Nigerian youths who are supposed to be extolled for their relentless efforts to make living are perennially criticised and insulted by some persons at the helm of power. They’re called demeaning names such as lazy youths, Indomie generation, inter alia.
I see this name-calling as an excuse by these persons for not doing the needful. They compare them with their counterparts in other countries who are performing well. But one thing they are failing to understand is that the leaders of these countries are the forces behind the youths doing well. Apology to Mr Macaroni.
There are enough jobs for all the citizens and enabling environments for those who show interest in businesses. Sometimes, they’re even provided with the capital to start up. Rarely will you see the youths of these countries searching for jobs after graduations.
Whereas here in Nigeria, millions of unemployed youths jostle for jobs that can’t absorb more than a thousand persons. As a matter of fact, Nigerian youths are industrious, audacious and resilient.
If Nigerian youths are lazy as they say, over four million of them who applied for the just concluded Batch C of the Federal Government’s N-Power programme which is expected to enroll just 400,000, wouldn’t have applied. Similarly, the 441 First Class graduates who are majorly youths wouldn’t have showed interest to teach in Oyo State secondary schools. How else do Nigerian governments want the youths to show that they’re not lazy?
That some Nigerian youths are into cybercrimes and have proclivity for ‘sharp-sharp money’ shouldn’t be a yardstick for concluding that Nigerian youths are lazy.
Instead of alleging that Nigerian youths are lazy, governments should provide more jobs.
Aremu Lukman Umor, Lagos
