Victor Adaha
The Nigerian youths consist of over 51.6% of the total population of the country, and the strength of every nations lies on its youth. In every sector of the economy youth involvement is critical if any meaningful success must be recorded at all. But a nation that has either a sleeping youths or an inactive youth would definitely be headed for problems and inadequacies as well.
The Nigerian youths must therefore see themselves as important, in the national development of the country, they must search themselves and look for hidden potentials imbedded in them and transform them into meaningful activities. They must understand that a great Nigeria begins and centers around them.
The South African authority allegedly argues that South Africa imports businesses to Nigeria such as shop right, MTN, DSTV and the likes, but what most Nigerian youth exports back to their country are hard and illicit drugs. And this drugs activities have youths’ involvement and imprints written all over it.
In Nigeria, youths’ restiveness has become a major challenge for the country, as it is posing a major setback for the economy and country at large. The activities of the dreadful Boko haram sect are mainly conducted by youths, this activities of abduction, killing and character damage has portrayed the country in a very bad light to the rest of the world. In the creeks of the Niger, youths’ restiveness as well, is also causing the nation great financial loss, and even polluting the land the more. Back in the south western state, where group of youths full of intelligence, energetic, industrious and economically viable have decided once again to allow social vice and restiveness to over cloud their rational sense of judgement, and have hence resulted to abduction, theft and mischievous acts causing nuisance and denting the name of our dear country.
It has become expedient that we remind and reiterate to ourselves the vow me make whenever we sing the national anthem “the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain”, but as a result of our actions wittingly or un-wittingly we grossly working against it.
All over the world, the youths are strong voices to be reckoned with as they are also part of key decision makers in the economy. Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook is a youth and also a major player in the Information technology industry, footballers who are also highly paid over the world are also youths, and they have succeeded in adding values to their respective countries’ economy.
The youths of Nigeria must follow trend, they must embrace economic activities, they must look inside them and come out with proffered solutions to our economic, social, health, agricultural, educational, infrastructural problems. They should not be compounding the problems with hate speeches, songs of war, chants of divisions, and threats of evictions. They must begin to reflects inward for solutions, they must begin to get involved in governance as responsible citizens, they must begin to develop themselves.
It is worthy of mention to note that the present political leaders didn’t start today, they developed themselves early enough and so when the opportunity came they embraced it, they mostly started at their youthful age. That was because they discovered themselves early enough, but an average youth today has not discovered him/herself let alone being ready to add value to the nation.
If our country must grow, then all hands must be on deck especially that of the youth who constitute a greater percentage of the nation’s population, and also have the strength to ensure development. If the youth who are supposed to defend the nation are the same fighting the nation, who would then fight other contending nations when they threaten our territorial sovereignty?
