Youths are the leaders of tomorrow. This implies that a society that yearns for progress must adequately invest into the future of her young ones.
But what happens when the supposed leaders of tomorrow turn out as agents of disintegration of the society they should transform?
The expression above perfectly describes the precarious situation of things in our dear country, Nigeria.
After the forced amalgamation of 1914 by Lord Lugard, the nation has passed through various stages that has led to the present backward condition we find ourselves today.
With little or nothing too expect from our rulers, Nigerians have evolved to be one of the most resilient people on earth surface based on our endurance and perseverance even when things are at the toughest.
In a society where corruption and lawlesness have become norms, and where Justice, equity and transparency have become wanting; Nigerians have paid back our so-called rulers with a complete distrust in the entire system.
Inside this turbulent waters we find ourselves as a nation, nature has endowed us with a vibrant and productive youths who have the capability to turn around the tide of things in this country for the better.
History has shown that great nations of the world invest heavily into empowering their youths as a way of securing a brighter future for their beloved society.
Youths in such developed nations have paid back into their society by impacting developmental skills they acquire into sensitive areas of life of their people which has led to the greatness such nations attained today.
However, it is quite unfortunate to know that the reverse is the case here in Nigeria.
Youths in Nigeria have rather turn themselves into catalysts for the disintegration of our beloved country.
By serving as political thugs and propagating other mischiefs by politicians, youths in nigeria have mortgaged the future they ought to secure.
On another note, results from observations and statistics show clearly that nigerian youths are lucidly divided along the various ethnic lines.
Our people now prefer things to be done on basis of ethnic or religious affiliations rather than on merit.
Youths from different zones of the country want the central government to site important projects in their zones or appoint personalities from their zones into sensitive governmental positions not considering whether these people can actually perform the tasks given to them or not.
These sense-ridden category of people often engage their counterparts from other parts of the country in hot arguments over which tribe is superior to the other.
Most regrettable is the fact that nigerian youths are now strong advocates of disintegration of this country.
It is indeed regrettable when one looks back briefly to the milittary era where we have people like kayode fayemi, now Ekiti state governor, former governor of jigawa state, saminu turaki and others who were then in their youthful age but channeled their efforts into ensuring the survival of democracy in our beloved Nigeria.
Apart from the political scenery, a critical look into the religious aspects indicate that youths are always the frontiers of religious violence as we have seen in the recurring kaduna religious violence, Jos unrest and several other chaotic occurences.
However, one will not be appalled at these misdemeanors considering the fact that politicians have succeeded in using a divide-and-rule technique to break the ranks of these youths.
Also, the Nigerian environment has manifested into an each-man-for-himself society, a scenario that has forced these abadoned youths to employ every available means to survive and cling to dear lives.
Nigerian youths have important roles to play if this country is to attain greatness and achieve the status of a developed nation that we clamor for.
Massive investments should made towards educating and empowering the nigerian youths to prevent them from being idle and ultimately serving as the devil's workshop.
Also, youths should be properly oriented about their supposed roles in nation building right from their young age. This we instill righteousness into them and make them tools for the survival of our dear nation.
It is indeed certain that until all these observations are put into consideration, our Nation may as well be sitting on a keg of gun powder due to a blatant neglect of one of the key component in the development of her future.

POPOOLA OLAIDE NATURE.



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