LAZY AND UNEDUCATED YOUTHS?

I recall some years back in the University when a Professor was telling us how they enjoyed schooling and hostel life, he said they used to call the Dean of Students affairs to select what they wanted to eat and when they want to eat it, they even had meal timetable. Most of them got scholarship abroad  for further studies or immediately absorbed into different companies, ministries, agencies and the "not so bright" ended up establishing their own businesses with the soft loans provided by the government of the day. They had water, light, good roads and green opportunities to flourish and so they were somehow "conditioned to blossom".

After all the tales of how rosy and comfy they had it, he concluded by blasting the Government for the lack of sustainability and the fast decay in almost every sector of the economy and how they are now "barely getting by" both as intellectuals in the academia and as individuals in the "rotten society", he cited different examples of how messy Government agencies have become and how everything "in this your generation" is about bribe and selfish interest and how tired "they" are about the "helpless situation your generation is in". This professor was just about sixty two then and I could also vividly recall him being part of those who went on strike because the "age limit for professors must be revised" (they want to be in service longer than was agreed upon in the constitution). 

From all he was saying, the decay started from when his generation started handling the affairs of the nation, institutions, agencies and ministries and because we are yet to start handling things it is our fault for not being "bold and ready enough" to take over leadership from them. I am writing this some years late because I may have forgiven him then but I certainly cannot forgive my President calling us youths "lazy and uneducated".

Sir, your generation had it on a platter of gold, you were spoon fed, bathed, clothed and even cleaned after and instead of you to pay it forward or at least wash the golden plate so that the next generation can have something, you sold the plate for more comfort and because there was no one to spoon feed, bath, cloth and clean after you anymore, you have resolved to use us to gratify your insatiable needs.

You had free education, we had to struggle to keep up with your generation's ever increasing fees simply because you cannot manage the institutions, so the students must pay. You did not provide food or water for us in the hostels, we paid for virtually everything including to pass (because some of your mates are so shameless that they still collect cash and "kind" from their children), we trekked distances you dare not just to attend lectures, we fasted and starved, yet we graduated and you are still in office, in fact, you have changed your age countless times just so you remain in office, in the comfort of same office, you watch us roam the streets looking for what you are sitting on and you still expect us to send you money for "sugar and bournvita" when we "find something doing". If we fail to "take care of you" because we do not have, we are not "good/blessed children". 

You said corruption has eaten into the fabric of our existence but Sir, I was not born "corrupt", I grew up watching you, and what I saw you do, I learn and because you thought me that that is the only way to get results, I follow. So who is the author?

Now you say I am lazy and uneducated (you were not even correcting me but telling a foreigner), yet all over the world, including where you insulted me, the Nigerian youth is respected and recognized as one among the most hardworking and educated persons. 

We beat all the odds to carve a niche for ourselves in the society while you keep creating such odds because you have no idea what mess you've created for us and a mess we must clean if we ever will get clean air to breathe. You call us lazy while still clinging to power for fear of obscurity, failing to realize that we walk and "hustle" in the obscurity and insecurity you created and dread. You told us we are the leaders of tomorrow but you've lead our yesterday, you are leading our today and still want to lead our tomorrow. Sir, what do you want us to do? Walk with our heads around town to prove we "deserve some accolades"? Certainly not possible.

For a generation of youths who beat unfathomable odds your generation created for survival, we deserve a kudos even though quite a number of us fit into what you deem "lazy and uneducated". And Sir, as a father, sorry grandfather, I will suggest you correct your grandchildren indoors away from strangers because no matter how genuine and pure your intentions are, the stranger will certainly use your "corrections" to judge and criticize your generations yet unborn.

Your Hardworking and Educated Nigerian Youth. 

Isaac Great

Photos Courtesy: Google Images