Plight, neglect and illusion of the Nigerian youth

I would advise you to drop whatever you are doing and spare me a moment of your time; I promise it won’t necessarily be a long read but it would be worthwhile.

In every action I always draw out the pattern.

Draw out the pattern? “How?”, you must be asking. Well, it’s been proven that nothing in life is new, or better put, nothing in itself is original. We are inspired and molded by nature, society and our environment.

In the movie The Dark Knight Arises, Barnes made a statement to Batman, “You merely adopted the dark, I was born in it, molded by it; I didn’t see the light till I was a man and when I did it was nothing but blinding.”

That there is a pattern of Barnes knowing the darkness as normal while the light was odd to him. Permit me another example: if you are a millennial, you most likely grew up calling every noodle ‘Indomie’ or toothpaste, ‘Maclean’ or ‘Close Up’ and that’s because those were what was mostly available and what we were used too, now that my friend is a pattern. If you had grown up with Mimi noodles, would you have thought Indomie has the best noodles?
Do you get it now?

Let’s draw the pattern of the plight, neglect and illusion of the Nigerian youth.

Plight: A dangerous, difficult or otherwise unfortunate situation.

May I ask these simple questions before we delve into our plight as youths.

Is your environment dangerous?

Compared to the global standard, do you think your situation easier or more difficult?

The plight we face as everyday youths in Nigeria is one of looking for ways to beat the system designed to keep us forever dependent on it, feudalism some call it and to a large percentage they are right in every way. The youth adapted and became logistics experts, delivering goods and services around the nation. Then came the policy in Lagos state and off course, then came NIPOST.

We became tech savvy learning most of what we know with our smart phones due to the obvious low-income situation the average Nigerian youth faces, that makes a laptop a luxury item. Sometimes I wonder the faith of Tecno, Itel etc. – if the economy improves and income goes up, would they still have a market share here in Nigeria? – as their market penetration method is designed on offering ‘more for less’. Well, this is a whole discourse for another day.

So, back to the point. We became tech savvy looking for what to invent, looking for how to make good of ourselves then came SARS or FSARS or SWAT – I lost track of the many name change – and not to forget quickly the judgmental society that does not understand the concept of earning without a 9-5 or as the case may be averagely in Nigeria, 8-5.

Then a spark came, the crypto spark, and it got the youths excited because who wouldn’t be? A way to beat the system and connect to the global world, this crypto spark brought about a long chain of income avenues and knowledge of the stock trade for the entrepreneurs, the trader, the middle man, and literally everyone participating in the everyday biggest ‘global’ financial market. While we thought ‘victory at last!’ – a new found way to beat the hurdles set by our system – the system and its designers where scheming to undermine our new found victory and yes, to a good point, they found a way to attack. They did attack, thanks to a willing out of touch “technocrat” who has focused the nation’s resources on manual labour farming and urging the youths in a typical “farming or the highway”. Well, we pick the highway still. For direction sake, the highly intelligent technocrat is popularly called “Meffy” on social platforms and yes the systems are designed not out of error but for a purpose.

Can we talk of the Nigerian situation without talking of politics? Without talking about the myth ‘the youth do not participate’? Surprised by the use of the word ‘myth’? You should not be because that’s what it is, a myth. Youths have always been the forerunners of politics in Nigeria post-colonial era – the age of the military head of states can confirm this. His excellency president Muhammad Buhari himself was in his 30s when he took over power from the democratically elected Shehu Yar’dua but isn’t it ironic that this same youths of then have been the ones holding on to the control of this nation? How more ironic it is that the NADECO boys who fought for freedom of the strangle hold of the Nigerian military regime are today the ones literally in power? And still, there is no clear sight of a transition process of leadership to the youth.

Wondering why? Because like I stated earlier, by design and not error, the system has been crafted to keep us engaged in worshiping messiahs that share crumbs of bread every timely four-year span: it is designed to keep us looking for the daily bread than aspiring to become leaders. The ‘Not Too Young’ bill push was a milestone we need to keep pushing for. A political system designed on monetization with a population where majority live below the global standard of a good living. A system that makes it difficult for Adamu based in Ebonyi to freely vote in Ebonyi or Chima based in Sokoto to freely vote in Sokoto. A system that neglects the efforts of its youths in the political setting. One that demands servitude and loyalty with no question asked. This is the myth of ‘the youth do not participate in politics’ and it brings me to my second point, Neglect.

Neglect is simply defined as failure to care for properly, be it for an item or person. In this case, it’s the Nigerian youth. It’s an all too familiar terrain for the youth and not just for the Millennial and Gen-Z but also for generation Y. It’s been more of a colonial indoctrination that has lasted post colonialism with the military era not helping. Everyone literally was been honed unconsciously to look out for themselves neglecting everyone but their ‘stomach infrastructure.’ This practice is enshrined in our political sphere where we have youths actively participate in politics from being foot soldiers and shaping the narrative of campaigns to winning over opposition members via p2p conversations. At the end, what is left for them are mere words of “be patient your time will come” or worse, sudden loss of access to the so-called leaders they toiled and campaigned for, thereby creating mentorship vacuum. This form of political neglect hurts mentally and sets a huge precedent towards other youths looking to ply same political route. It’s already too much a burden to be neglected by a system designed to make you struggle and this is where the illusion sets in.

Illusion is simply defined as an instance of a wrong or misinterpreted perception of a sensory situation.

The illusion of ‘youths don’t participate in politics’ – forgetting those who are shouting it are well into their 60s-80s but started off at their 20s-30s and participated full time in designing the system that keeps the ones after them under locks.

The illusion of ‘politics is for the strong’. Why won’t it be thought so, when the works of the youths are trampled upon and stolen without due credit – as a result of unquestionable loyalty – which is a form of deceit or better still slavery.

The illusion of ‘politics is different’. This is the biggest illusion sold to the mind of the youths. Politics determines the very existence of the country, economically and otherwise so yes, it is not different from your job or business; it is enshrined in every aspect of our life, it is what breaks or makes the nation.

I write this closing paragraph with hope of being able to let you see the plight you face every day and to pat you on the back to let you know you are doing well. I write for you to understand the burden of neglect the society has heaved on you and to let you know that the illusion of you not being able to lead or participate is all but a façade to keep the system running. I urge you on the path of politics; do not deter, keep the work, keep the faith going and just like the great Kwame Nkrumah would say, “Seek ye first the political kingdom.”