Does Nigeria still have elders?

BY RIDWAN JAMIU

We live life in stages. The youth is perhaps the most challenging and interesting. The future is designed at a youthful age. Failure at youth may herald failed future. The success of one person may lead to the success of a family, community or nation; the reverse is also true. Examples abound of families, communities and nations whose prosperity and adversity was promulgated by some few individuals. Every person deserves good education and orientation as everyone has the potential to become good or bad. Bandits, kidnappers, robbers, fraudsters, corrupt leaders, domestic abusers and cybercriminals are all victims of bad education and orientation. Their evil is a social nuisance that spares no one its consequences. The duty to effect change is both collective and individual.

Nigerian youth are among the best youth in the world. They are easily known in any part of the world they live in. They are industrious, wise and tolerable. They are however currently desperate, tense and vulnerable. Any slight provocation can unleash their wild behaviour as a youth. The recent #EndSARS is proof. The palpable orientation and education of most youth today is poor and dangerous for a nation. Fanning the evil ember is their digital literacy which is being abused as a result of indiscipline. With discipline, Nigerian youth are the best

However, youth cannot go astray where there are responsible elders and leaders, and where there is good relationship between them. Elders of today were more mature, disciplined and respectful when they were youth than the youth of today. The Modern school system and nature of modern jobs make elders and youth seldomly relate. A situation that does not speak well for anyone. Today, many parents have disobedient children who would prefer to live apart from their parents. The youth thus become undisciplined, frivolous and unserious. Financial investment in children may make them succeed materially, but it is moral and material success that delights the hearts of good parents. Let us give our children time to sit with them, talk with them and listen to them.

May your children be like you! Any parent who cannot say ‘Amin’ to this prayer on a moral ground is one of the problems of this society. If we as parents can be role models to our children perhaps, they can be better guided. If we eschewed bad habits like lying, laziness, backbiting, dishonesty, rudeness, aggressiveness and infidelity, the youth could become better.

National and state stakeholders on education have got much to do. The nation is sitting on gun powder. The lazy hand is the handiwork of Satan. The current state of education is very inadequate to meet the need of moral and economic progress of our dear nation. Academic curricula must be improved to include useful practical skills and mentorship. Teachers must be retrained. Examination malpractices must be expunged completely. A heavy penalty must be meted out on anyone found guilty. Education officers convicted should be sacked immediately. We need to nurture youth on the culture of honesty, love, meritocracy and excellence. Corrupt leaders would not find joy in their wealth and families.

Students in tertiary institutions are not beyond discipline. Institutions only focus on their academic performance and fees. The students feel like they have the freedom to do and undo. Absolute freedom, like power, corrupts absolutely. Hardly can one live peacefully having university students as neighbours. Their excesses need to be curbed. Their outlook and appearances sometimes suggest inclinations; drug abuse and mad hairstyles should be condemned.

Sexual promiscuity is another insidious habit of the youth. A promiscuous person is hardly successful in the family or leadership. Licentiousness has ruined the land economically, socially and morally. Infidelity has ruined homes, spread diseases and wasted resources. But who is promoting it? Why do leaders, teachers and parents shy away from calling the spade the spade? Are they culprits? Adulterers would want women move around so that they can watch their contours and charms, use and dump them. The more indecent and promiscuous women become the more social problems the society subscribes for. That is a reality of all times and climes.

Teachers and religious leaders should emphasise decent appearance. They should turn back, if polite advice yields not, any student or worshipper who has wayward hairstyle or dress indecently. National Orientation Agency, religious bodies and concerned parents need to speak against some shows and movies being broadcast on our TV stations including the National Television Authority [NTA]. Some indecent musicians are being promoted while some social misfits are being projected as stars and celebrities. Let us identify good people and good works to promote so as to entrench virtues and discipline. The Qur’an says, “Guard against evil; it (the consequence of evil) affects not the evil-doers alone.” Q8:25

A Yoruba adage loosely translates as; ‘A newborn head would not be disfigured when there is an elder around’ meaning that children and youth cannot become depraved where there are elders. Elders are wiser and progressive. Another one says, ‘one never hears ‘Beat him/her in the mouth of an elder’- meaning that elders and the elites resolve disputes. They solve problems; they do not promote evils. There is much to be desired from our elders and leaders. Elders and elites who are bigots, selfish, who spew divisive slogans, who lead a life of debauchery, who are oppressive and corrupt are not worth the salt. Elders should stand up and speak out in order to right the wrongs in the society and guide the youth. Good Nigerian elders and leaders from all communities, tribes and inclinations are a great treasure for Nigeria and our pride.  They are the paragons and the salt of the earth. God bless Nigeria.

Jamiu is the chief imam of Lekki Central Mosque and can be reached at [email protected]