTHS: SHALL WE NOW TAKE POWER WITH IGNORANCE?

Tonight on our series of Night Thoughts, I feel compelled to address a fundamental issue that has bedeviled our society for a long time.

In one of our radio sessions, a young person called in to 'market' himself as is the practice on our programme. In the course of marketing himself he said, 'I am looking for a company that will ACQUIRE me...' At that point, the word 'acquire' began to sound to me like something I never heard before. How on earth can any job seeker be looking for a company that will 'acquire' him? How else can one describe a pathetic use of English?

On social media, youths have started apportioning to themselves, self-acclaimed roles of media warriors and uncommissioned image makers. Unfortunately, when you read through majority of these presentations, you find ignorance screaming therein. An example is the simplistic analysis of legal processes without even the faintest knowledge of the provisions of the constitution.

A young person who should likely be about my age called me yesterday to discuss an official issue. I responded by asking him to call me during working hours as I was not equipped at that moment to give effective responses. The next question he asked me was, 'when'? I replied, 'working hours' and he asked again, 'Thursday or Friday?' For me, that was the height of frustration, so I asked him, 'since when did they change working hours from Monday to Friday, 8am - 4pm?'

I brought these examples not because I want to ridicule anyone, but because I want us as youths to correct an anomaly. I want us as youths to immediately deal with the disgraceful ignorance that we display in many situations that could have given us lifetime opportunities.

We have made so much noise in recent times about the elders not willing to hand over governance to us. How do you feel safe handing over governance to an ignorant generation? How do we expect these elders who laboured with their lives to build our nation to now feel safe handing over their sweats to youths who do not know the difference between the ECA and the SWF? How do you hand over an economy you laboured to build to a young person who cannot simply define foreign exchange?

Social media is today not helping our situation at all. I see too many young persons fighting for Amaechi, Saraki, Wike and the others on Facebook while forgetting to develop their own lives. The 'roforofo' analysis that Facebook has afforded everyone is now making a mess of the lives of our youths. Why meddle in the fight of Amaechi and Wike when you are not in anyway building yourself to one day become better than them?

We make so much noise about politicians sending their wards abroad. I am sure they are doing so to separate their children from the ignorant pack. Politicians are everyday distancing their children from the corruptive tendencies of today's youths, yet, the youths are not doing anything to better their lives by improving on the contents of their brains.

In Soyinka's era only, a lot of scholars developed. We could begin to talk of Achebe, Fagunwa et al. How many has my generation produced? Are we just here to become yahoo boys and political criminals? Are we even trying to grow?

While the young men are busy wasting away trying to dupe white people, their lady counterparts are busy opening their laps to any monkey who can afford a nice hotel room. What have we turned our society into with this pitiable ignorance?

Those who ruled as young people got the chance because they were loaded with wisdom acquired from dedication to study and information acquisition, not by perpetual clubbing, addiction to sex and drugs amidst other social vices. Murtala Mohammed would not be President at 28 he was a junkie or a dullard.

Yes, we are leaders of tomorrow. Literally, that tomorrow would have been now, but our tomorrow will only come when our brains are filled to capacity!

Until then, shall we take over power with ignorant minds and empty heads?

MBA!