What happens when Sowore becomes president and is faced with the task of leading 180 million people, appointing thousands of board members as well as varied committees? How will he be able to balance that with drafting a foreign policy for Nigeria? How will be able to manage that with other sundry demands that require his attention? Lai Mohammed is another example of the ‘Apples and Oranges comparison’. He was scaled from being a party’s attack dog to a minister of communication. He has since inception failed to note the difference. Perhaps he might want to confer with Chikelu and watch videos of Akunyili to glean a little from them about the culture and attitude the office demands.

Again, Trump cannot necessarily intimidate state governors because the police system is organised at the state and local level. Yes, in emergencies the national guard can be federalised but then for valid purposes. Federal interferences like we have in Nigeria are virtually minimal. States in the US do not queue up monthly to receive federal allocations before they can survive. There are federal grants (for education and other federal initiatives) but states determine their viability viz their ability to attract businesses and create a sustainable markets that can be taxed. Resource control is localised.

It is thus wrong to draw directly from these countries in pushing for regime change in Nigeria without giving thought to the after effect. Despite Trump’s multi-billion empire, his governance style has lacked finesse. Having been used to giving all the instructions, he is finding it hard to be skilful in striking deals.

France and Canada combined are not up to 85% of Nigeria’s estimated population. Government structure in both countries are different from Nigeria. These are countries with a well-established governance structure that can accommodate even an air hostess as prime minister. The absence of a figure head does not necessarily create vacuum. Take Trump’s decision to remove America from the Paris Agreement (a matter for another day), that decision has not stopped states from forging ahead with their own plans. Governors in their respective states as well as mayors have continued to press ahead with policies that are encouraging the diffusion of renewable energy technologies such as roof-top solar panels at the residential level as well as large scale solar and wind farms. California comes to mind where renewables now make up over a quarter of its total electricity supply source. Similar initiatives are happening across the US.

Being an aluta member or an activist is not governance. Such a person will display worse ignorance on governance than Buhari. Presidency is not public speaking neither are haphazard career appointments sufficient grounds for eligibility as a presidential candidate. Unfortunately, the ‘typical’ Nigerian youth cannot decipher this. A ‘typical’ Nigerian youth views any ‘janded’ person as enlightened. You see their eyes lit up when they get to hear of America and Switzerland. The ‘typical’ Nigerian youth is so bemused with stories surrounding governance structures in the UK and gets orgasmic when aware that young people are leaders of France and Canada.

Let’s not get it twisted – The Nigerian president is one of the most powerful folks in the world (more powerful that the United States president) simply because almost every appointment at the national level is done by him. Similarly, governance at the national level differs considerably from state and local government experiences. It is simply ‘Apples and Oranges comparison’ to think that some experience as a state/local player will be significantly relevant at the federal level. Fashola is a typical example epitomising the failure in attempting to scale state experiences to national level.

It thus becomes imperative that players at the national level be folks already familiar with the running and culture associated with national politics. This might explain why there has been the continued recycling of players at the national level. Their experiences (and contacts made) at that level is essentially needed especially in advisory roles. The 2015 and 2016 budgets presented by the Buhari administration is a testament to the fact that Kemi Adeosun (despite being a former commissioner of finance) and the budget minister were incapable of scaling up their experiences to meet the rigours required for preparing a national budget. Little wonder they practically reproduced the so-called PDP budget for subsequent years with slight modifications.

I have always said and will continue to say it – Nigerian youths are confused. This confusion does not stem from information overload or even a lack of information but from our short-term memories. As polemic as my assertion may sound, please bear with me as I set forth my arguments.

We have all agreed that voting in Buhari ab intitio was a wrong choice. However, we are about exacerbating the already compounded issues of governance. I have been in stitches, laughing hysterically and just having moments of sober reflections (ironically) as I ponder the narratives on leadership especially for 2019 in Nigeria.

It is really laughable and unfortunately pitiable to see Nigerian youths jumping around with Sowore, Kingsley Moghalu and Fela Durotoye who are all primed as exemplars of potential presidential candidates. I still get to see some on LinkedIn and read about some more whenever I access my own version of social media.

I agree with your assertion. However, you must appreciate the predicament Nigerians find themselves.

1. The delay in salaries and it's non payments in most states has plunged many into untold hardships which means no will or desire to fight. People just want to survive daily - eat and drink water and feed their families.
2. This deliberate punishment of Nigerians by elected officials (which is no different from Animal Farm) means that Nigerians become willing tools in the hands of any money bag.

So it isn't about protests or revolution. The hunger in the land is real. Very real. So real that folks could not come out to validate signatures for Dino's recall. No be say them like am o, na just say stomach wasn't properly mobilised.

Hungry and brain washed people with a deep seated love for religion and people worship do not embark on revolution. They are the end products of a carefully orchestrated and national scale brain washing programme. They have in essence been lobotomised.

Daboomb:


While it is okay and true to mention that Dangote is enjoying undeu advantage from Govt circles, we citizens of Nigeria need to also blame ourselves for our docility!

In Uganda or was it Kenya, as of last week, Dangote hiked the price of his 'monopoly' products unnecessarily.....nd the citizens descended on his factory, burnt it and then killed the country Manager!

Now, l am sure he would think twice before hiking prices anyhow, in that country, next time.
But in Nigeria, Dangotte just increase the price of his Cement, Salt, Sugar, Flour, anyhow, even when all the indices of production are decreasing....as in "Wetin una fit do"?

So, we share some of the blame.

You hit the nail on the head as they say.
Dangote can't thrive without government input and that has shown in the recent deal with indomie. He isn't a shrewd businessman as is popularly hyped. His refinery is almost a national project.

delpee:


Dangote has undue advantage. Waivers et al. That's a major reason why his business thrives.

3000 MW/h I believe was computed using static thermal line rating. That value could oscillate between 2500 and 4500 MWh/h using dynamic thermal line rating. If Fashola were an expert he would know this and see how transmission capacity could be improved using real time weather conditions.

Agreed transmission network is in a sordid state but with technology available and the will it might not have to get to 2028 to have significant improvements.

You cannot blame anyone for what you turn out to be tomorrow. You must take charge of your future. Your lecturers can’t be blamed neither can the government. The chaos in the country is a blessing in disguise. The competition is getting stiff. Young folks are overachieving very early. Most companies involved in policy advice/consulting will not hire you without a policy paper. Prestigious scholarships now have publications as part of their scoring. Read, dear Nigerian youth please read. Read wide, read deep. Read things outside your primary discipline. I have found myself navigating from engineering to computer science to political science and policy/governance. In these movements/responsibilities, I bring to bear my varied disciplines which distinguish my output. It’s always fun discussing justice and egalitarianism in the same paper where I have just performed load flow analysis and some socio-techno-economic analysis.

What you read is becoming irrelevant. My recent research collaborators do not have engineering background. Their grounding is in the core social sciences but they have outputs in the top energy journals. When I changed discipline for my doctorate, I was ridiculed. Nobody will employ you in electrical neither will CS employ you. Why are you jumping to a lesser degree? Are you confused? We won’t need you if you don’t remain in electrical. You will struggle getting a job. I have just turned in my completed dissertation and I sit back and laugh now. My publications are doing the talking for me now! Hey, we have a postdoc position that we think you will find interesting (and I’m like, ah, thanks, I will get back to you!). if I listened to detractors, I will never have found fulfilment in my new research area. I am having a blast and enjoying what I’m doing. It has been tough, but hey, it’s paying off.

Ignore detractors and push on. The road will not be easy. I reminisce on my undergraduate days back in UI. Ah, the sleepless nights at anatomy reading room. It was hell reading journal papers as an undergraduate that didn’t make any sense back then. Today, they make a lot of sense. Humanity is moving on whether Nigeria moves or not. Life is too short to spend accusing people for wrong decisions!

The Nigerian youth who wants to thrive in this crazy era must wise up. You must begin to take advantage of the internet to inform your career moves. What are you interested in – fintech? Sustainability? Healthcare? Agriculture? Then begin assessing reports online (Bloomberg, The Economist, Forbes etc.) on how your area of interest is being disrupted. Use such information to figure out how you can sync your studies with your interests. Seek out leading experts in your fields and read up on their publications. Utilise Library Genesis and scihub and ResearchGate and academia.edu and other sites to access free articles and books online. Start developing useful skills in your area of interest. Begin to create visibility for yourself. Write papers and throw out to international conferences. Write the organisers seeking for funding. Volunteer services to help during the conferences. Network through twitter and other academic sites with your peers and seek out collaborations. Don’t be a local champion. Opportunities abound out there for serious students, but then you must deserve them.

In these happenings, it seems the Nigerian youth is unaware of how much the world outside has changed and is changing. Universities are yet to have their curricula upgraded years after thus leaving their graduates worse than obsolete. As I interact with the leading experts in the transition phase I am shocked to see that it’s still all just a bunch of white folks. Research outputs from Nigeria are now outdated. Techno-economic analyses are now redundant if they cannot successfully inform policy formulation. Environmental analysis must go beyond hybrid systems design to real analysis that show how such systems can for instance guarantee sufficient electricity that is available and guarantees mobility for households while minimizing carbon emissions.

Since it would have been foolish to confront the enormous challenge facing mankind with conventional wisdom, the need arose for the creation of new knowledge to help inform the world on how best it could tackle this problem of climate change. Renewables were identified as key and then the rush began. However, considering the growth of knowledge, the fun began. Governments outlined national plans that set forth ambitious targets for renewables, scientists worked hard (and are working) on creating more efficient solar panels and bigger wind turbines while traditional engineers worked out the technical aspect of integrating renewables with the grid. In other not to be left out. The non-technical disciplines evolved theorems. Political scientists evolved the energy justice framework to study how electrification projects were creating injustice (distributional, procedural, recognition) and further evolved frameworks like STS and MLP to theorize on the evolution of theorems. Today we have a lot of professionals from sociologists to psychologists to energy justice experts along with other traditional experts like political scientists, geographers, engineers and scientists having fun with energy transition.

Historically, disciplines have evolved independent of each other. It was strange 20 years ago to hear of courses such as bioengineering or bioinformatics etc. In addition, sectors to work in after graduation were straightforward. A graduate of geography was needed in regional planning/boundary commission/mapping while political scientists were more poised to go into academia or politics. There were no courses like artificial intelligence or transition scientist or climate change scientist etc. Life was normal and things were simple. Gradually, things changed. The existing landscape was challenged with the advent and increasing use of computers and IT. Barriers across disciplines were broken. Some disciplines evolved, others went moribund. And then came the news – humanity was in danger of extinction. Our growth and development had come at an awful cost to the environment and unless drastic changes were made, mankind was looking at the end.

Basically, a low-carbon energy transition is a journey from dominant fossil fuel based electricity generation sources like coal and oil to less polluting sources like natural gas, biomass (wood) and ultimately wind, solar, hydro. Geothermal etc. The problem however, is that low-carbon energy transitions have not been successful as hyped. Take Germany for instance, its Energiewende program has resulted in renewable energy levies increasing by over 3000% while household electricity bills have increased by over 100% between 2000 and 2014. In addition, Germany is set to miss its 2020 emissions target due to increased burning of lignite (coal) and reduced utilisation of natural gas. Similarly, increasing renewable energy penetration in California has seen electricity bills increasing by more than 50%. Australia is back to increased carbon emissions for three consecutive years because of its lack of a national plan while South Africa’s REIPPPP is already deemed to be dead on arrival because of declining electricity consumption, high poverty levels (estimated by STATSSA to be about 55%) and over-capacity. These examples amongst the many existing have been provided as background to our next discussion.

Amid this chaos, one sector that has evolved drastically is the education sector. Disciplines are evolving to ensure that their graduates remain relevant in this chaos. From finance to energy to healthcare etc., graduates are being equipped with diverse skills and exposed to a lot of multidisciplinary courses to prepare them for LIFE.

I will however focus on the energy sector in this write-up and briefly discuss how everyone from humanities to arts to engineering, the social sciences and sciences are creating relevance for themselves in the transition towards a low-carbon environment.

It is no longer news that SUSTAINABILITY is becoming the norm. Economies, businesses, nations are in one way or the other evolving sustainable approaches to meet with key targets set out in the SDGs for 2030.

For instance, businesses are adopting cost-saving measures that will see them limiting energy usage, travels, stationaries and over-head costs. Some measures being adopted by businesses for instance include hybridization, wherein existing businesses (regimes) incorporate niche innovators (disruptors) to remain relevant. Think about Centrica’s announcement of adopting blockchain as a potential solution to unlocking the benefits of demand side management. Others are totally overhauling themselves (not rebranding) to meet with the expectations of modern day while those resistant to change are being bought over by niche innovators. In summary, it’s getting crazy out there. Governments are not left out. Despite Trumps decision to pull America out of the Paris Accord, nations across the globe are making efforts to green their countries and somehow keep emissions at pre-determined levels.

Eish. Your response is uncalled for. I am in the final weeks of completing my thesis and I can say that it was all desktop research. Mind you my work which is by publication produced 8 Q1 journal papers. Now back in Nigeria folks I know are having same output back to back despite the lack of electricity and poor Internet facilities we always hype about.

The only difference BTW me and them is ease of mobility. While I won't stress to get visa they have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt why they should be given visas. We still apply for external funding and consultancy gigs and get same irrespective of location. So it is totally wrong of you to insinuate hypocrisy. I came here because of duration and my penchant for travel.
I've had all my degrees from different countries and there has been no fantastic addition except exposure to other ways of life and ease of mobility. Our more established scholars at AP and Prof status back in Nigeria are on cruise control.

My post was balanced and if you read it completely you would see that I tried to cover both extremes.

Gerrard59:



There's nothing wrong with sourcing scholarship to study in an African country and yes, SA got good schools. Top 1000 globally.





Hypocritical as it gets!

Nothing significant yet you mentioned a functioning environment? What else is significant than that?

If Nigerian schools are comparable to SA universities, how many (Nigerian) dominate rankings' lists in Africa? You should learn to write factually!

Sincerely, aside courses that require lab there is no much difference between any Nigerian university and her South African counterpart. The other significant difference is introduced when you factor in stable electricity, Internet and then if you are fortunate tutorials and maybe funding.

It will be unwise for a Nigerian to leave his or her comfort zone and come here to study say political science or do a desktop based research. With sci-hub and electricity one can comfortably conduct research that will meet the standards of Q1 journals. This is on the basis that there is no funding and one want to self fund. However, if one secures funding it's not a bad idea to come and do research and ball at the same time. One can also use sa as a launch pad to Europe or other elite destinations without much hassles.

Nigeria has the potential to match these guys anytime especially when you see what some select research hubs in covenant and ui and unn are doing. Rather than helping these south african universities gain visibility, Nigerians can bring our universities to limelight. Unfortunately the old eggs in the system won't allow for such as it would expose their laziness and inability to conduct research.

Scholarships out of Nigeria are not bad especially if they are full. The exposure will help reset many destinies.

Lol. Those guys are just there for fun.

Nah. Binoculars for farsighting them.

three:


Thanks, alluding to was used because one is yet to see the document the Minister is citing.

But eez like you know dis people

I am quite familiar with the NERC regulation with regards to embedded generation below 2MW. I was already scared that Fashola was encouraging 'everyone' to go become an independent distributed generator operator. His lack of knowledge in the field shows from time to time.
Cheers.

three:


It appears the Minister is alluding to some amendment of the Power Reform Initiative.

The guidelines below are fairly comprehensive.


http://www.nercng.org/nercdocs/NERC-Regulation-for-IEDN-2012.pdf

Nice analysis by the way.

My major concern is lack of regulation. Commonsense will demand that before making such statements there is proper legislation that guides how such setup will work. Things like safety nets and technical constraints which are the more important considering how bad our safety record is. Furthermore how are clients going to connect? It can't obviously be the distribution grid owned by the discos since that will lead to immediate shut down if everyone is pushing electricity into it without some limits. Hope he is not imagining the road side kerosene seller kind of scenario for electricity. This is some dangerous issue that requires seriousness. For a compound that maybe okay but with generation getting to 500kW and beyond then there needs to be some control. Haba, even tie grid inverters are properly regulated in countries with feed in tariffs.

This is the problem of having triangular pegs in circular holes. Fashola obviously is overwhelmed by the power issue and is now firing blanks.

three:
Nothing prevented this before now.

The Power act states that anything above 10MV must be pushed into the grid.

Which is why Lagos was able to do the Marina IPP that supplies public facilities (general hospital, state House, street lights etc).

This >10MV arrangement meant that as many people in say Gbagada and environs could be placed on one IPP.

Imagine several across Nigeria!

The ONLY challenge is that the distribution infrastructure belonged/belongs to the government (then) DISCO (now), so this arrangement is best for semi private estates like VGC that can deploy their own distribution infrastructure at scale.

Mires:


You have rightly said it.

The problems we encountered in Nigerian universities are mostly driven by lazy students who think that lecturers can be gratified.

I have seen where students complain that a particular lecturer is very strict and fails students. I told them it is not possible that any lecturer in question will fail a student that passed his/her course. Though, there are some few randy male lecturers who are after sex.

For some students who graduated from RSUST, you will know or hear of Mr Mac 'Odo. I wouldn't know whether he has now bagged PhD. If he has, then my due respect to Dr Mac' Odo. Students kept saying that he doesn't collect "sorting", yet he doesn't give students their desired grade. Having told them it is not possible that he won't passed a student who actually passed, I decided to do something stupid and to prove them wrong.

I have long pleaded for forgiveness from God. I had to get the study material for just three days to the exam from one student who claimed he has written the course for three years (first, he wrote it, the last two, a machinery did it).

I went in for the exam and I promised the said student B given that I didn't want to stay long in the exam hall. Hence, I decided to attempt only three questions as against four that was required despite that I knew the answers to all the questions. The guy told me he needed " E".

Few weeks after, the guy called me that he made "B". Same was the case with the person who sat next to me who has also written the course for two years.
It was then they agree that the man doesn't Fail students.

I advised students to stay off from impersonation. For me, if i catch any of my students, there's no amount of plead that will make the student not to faced SDC

LOL. It's quite unfortunate. And such students want to be leaders of tomorrow. We have not shown responsibility today in a simple (albeit tough) task as studying (for our own good) but we want to be senators and governors.

Ah I doff my hat for SDC. Those guys and UI's regular 'Tsunami' list are landmark achievements that still instill in students fear especially with regards to their conduct.

Hope you are having a 'swell' time at UI? It does seem to get 'somehow' at pg level from tales related to me by acquaintances.

Kind regards.

Mires:


By the special grace of God, I am a product of the first two universities in Nigeria. I opted for Ui for post graduate studies because I always like to test myself that my merit doesn't come from a a particular system.

On getting there, it was proven. And to the glory of God, I have never given any lecturer #1 throughout my sojourn. And I don't expect any student to give me.

Students have tried this and I refused. Some because of closeness, will sometimes transfer recharge card to my phone. In as much as I didn't request, it doesn't change who I am and my objectivity.

The problem is usually with the students most times. When a student does his part - studying and research, there is no reason to go ass-licking a lecturer or supervisor for favours. I agree that respect matters, but heck I was mildly respectful but still kept my Afro and asked critical questions.

My lecturers respected me for that and I earned my right grades.

On graduation I bought a bottle of wine and card for my supervisor simply because I appreciated his efforts beyond supervision. He was instrumental in helping me secure accommodation for conference trips and wrote recommendation letters for me. That was quite wow considering how lecturers in Nigeria can be a times.

The Nigerian student today is lazy and thus encourages the 'useless' attitude we are having from lecturers today. When a lecturer knows that his students are on top of their game, he will sit up to avoid embarrassment. Because students are looking for the easy way out, lecturers take advantage of that and exploit them.

Nice to make your acquaintance online.

I deeply commiserate with the OP. I don't know how I would have felt leaving the uni with anything less than what I left with. That has opened a lot of doors for me irrespective of my skills and given me unique platforms.

In Nigeria, grade matter. Some scholarships will only consider first class students. Those platforms have a way of shaping ones destiny. Skills are useless if they have no platform for visibility! That's the bitter truth!

Mires:


Stop this nonsense. Ui that I am part of awards a student what he deserves.

Is there any year that at least 100 students do not graduate with First Class from Ui?

Few days ago, I asked one of my students who recently graduated, what was his class of graduation? I was happy when he didn't say, they gave me 2.2. He said, "Sir, it is not good. I made 2.2".

And I encouraged him to ask God to blessed the certificate.

True talk. Finished from the school. I was shocked to get admitted and graduate without knowing anyone! As a non-Afonja, that amazed me. They are a merit based institution to a large extent. I still here of some non-compliance though, but hopefully things are taking excellent shape across the campus. I respect the University of Ibadan and I'm proud to their product.

swezenberg:
The answer is just 30 degree. The Polygon was only used to confuse many. Even if you use a polygon. It is a regular polygon with interior angle = 150 degree each. Since the triangle is Isosceles you have base angles s 75 degree each and and the last angle x =180-2(75) deg =30 deg. Besides the sum of the angle in a circle will remain to be 360. So 360/12 =30 deg

From an Engineer's perspective

Are you sure it's not 60 degrees? 150 degrees on each polygon away from angle at a point (360-300) leaves 60 degrees. Just saying.

Conclusion
I have taken time off this morning to express my feelings about the Nigerian youth. No matter how hard I come across, I am quite sympathetic to the plights and sufferings back home and I respond whenever I can. However, we can’t continue to play the blame game for ever. In a while, the boy will become a youth and then a man. How does he raise a family – on handouts? How does he ensure that his kids don’t get to suffer unjustly for no fault of theirs? How does he guarantee a safe future for his family? Let’s put our thinking caps on and begin to make conscious efforts to ameliorate our situation. In independently striving to secure our future with hard work and dedication, we collectively build a great Nigeria.

Happy reading.

Chimamanda’s gaffe:
“Sometimes, in trying to out America, America, one might end up being stupid”. I have never in my life so far deceived myself in buying into the culture of my host countries. Whenever, I change location, I do so with a full complement of garri, beans, yam, melon, bitter leaf, maggi, crayfish, roasted river fish etc. Whenever I am forced to make do with what is available around in case I run out of stock, plans are already in top gear for re-supply. Years after, my pidgin English is still solid. My communication in English is still Nigerian standard (although not corrupted with dialect). No “wanna” or “gonna”. I’m a Nigerian and wasn’t brought up with that lexicon. Our sister is setting forth a rather bad example. As a dedicated mother and wife that she is, she is putting forth a wrong persona that ignorant ladies back home might be quick to adopt without much ado. I believe the backlash from her recent gaffe will force her to go back home and lay quiet while being a wife and a mother. “Na international disgrace she give herself so, so make she just comot for limelight for some time, make ground level”.

Buhari’s gaffe:
“It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt”. For the umpteenth time, Buhari has not failed to clear all doubts as to the fact that he is indeed “empty”. However, the reaction of Nigerian youths that has trailed this statement is a testament to the reality that the old man may just have been right. Loading 10 cement bags on the back of a person is not hard work – it is foolishness, neither is street/highway hawking. In societies where things work, heavy loads are carried about using forklifts and other means. Also, hawking stuffs on the highways in working societies is almost an uncommon sight. Hardworking youths do not have the time and energy and neither do they make efforts in responding to someone like Buhari. A better response would be to send him back to Daura come 2019. Go get your PVC.

Securing his future:
To be sincere, there is trouble! Considering the ongoing trend with regards to the choices for elective offices in Nigeria (against 2019) despite the ongoing hardships, it leaves little to be imagined about the fate of the future of Nigerian youths. For Buhari to be so bold as to declare his ambition to context again is not only an insult but a slap on the Nigerian youth. The Nigerian youth gets slapped routinely without apologies – Femi Adesina, Lai Mohammed, Buhari, Atiku, Bola Tinubu, Emir Sanusi, El-Rufai etc. who utilise us in making foolish points. We are labelled lazy/indolent, noisemakers, idiots, jobless, unemployable etc. We are given N-Power jobs and expected to be eternally grateful! They remind us that it is a favour just to keep us in tow. We get sent as adults to villages and other uninhabitable places in the name of national integration and we are glad – after all they will pay us ‘allawee’. We get killed routinely by trigger happy security agents and no one is punished – after all our population is too much. Minimum wage is used as a political tool – of course, our elected officials feel we have not suffered enough. Politicians mobilise us for campaigns and rallies and we are very grateful – after all aren’t we jobless! It isn’t uncommon for a typical Nigerian youth to blame the government for the state he finds himself. You hear statements like, “after going to school and spending years and then graduating, yet the government cannot provide jobs for us” as if he is “employable”. Take that Nigerian youth and try having a 3 hours conversation with him on contemporary issues and you will be shocked! “After graduating with a first class, and yet no job”, as if first class equals intelligence! I do not mock first class graduates (being one myself), but attack the notion that one should be worshipped for being able to ‘la cram’ and ‘la pour’. It is thus not uncommon to find the Nigerian youth still dependent on “sitting allowance” from parents and guardian years after graduation. There is no doubt that the future of such folks may have been set in stone! The Nigerian youth must begin to take active steps to breakout of the cycle of birth-education-struggles-redundancy-failure-death. We are too loaded to be grounded (another of Oyedepo’s). We’ve got so much potential in us and energy and vitality to allow irresponsible and useless old men take us for a ride. As much as I appreciate Oyedepo, Adeboye, Kumuyi and their ministry, I will never be caught attending any religious program on a work day. It just doesn’t make sense. Nigerian youths must realise that these folks have secured the destiny of their ‘lazy’ children. You can’t really hear of the kids of most of them eking out a living outside of their parents’ sphere. It is not wrong, hence the more reason to be wise. The Nigerian youth must begin to raise critical questions – what am I here for? How prepared am I for the future? What are my goals and aspirations? Do I have what it takes to be a local/national/global player? What is lacking in my preparation? If you remember there is time for everything, it makes prioritising everything easy. Seek out the odd ones and non-conformists who are not ‘gay’ and cool and are paying hard prices now and follow them. Ignore those noise makers around you called ‘friends’. Tomorrow, you might end up bailing them for life. Get profitably busy. There is no time! Are you a student – study hard and deep and wide. Read up and acquire as much knowledge as is possible. The pay day is around the corner! The job market is transitioning fast. The concept of job security is lost. You must keep yourself updated to remain relevant. Information overload is becoming a major problem. Begin to learn how to sift through the avalanche of alternatives out there and determinedly build a niche. Continuous training is the only way to remain relevant and have a secured future. Leave BBNaija alone and other stuffs going on for those it is intended for. Fill your brain with CONTENT. Spend your time wisely and profitably. Invest time and efforts so you can buy back time tomorrow.

Asserting his presence:
‘When a child knows how to wash his hands well, he eats with the elders’. The Nigerian youth deserves no pity! We have been and are architects of our problems. In the course of my academic sojourn, I have been privileged to collaborate with folks outside Africa who are quite young and are leading thoughts in their fields. That relationship and collaboration has further enabled me access some of the best minds out there in related fields together with whom I am working on different projects. It didn’t start today but from my beginning days as an undergraduate. Long ago as a freshman, I had admonished myself on my do’s and don’ts. I was never going to give an excuse for my failures! When they came, I was at fault. I knew the power of knowledge. I knew how important it was to be a critical thinker. I cannot forget listening over and over again to the motivating words of Bishop Oyedepo! That man isn’t sent to the adults but the youths! I read and studied. I acquired information and began building a research career. I had heard of think tanks and technocrats and experts and though leaders. That was where I wanted to make my playing field. I seemed to have no life as an undergraduate. What was new in my field? What was the trending thought? Who were the historical and emerging thought leaders in my field? I needed to know? Where did they school? Their background? Their publication track record? What was special about them? I started attending conferences (locally) and presenting papers. Feedbacks came and I improved. Then a break and I began publishing (locally). I was in cloud nine. Over the years it has been the same story. Much efforts, pains, sleepless nights, a lot of reading and thinking before outstanding results. My results have opened and are opening doors for me. I am gradually asserting myself in a niche area. I am creating visibility with my works and collaborations! That’s how it works – hard work, networking and God’s mercy. It is shocking to know that while I was stunned at how much resources there were as an undergraduate student in Unibadan, folks there were who made it look like we were in hell. I am yet to see any major difference between Unibadan and leading schools worldwide in terms of opportunities especially for non-medical courses. Labs are now online (open source software). Understand the concept behind an idea and you can model almost any phenomenon. Most journals can now be accessed via ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Sci-hub (illegal in some countries), library genesis and open source journals. There is an avalanche of information out there for the Nigerian youth to stay abreast of modern development trends in their fields. Complaints about lack of materials is now untenable. You cannot stay relevant if you cannot assert yourself. The Nigerian youth has a lot of work to do. Rather than debating ‘nonsensical’ issues on social media, such hours can be spent updating one’s knowledge base. The student should be concerned with aligning their thoughts and research with modern societal issues and transitions – poverty, climate change, sustainability, justice. Materials freely abound on the internet! Conferences and workshops that even allow for subsidized registration fees for students abound. I attended all conferences as an undergraduate without spending a dime on accommodation – Abuja, Ilorin and Imo. The organisers planned for students and I exploited and enjoyed them. Conferences and workshops provide an avenue for students to begin to create visibility for themselves. Make any mistake at this level and you will be graciously pardoned! Networking also happens at such events. Never attend such events without planning to make some presentation. Nigerian youths must begin to assert themselves. Such assertion doesn’t come from Twitter/Facebook movements. They come from a knowledge-based movement.

Defining who he is:
It is not uncommon to see so much irony being perpetuated on the political scene with regards to a definition of who a Nigerian Youth is. While the United Nation defines a youth (without prejudice to the definition offered by member states) as someone between the ages 15-24, the Nigerian national youth policy defines a youth as persons between the ages 18-35. Here-in lies a fundamental problem. As it stands, a 30 years old Nigerian is an adult going by the UN definition but considered a youth in Nigeria. A further peek into the definitions proposed by the UN and Nigeria show that 24 years in Asia, Europe, North America, Australia, South Africa etc. is the average typical upper ceiling for either the completion of professional degrees (Medicine, Pharmacy, Law, Engineering etc.) or other degrees (commerce, arts, economics etc.) with a masters. Generally, such developed economies have a structured economy and safety nets that guarantee graduates some cushion (paid internships, job seeker allowance etc.) in the event that they are unable to immediately secure jobs after graduation. The implication of this is that early in their lives, youths in the developed economy begin to master the art of responsibility. For those who had to take loan to go to school, repaying the loan becomes their priority. There are no hand-outs from dad and mom neither do you see them loitering the streets or neighbourhood begging and trying to eke out a living. These are the folks who get employed at graduate entry levels in companies and dedicate their time and efforts in securing their future. They are the folks who must be appealed to intellectually during elections. They do not get paid to support failures at rallies rather they mobilise themselves into pressure groups and assert their collective agreements on candidates. You do not see them attend spiritual meetings on weekdays (because there is time for everything), neither are they at the commissioning of a church auditorium on a Tuesday morning. No! They are hard at work solving issues confronting the society. On the other hand, Nigeria presents an unfortunate scenario. A graduate at 30 years of age is compelled to go for NYSC. I have wept and cried sore multiple times from seeing folks reduce their age just to go for NYSC. They do it because it offers some form of employment at least for 1 year. In Nigeria, the education sector has lost its sanctity that it gets routinely defiled by strikes and budget cuts without the government paying any attention. Youths get into universities and immediately lose focus (case in point is Unibadan’s routine ‘Tsunami’ list). Since there is no responsibility placed on them, there is no sense of ‘urgency’ on the parts of most Nigerian youths. Why am I here? What is expected of me? How can I solve this problem in society? What resources are available for learning? Never, these questions are rarely asked. These youths make their abode in the temple of Facebook and worship at doorsteps of Twitter. They are the ones who trend #LazyNigerianYouth or #NigeriaJollofrice. They are sports pundits analysing the errors of Arsene Wenger or Mourinho but have never been to Emirates Stadium, Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford. They use the latest phones but have no idea where or how it was produced. They regularly update their profiles on WhatsApp and other social media outlets and yet cannot spend 4 hours reading up on the recent trends in their fields. They are the #slayqueens and #slaykings. They have no idea who they are. They are the folks who collect mobilisation from politicians to attend rallies, they are the ladies who are arranged to whet the appetite of ‘useless’ old men and ‘unfortunate’ young folks. You know them as do I. In failing to define who they are as youths; the Nigerian youth has ended up with no identity. Little wonder our minister for youths and sport is 53 years.