It is no longer unusual to hear older people call the youths of today wasted generation. While it may also be unfair for the elderly ones to refer to the youths with such derogatory nomenclature since the rot everyone is suffering from was largely caused by their own failure in developing the country during the post independence era, especially during the 1970's and 80's when there was enough resources to do so.

While the Asian tigers were able to transform their economies into success stories ours only sank deeper into confusion, poverty and hopelessness. However, if our fathers left no legacy of worth then it's left to be imagined what we are going to bequeath to the next generation.

It is no longer news that Nigeria's economy is hemorrhaging and gasping for breath due to the debilitating recession, and the hardest hit seems to be the youths. As if the situation was not bad enough, the coming of betting companies like bet9ja, lotto, baba ijebu, nairabet etc now seems to be the death knell. All over the world, productivity is measured in man hours & everyone has 24 hours but while the Chinese, Indians, Americans, Europeans etc are utilizing theirs judiciously, millions of Nigerians are daily wasting theirs at the thousands of betting houses & lotto stands, spending the little they have left while hoping to win elusive millions! A visit to any bet9ja shop during office hours & the crowd of able bodied men sitting idly or betting on virtual games can make one to shed tears for an society that has completely lost it. MMM Ponzi scheme was bad but bet9ja is worse because the poor masses are gathering their widows might & giving it to the rich owners of the betting companies, which further worsens the gap between the rich and the poor.

Bet9ja adds little or no value to the Nigerian economy rather it is encouraging capital flight as Nigeria continues to pay millions of dollars for TV rights of European leagues. Something needs to be done about the menace of betting companies on our society or our economy will be worse for it going forward.