Relieve them; they are yet to find…

Perhaps the Nigerian Society is yet to be delivered of a stock of youths that will reciprocate the available offers of its political institutions and incidents. Rather, only a wave of star eyed, explosive, randy, glitzy and funky youths litter and rock the floor of this inbred society. Except for some frustrated ones, in an outlandish manner, campaign their frustrations and noble background, with no exceptional output from the government. Yet the youths of this country are becoming more and more confused.

You may want to say that the teeming population of the Nigerian youths contributes largely to the corrupt practices that pervade the status quo. Do you blame them, When the only factor that could have presented them as responsible youths have been deprived them by the lack of good employment in the society. In the recent past, between the early 60s and close of the 80s, the desire to go to school was popular because there was the fine certainty of securing a fine future. Today a certain proportion of the Nigerian youths do not see the relevance of going to school. Even those who have the fixed idiosyncrasy are consciously engaged in academic malpractices. They merely dabble into. A stroll along the streets of the nation presents you with a chagrin maze of confused youths parading desultorily, smoking hashish with a configured head in expectation for a deux machine of opulence. Do you blame them, when those that preceded them have nothing to show for it but have become gladiators in the labour market, seeking a job that recedes in an apparition before them?

Nevertheless, some have been able to beat the need for education to survive. The progressive state of the music industry in the country has evolved a vibrant parvenu class of both professional and fledgling musicians all over the nation. They have opened a flood gate to address their socio-economic demands. This as well has projected Nigeria as possessing talented youths. Some of such images are Tuface, D-banj, 9ice, Durella, Timaya, P-square etc. the film industry has its impact on the youths as well. With the current pace at which Nollywood is going, it will rock the attention of the world and a craze by youngsters for the film industry as participants and schedulers is at an unprecedented spate.

What is more, the youths flagrant desires for the premiership and other European leagues show avidly that their hearts are no longer with the country. If they could have their ways, they would dump Nigeria for greener pastures. Their ways mimic in every way western values, properties and elements. You will agree that every Nigerian youth wants to become a model. Go to the higher institutions and you can bear me a witness. You will see clownish, repulsive looking ensembles that would remind you in quick flash cartoon and sometimes sardonic characters. Hence, the attention of youths is gradually being dragged away from more important issues such as political and leadership aspirations. Most seem less concerned about the frame work. They probably feel they lack the foundational strength to survive the harsh bureaucracy of political parties and subsequent party demands.

Jeffery Jackson’s description of the Nigerian youths; “a revolutionistic tendency in the future” might sound gloomy, offensive and grossly abrasive on the personality of the Nigerian youths, it however aptly defines the present nonchalant youths as a redefined and purposeful object of wind of change in the fabric of the distasteful apolitical system government the nation into what would then be known as the new Nigeria.

But today, the Nigerian youths are yet to display the propensity in taking part in the fleeting path of rediscovery for the nation, instead they find themselves more useful in criminal activities; where they indulge in credit card bunkering, telecom hacking, and internet fraud popularly known as Yahoo Yahoo boys, who incubate themselves financially on the internet.

A cursory survey carried out on youths and crime by the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2007 revealed that 70% of youths that are neither students nor graduates have an insignificant means of livelihood. In other words, they couldn’t identify a reasonable source of income. Their investigation showed that 45% claimed they do contract jobs such as marketing imported goods and other inanities, while the remaining 55% could not identify any form of job, yet they adorned themselves in very expensive clothes.

There is no doubt the government has not been fair to the country and especially its generation next. Perhaps they forget they are the future leaders of this country. Except that they have fractionalize the society into an inbreeding system of leadership, I do not conceive any other reason why they should forsake those they are meant to cater for. Like disowned children, the youths seemed to have been forgotten and discarded and they likewise are acting like one. The government has no plans for them and they have planned themselves wrongly. It is a mystified shame that the network that ought to be the most vociferous, stimulating and disciplined have become ensnared by wedlock of political anomalies. Remember the 1953 Cuban revolution, the Norwegian 1932 youth march and of course the popular Kenyan Mau Mau revolution. All these were foisted by a depressed and changes seeking youths.

Finally, I dare say that the Nigerian youths are yet to possess the much needed trait of leadership. Like the unresolved youth of Leonard Cohen’s Letter , the Nigerian youths have become rustic, complacent and impervious to the political absurdities of our fuehrer. Nevertheless, I believe that one day, like the words of Rev. Jackson, they will finally awaken from their slumber and hold tenaciously the reins of politics consciousness. The prayer is that; when they are ready to dawn a new Nigeria there would be enough left to salvage.