A Message To The Youths
Recently I have noticed a trend in our youths. With the advent of the Internet and globalisation, Nigerian youths are taking advantage of technology to make connections with youths from other countries. However, what I notice is that Nigerian youths are not connecting accross the Niger as they should. It would appear that we are passing down the North/ South dichotomy to our youths. I recently hosted an interactive session in June with youths in Lagos and asked how many had friends who were of Northern origin, and very few hands were raised. I had asked this question in Kaduna in March when I had another interactive session there and got a similar response when I asked how many had friends of Southern origin.
If we are to build a united Nigeria where we work as a team, united in purpose and achieving synergy, we need to encourage our youths to make connections across the tribal and religious divide otherwise we would continue using our energies against each other having a Northern agenda, Southern agenda, Middle Belt agenda rather than a Nigerian agenda.
To youths who read this I have this message- The creation of a new Nigeria rests on you. Get to know people of other tribes. If you dont have any friends outside your tribe and religion make some. Learn something about other parts of Nigeria. Tribalism has hindered our growth causing us to spend our energy fighting each other. The cabal thrives on divide and rule.
Perhaps if we had a government that operates in a businesslike manner I could suggest the tightening of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) programme to make it mandatory for Northern youths to only serve in the South and vice versa, but do we have such a government? This laudable scheme initiated by the Gowon has been bastardized by NYSC officials and anxious parents who manipulate the posting of their wards to their areas of origin.
Nigerian youths should understand that they are the largest bloc in the society. Population wise, most of our numbers come from the youths. If Nigerian youths can enter into the sphere of possibility thinking, they will be able to replicate what youths did in The U.S which brought Obama to power and in Zimbabwe with Morgan Tsvangirai and would gradually be able to bid farewell to poverty as Chief Abiola preached during his Hope ‘93 campaign. How?
By uniting and networking from Nguru in Yobe state to Bonny in Rivers our youths need to make people to people connections and learn about their colleagues from the other divide so that they no longer see them as strangers, enemies. No more should Nigerian youths see other youths as strangers. When there is a meeting point between our youths, it will gradually become impossible for unscrupulous politicians to use them to forment inter tribal or inter religious conflicts as we have seen in places as Jos.
We need to break the so called North-South dichotomy. There should be and there really is one Nigeria. Let me go further and say there should be one Africa and one Black race. The sooner we accept ourselves in Nigeria the sooner we will stop wasting energy in resisting each other and can then harmoniously pool resources and energy into building a country that will be worthy of the title Giant of Africa.
Nigerian youths may look at Nigeria’s recent past and say to themselves that the future is bleak and as such there isn’t much to look forward to but that thinking is wrong. We do not have to be tied to our past. We should rather be tied to our potential and work towards fulfilling them. Nugerian youths have the potential to take Nigeria to greater heights and a great way to kick start this is by uniting with their colleagues across the Niger.
Once again, God Bless Nigeria.
PU
