Conflict between generations, as old as history, finds contemporary expression at several debating fora in the Nigerian firmament. The old berate the young, not just as a derelict generation, but one that is almost beyond redemption. The young, reply with equal verve blaming the oldies for running the country rapidly down the alley, sending their future into a garbage heap.
Last week, the session devoted to intergenerational discourse, at the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy Conference witnessed fireworks, as the conflict of generations seized the stage. At one point, the Chairperson of the session, Dr. Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, Head of Political Science Department at Babcock University quoted approvingly a writer who said,
“The older people have not just eaten up the future of the youths, they have also eaten up the seeds of that future to ensure that the future does not come.” An elderly Professor got up to blame the youths for their own tough luck, admonishing them to shun the dubious paths of “Yahoo Yahoo”, cultism, and anti-social vices. The blame game goes on endlessly. Late last year, the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo ran into a storm when in an attempt to justify the exclusion of youths from President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet, he wrote on his Twitter handle,
“That we could not find some distinguished Nigerian youths to form a cabinet is a challenge to Nigerian youths to brace themselves.” Needless to say that many young Nigerians spoke up to deride the comment, and to provide Osinbajo names of distinguished Nigerian youths who could have served as ministers.
Regrettably, amidst the flurry of harsh words, we are beginning to lose sight of the emerging counter-narrative that many young Nigerians are rising above the odds and landing in the Hall of Fame. Typical of the opinion of disgusted older people on the lack of direction of the younger generation is an article by a writer, Shaka Momodu, who laments that “The nation’s youths dislike the rigour of debate, lack discerning minds, and are more interested in idle gossip and rumour-mongering.” To be sure, Nigerians are a self-deprecating lot.
Listen to conversations about the country, and you will often come across the expression: It is only in Nigeria that such and such happen. A quick fact check or casual acquaintance with several other countries will show that almost everything Nigerians complain about are replicated in greater or lesser degree in many countries across the globe. As this columnist has consistently argued, Nigerian exceptionalism cannot be sustained, even if we take into account Professor Pius Adesanmi’s banter that God was angry on the day he created Nigerians.
From this point of view, and without intending to gloss over the tragic follies of successive Nigerian leaders, the summary sentencing of Nigerian youths to perpetual irrelevance has often been overstated and overdramatised; much in the same way as Nigerians discuss their country with a heavy dose of dismissiveness.
Browsing the internet the other day, I stumbled upon a doctoral dissertation written by a young Nigerian, who acknowledged in a prefatory note, my mentorship and contribution to his career. That acknowledgment provoked in me ruminations concerning the author, Dr. Dele Bolaji, who against all odds is today the holder of two doctorates, one from the University of Lagos, the other from Edith Cowan University in Australia. It is a narrative of heroism, great self-denial, relentless networking and rugged determination. I recall, how soon after his school certificate, Bolaji took up a low paying job at The Daily Times which was itself in the throes of economic crisis. Determined not to let his circumstances dominate him, the young scholar eventually gained admission to Lagos State University for a Bachelor’s degree. That was the push he needed to make a good degree from where he went on to the University of Lagos to take a Master’s degree and a Doctorate. Shortly before completing his Ph.D. at the University of Lagos, he won an international fellowship tenable in an Australian university, thus paving the way for a second doctorate which he completed in October 2014.
There are of course, many peers of Bolaji who have made little progress from the years when he worked at The Daily Times. Those ones would blame their lack of progress on the Nigerian factor, the decay in education, the lack of opportunities, the corruption of the politicians, and even the inclement weather. They are unlikely to stop to ask how some young Nigerians turned their difficulties into opportunities for acclaim. Indeed, the list of young Nigerians who are succeeding in their chosen careers and callings is a long one.
Illustratively, we can mention in passing, Taiwo Akerele, Gbenga Sesan, Toyosi Akerele, Chima Anyaso, Olamide, Linda Ikeji, Maupe Ogun, Tolu Ogunlesi, among others. It is interesting that because many awards of excellence by the older generation have virtually disenfranchised the youths, the young people themselves have created several awards which showcase their achievements. For as long as we continue to focus on youth anomie, our imagination will be conditioned by stereotypes to the effect that the youths are a hopeless generation. Shifting the gaze to the increasing ranks of successful young Nigerians several of who are making waves internationally opens up opportunities for mentoring and counselling by the older generation.
In saying this, no one should downplay the economic and social frying pan which Nigeria is: The well-known hiccups in electricity generation accompanied by ever soaring tariffs, ruptured educational calendar, with students sometimes spending more days outside the classroom than within it, rusty social infrastructure, and economic policies whose underlining philosophy is the survival of the fittest. Very few will dispute that older Nigerians have made such a mess of things that young people can be forgiven their readiness to throw up major tantrums at the slightest opportunity. We must go beyond an approach and perspective however that merely recycle the incivility and inclemency to one that shows and tells how several Nigerian youths including those who are not from privileged backgrounds have in the face of these odds risen to stardom.
Of course, it can be argued that in a more functional society, these youths would have needed less heroism and less rigour to rise to the top. And that also, such an orderly society, if we had one would have produced more success stories out of many who fell into the failure bracket. That notwithstanding, and bearing in mind that the more organised societies are not without their own entrenched inequalities, we should begin to encourage and to invigorate the professionals who have risen to eminence among our youths. While the back and forth of mutually blaming each other between the old and the young, continues, we can do a few things at the level of policy to accelerate youth achievement and diminish youth anomie. The most obvious is the mainstreaming politically and through appointments, those young Nigerians who have distinguished themselves through hard labour.
President Buhari should do much more to encourage outstanding youths, and to make up for the oversight of leaving out Nigerian youths out of his cabinet, while the rest of us should work in tandem.
PUNCH
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