Why Nigeria’s future looks bleak?

If we are banking on the majority of present day Nigerian youths as the custodians of a better and more prosperous country tomorrow, then we need to seriously reconsider. Many (not all) of the youths and potential leaders of tomorrow that we currently have are most likely to be worse than today’s leaders. Franklin D. […]

If we are banking on the majority of present day Nigerian youths as the custodians of a better and more prosperous country tomorrow, then we need to seriously reconsider. Many (not all) of the youths and potential leaders of tomorrow that we currently have are most likely to be worse than today’s leaders. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States once said: “We cannot always build the future for our youths, but we can build our youths for the future”. The Nigerian leaders of today have so far failed to build the future for our youths.
Several factors have contributed towards our youths finding themselves in this sorry and unfortunate situation. First and foremost, many people aged between 15 and 35 in Nigeria, are living through a period when Nigeria is unarguably at its most corrupt state. This situation has helped in negatively shaping not only the thinking of our youths but their actions as well. Unlike many of today’s leaders who evolved through an era of decency, but later decided to be corrupt on their own volition, our youths have been romancing with all that is wrong with Nigeria right from their school days.
Secondly, Nigerian leaders do not pay much attention to youth development and mentorship. If they had brought up our youths the way they were brought up by those before them, it would’ve been a different story. Had it been they were willing to give the current youths the same opportunities they were given, we wouldn’t have had the same old brigades still jostling for political positions and relevance. A typical politician views a Nigerian youth not as someone who will take over from him, but as someone he can exploit for his endless political advantage. Those that ruled at all levels of government from 1999 to date are those who had the best opportunity to move away from the past and blaze the trail. Instead, most of them chose to set a bad precedent and made governance appear in the eyes of the youth as a lucrative venture, thereby corrupting the minds of the young people. Thirdly, Nigerian youths themselves have generally and grossly indicated their inability to stand up to their responsibilities and their potentials due to many internal and external reasons which are both within and beyond their control. The few of them that were given rare opportunities to serve failed woefully and ended up giving the impression that youths have nothing to offer.
The real tragedy of many Nigerians is not the poverty of their pockets but the poverty of their minds. It has been our poor mindsets, probably more than any other thing that has prevented us from utilizing our potentials. Present day Nigerians, especially the youths whom the country are looking forward to for future leadership are the worst afflicted in this regard. They have being brought up and made to develop a very poor and myopic mindset right from the word ‘go’. The fact that national development is far more behavioural and attitudinal than it is infrastructural and technological is more perfectly captured by the popular proposition that; if you migrate all Nigerians to America and all Americans to Nigeria, Americans will waste no time in transforming Nigeria into America just like Nigerians will degrade America back to Nigeria.
Unfortunately, the mindsets of our youths either by default or by design is not made to proffer solutions to the numerous problems bedevilling Nigeria; rather, it is made to add to them. The ground is being consciously or subconsciously made adequate for most of them to become divided, corrupt, irresponsible and unproductive. Out of the frustration that those on top have taken up all their opportunities, they don’t care about what happens to the country. Some of them have resulted to armed robbery, fraud, kidnapping, insurgency and all other vices because they feel they have no future. The leaders are mainly after themselves and their immediate families; they reserve virtually all the goodies of the nation for their children and cronies.
The global modern day practice is that of mentoring and giving responsibilities to youths so as to make them prepared for future state challenges. Even the Nigerian constitution will not allow a person less than 30 years of age to contest any significant election, but doesn’t stop an old man of 100 years to contest.
As bad as some of our current political leaders may be, those waiting to take over from them may be worse. Many of our youths are not willing to hold their leaders to account; they are mainly interested in what they will get from them.  From the look of things, I don’t foresee those at the helm of affairs doing anything significant and sincere to prepare our youths for the future. What I would advise is that our youths should realize this, quit wasting their time in advancing the selfish political interest of their predators, unite and prepare themselves for future responsibilities.
Amir Abdulazeez
Twitter: @AmirAbdulazeez