THE AVERAGE NIGERIAN YOUTH IN NIGERIA

I have for long observed what it means to be a youth,but lately I began pondering on what it actually means to be an average Nigerian youth. My thoughts I will be pouring out on this short piece of writing.

An average Nigerian youth isn’t your regular being in other parts of the world, because these individuals per se aren’t faced with what. other individuals are faced with elsewhere particularly in. other countries. Many dynamics come into play,which will often times define our thought process and if not careful mould or sculpt us into the being we become in future.

An average Nigerian youth has the under listed characteristics or identifiable features as he goads through life trying to make ends meet especially having this sense of belonging that “now is the time to be independent”. I name them briefly;

1. An average Nigerian youth is “uncertain”

2. Regularly shoved around by his yearnings

3. Is dogged

4. Always harbours this tiny feeling of being jettisoned

5. Is Censorious

6. Has this feeling of mediocrity

7. Spiritual

Permit me to briefly demystify the above written points before I am put out of context by you, the reader of this piece.

1. AN AVERAGE NIGERIAN YOUTH IS UNCERTAIN

The uncertainty in the life of an average Nigerian youth stems from the fact that the environment he grew up in never gave him an ounce of hope he will or might surmount the ever daring and gregarious nature of life he is faced with. This uncertainty therefore goes a long way in impeding his achievements if there are any he’s envisaged to conquer. To be useful to ourselves and family as individuals and as youths, we must get rid of this uncertainty. We must be ready to have this unflinching belief in ourself and the things we can achieve and that if we lay our anchor in Christ. It is not enough to become an average Nigerian youth because in the real sense that tag may never place your prints in the sands of time. Strive to eclipse and smash this uncertainty to smithereens. You can live far above the tag of being the average Nigerian youth.

2. REGULARLY SHOVED AROUND BY HIS YEARNINGS

As a regular talker and an ardent believer in the talking sphere, I have always told a lot of youths I have met in several public gatherings that “Just as our faces are different, our needs vary too”. We set out on daily basis trying to get around how we can make our needs come through but guess what? – the steps we take consistently become an albatross around our neck and before we can say Jack!, we get shoved aside and down [if to the extreme] by our continuous and ever unending yearnings. It is good we yearn after certain things but never let them take a toll on you. An average Nigerian youth always wants to be filled with the thoughts of his yearnings not having to mind if he will be pulled down by it or not. Such is the lot of such individuals who go out of their ways and the ways of civility just to acquire a thing or two. You must have to watch what you pursue else you get run over by that. We must resist the urge to be run over by our yearnings and that can only come with controlled yearnings.

3. DOGGEDNESS

This exactly is one of my most cherished traits of the average Nigerian youth. I have taken time to visit market places more often than I should as a young man, someone is asking. “Why exactly”? Often times than not,it’s just for foodstuff but permit me to say that the energy being dissipated by half of the humans you see in the markets are those of the Nigerian youths, with their voices echoing way more than that of the Blind Bartimaeus the Holy Bible spoke of [permit me to giggle]. With a greater inference now over those voices,have you ever sat down to ponder and wander around at how dogged and energetic these individuals are in trying to advertise whatever it is they sell. This doggedness is to be compared to none.

However, I have also taken displeasure to see same particular youths who wail in the day time on top of their non-microphone-aided voices perpetrate despicable acts in around their places of abode – what a way of channelling doggedness wrongly. Have you also tried to see someone snatch another’s purse in the market,do you also notice the doggedness put into that? That’s an average Nigerian youth too. As Nigerian youths,we must learn not to misdirect our doggedness – channel it to the right act. The Bible rightly says in Proverbs 22:29 – “Seest thou a man diligent in his works,he shall stand before kings and not before mere men” . The diligence spoken of here isn’t a misdirected one, it is one channelled to the right act. Do you want to remain an average Nigerian youth? The choice is yours, perhaps you have the yam and knife to yourself.

4. ALWAYS HARBOURS THIS TINY FEELING OF BEING JETTISONED

Have you actually run into. someone you met long ago in an instant? Notice how the person says “You’ve forgotten me now abi” That is exactly the tale of an average Nigerian youth,we always want to be pitied. Pity has never really done anything. It hasn’t solved the tiniest bit of worry, we must learn to break the shackles of having to subject ourselves to that pitiable state. Stop that pity party thing because indeed it puts you in a messy state. We must have to learn and know that as much as we are aware that our leaders barely care about our existence, we must have to carve a niche for ourself and that quickly before they “use up the woods” and let us not carve out a niche for ourself. We must rise beyond self pity. Swing into action, jettison the feeling of being jettisoned and let your actions do the talking otherwise we’d be smashed and run over by – above average youths and the charade of persons willing to carve a niche for themselves. I’ll say in my words “If people jettison you,jettison their behaviour and soon enough they’d begin to seek you”

5. CENSORIOUSNESS

I have also found out an average Nigerian youth is censorious, always willing and ready to point accusing fingers on why things go awry even in situations where he or she spearheaded the fall. We are never ready to take the fall for something. That’s not an attitude of a winner, it’s a consistent attitude put forth by a sore loser to disinterest people into believing he’s not a loser. I mean there’s no bad in losing,it’s only bad when you lose to lose. We must lose to win, this could only happen when we stop pointing accusing fingers rather use such fingers to point out our mistakes. You only win having failed by taking note of your pitfalls. One must be ready to carefully take down worthy notes of probable areas he has failed in the past,looking at the pitfalls and seeing to it that he covers such pitfalls else you’ll be like a toddler that grabbed the pointed end of the knife that got him injured the first time for a second time and this time only to have a deep cut now. We need to learn from our rigours to have enough vigour for the journey ahead. This is only achieved by having to reduce or maybe smash our fault finding speedometers. You need to see others as never the problem but yourself as the problem. To lead sometimes,you need to be behind. See things from a strange yet a-human-never-doubting perspective.

6. HAS THIS FEELING OF MEDIOCRITY

Have you ever been visited by someone maybe you’re cool with and you ask them what do you want me offer you and they say – nothing. Sometimes it’s not as if they wouldn’t want something but this is just an awkward way of having one’s mind conditioned to being in the backgrounds of events. I’m not saying this is an absolute statement of course myself writing have done this before and lots more. Mediocrity has a way of redefining our perspective in life and that without our consent because our minds have already given it a go ahead from the way we view things. An average Nigerian youth is a mediocre and that’s why we accept things hook line and sinker without proper verifications. We accept peanuts in exchange to spark up political violence and politically mudsling others during elections,take out lives we never created just to be given an ounce of treasure that will be worth nothing in the next second. We must rise beyond mediocrity if the present crop of leaders we have must take us seriously. We can’t be taken seriously if we fight over peanuts when there’s gold in the offer on the table and we aren’t bothered about that. Mediocrity goes beyond the physical, it’s a thing we’ve allowed to settle in our minds. We must have to expunge our minds of this menace else it wrecks us without remedy.

7. SPIRITUAL

The spiritual they say controls the physical. An average Nigerian youth will rather fold hands and believe in God for the yam to grow [when not planted] rather than plant the yam first. This is a flawed logic permeating through the ranks of the Nigerian youths. I believe in the spiritual but I also believe in the fact that man has a role to play before connecting the spiritual being to a physical act. Prayers are important but before prayer, there must be a will to be assiduous. We must rise above having to anchor such faithless faiths on empty events. We must do our parts if God must have to do His part. It’s high time we hid under the guise of being spiritual wearing out lazy cloaks yet continuously groaning things aren’t working as expected.

To be an average Nigerian youth takes nothing exactly, just wake up early in the morning, tie a wrapper with a long chewing stick and greet your neighbours or maybe passers by and do basically NOTHING or take a step and visit the newspaper vendor,read all the headlines, rant out your intestines and do NOTHING but if you seek to be higher than being labelled just an average Nigerian youth, you must heed the above written piece.

I, Okeke Ikenna Christopher have decided not to be an average Nigerian youth, I will seek to impact my generation alike and this I have set out to do.

Thanks for having a good read.

Do always invite your friends in here. Thank you. Good night.

Written by : Ikenna

Cc Government of Nigeria EiE Nigeria Dr. Joe Abah JJ. Omojuwa Reno Omokri