Angry Letter to Nigerian Youth: The future is here with us

By Bayo Adeyinka

My dear Nigerian Youth,

It was Albert Einstein that said “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it”.

That, unfortunately, is what you are doing. You complain about the problems and challenges but that’s all you do. You follow the same people who created the problems and eulogize them to high heavens. You are guilty of lack of depth and originality. Your level of thinking is pedestrian. Since no one can rise beyond the level of their thinking, you have remained at the aboriginal state of being- the same with your progenitors. Universities and tertiary institutions shape and mould their products such that they stand out in the originality of their ideas.

Alexandria, the first University in the world was a centre of enlightenment. Harvard turns out products who impact the world. Yale and MIT products leave their indelible footprints everywhere they go. Our own local universities and tertiary institutions churn out mass ignorance. They produce graduates who should know but don’t even know that they don’t know.

You only have weight and occupy space. Your constant thought is only about today while you don’t seem to know that tomorrow is already here with us. You wallow in the past while your contemporaries the world over leave you behind. Africa is behind the Western world by almost 250 years. You know what that means? You’re a relic. You’re a museum piece. You’re stuck in your ways. You’re becoming a liability to the entire world.

While youths all over the world are innovating and inventing things, all you do is to fight over one politician or the other. You carry placards at the screening of ‘wannabe’ ministers when your brains actually need screening. There is no other country in the world where people love their oppressors like you do. You think you change governments but all you do is change one oppressor with another.

While the demographics of leadership the world over is getting younger, yours is getting ancestral. The youngest person in your government’s cabinet is 48 while the oldest is 68. Justin Trudeau, the new Prime Minister of Canada is 43. If he were to be a Nigerian, he won’t even get a cabinet position. In 1973, Yakubu Gowon was 39 years when he visited Canada and shook hands with Justin Trudeau who was barely 2 years then. Today, Justin Trudeau is the Prime Minister.

The future is here with us while we remain stuck in the past. While others are carrying the destiny of their nations, you are carrying the bags of politicians. In 2012, 19-year-old Proscovia Alengot Oromait was elected as a member of parliament. Now 22 years old, she is the youngest person ever elected to office in not only Uganda but the entire African continent. While some are solving the problems of their nations, you Nigerian youth are one of the problems of the continent.

Does it not bother you that once you’re above 40 years, you have lesser years to spend as you arrive at the departure lounge of life? Should you not be thinking about the future more than the present? For instance, by 2050 Nigeria will hit the 1b population mark. Thirty five years before 2050, we are still stuck in subsistence farming. We can’t feed 170m people now so how can we feed 1b people? We can’t provide housing for 170m people now, so how can we provide housing for 1b people? While the rest of humanity is trying to land on Mars with 200,000 applicants vying for just 100 slots, we still find it difficult to run an airline.

While Fulani cattle run amok on people’s farms in Nigeria as a result of the archaic nomadic husbandry being practiced, future cities are being built elsewhere to raise cows on rooftops. Within five years, Europeans will swipe their smart phones or watches to pay for most goods and services, use phones as digital wallets, use them to borrow money, invest it and transfer it to other countries while we are still stuck with brick and mortar.

Mercedes-Benz is developing a system that will learn your schedule, tastes and even moods after a short while. For example, it knows that you leave the house every weekday at 7:30 a.m. to take your kids to school and the right temperature you always want in your car. Based on GPS and satellite data, it quickly learns your preferred routes and tracks real-time traffic problems, so it can suggest detours to help you save time. The car can even tune the radio to the Inspiration FM channel until you drop off the kids, at which time it will recommend Wazobia FM. In the afternoons, it knows you usually prefer Classic FM. A car can make smart decisions but you can’t.

Almost 3,000 cars and trucks equipped with prototype vehicle-to-vehicle(V2V) devices have been driving around a city in Michigan, over the past year-and-a-half as part of a pilot program by the University of Michigan and the U.S. Department of Transportation. What they are doing? Cars equipped with these devices emit beeps when they detect potential hazards such as another vehicle entering an intersection, a pedestrian, a patch of ice or even their driver speeding too fast around a curve. It is expected that these devices could prevent up to 76% of crashes on American roads. All we do here is to erect speed-breakers. We are always arriving very late. The first ATM in the world was installed in 1967. Nigeria’s first ATM was in 1990- twenty three years late.

Why am I so angry with you? Shouldn’t my anger be directed at your dealers erroneously called leaders? It’s because the destiny of this nation lie in your hands and you know not. A nation is as hopeless as its youths. A nation is as helpless as its youths. A nation is as creative as its youths. A nation is as clueless as its youths. A nation is as energetic as its youths. The strength of a nation lies in the promise of its youths. The greatness of a nation lies in the potential of its youths. A nation’s destiny is then essentially that charted by the young population. Whatever a nation will be, look no farther than the youth. I look at you and I’m afraid for Nigeria.

You are a mass production from the factory of ignorance. You are victims of a dysfunctional society. You are inheritors of an estate of crass foolishness. You are like Nabal of whom it was described that folly is with him. All you know how to do is wear designer labels- from Gucci to Prada, from Versace to Armani- you’re obviously well dressed but you’re a well dressed fool. You refuse to dance to the beats of the future rather preferring to wallow in the shallowness of the past. Wole Soyinka described his generation as a wasted generation. Will you be wasted also?

It is time to force your way to relevance. It is time to take responsibility for the future because the future will not be inherited- it will be earned. Stop playing the blame game. Stop blaming your circumstances because you can rise in spite of them. Stop blaming your ancestors because they bequeathed a legacy of ignorance to you- they don’t know any better. Organize rather than agonize. Don’t just think outside the box. Throw away the box. You have the numbers- use them to force a real change. As you ask questions, go further by seeking answers. Rather, be the answer. As you talk about the challenges, go further by seeking solutions. Rather, be the solution.

Find your niche. Faajihub was started when a cousin of Olaotan Oladitan, who’s one the founders, was coming in from the United Kingdom for her wedding. It was a challenge for her finding the people needed to make the event a success. Faajihub now has at least 700 vendors of different kinds. Faajihub is solving the problem of choice in event management. Brian Bett is a Kenyan agriculture techpreneur who designed a locally made greenhouse for the equivalent of N250,000.

The cheapest greenhouse in Nigeria is about N1.5m. Brian is solving the hunger problem. GoMyWay is a ride sharing service started by Damola Teidi, a model in her 20s. Damola is solving the transportation problem. Hotels.ng was started by Mark Essien and has over 6,000 hotels on its portal. Mark is solving the hospitality problem. PrepClass is an app by Olumide Ogunlana aimed at helping students prepare for exams. The app assists you to identify your weak points apart from the core functionality of preparation for exams.

Olumide is solving our educational problem. Jobberman, one of the top jobs websites in Nigeria was started by the trio of Opeyemi Awoyemi, Ayodeji Adewunmi and Olalekan Olude in 2009 during the famed ASUU strike. Jobberman is tackling the employment challenge. What problems are you solving? Stop merely existing. It’s time to start living. Let your life be a contribution to humanity and not a contamination to humanity. The future is already here with us.