Nigerian YOUTHS by John Pam

A tale is told

How God in the Beginning sent three sons

Into the World—Earth, Water and the Forest—

With one and twenty gifts for Earth and men

That are the sons of Earth; and all save one

The Forest and the Rivers stole; and how

God promised to his first-born, Earth, that men

Should win the twenty gifts again by virtue

Of that last one, Good Humour. And this is true:

For in those years when Ógun and the Gods

Made known their handicrafts men learned to seek

Thatch, food and wine in Forest and in River

Strife

between

Odúwa and

Orísha

Patiently. So Man prevailed; but in those days

Came strife and turmoil to the Gods—for still

For jealousy and pride Odúwa held

The bag Arámfè gave to Great Orísha.

Often Orísha made entreaty; oft

A suppliant came before his brother—in vain;

Till once when Odudúwa sat with Ógun

p. 28 In that same palace where the Órní reigns,

The sound of drums was heard and Great Orísha

Approached with skilled Obálufon, and said:

"The time has come to teach Arámfè's arts

"To men. Give back the bag (for it is mine!)

That I may do our Father's bidding. Else,

Have a care, is it not told how caution slept

In the still woods when the proud leopard fell,

Lured on by silence, 'neath the monster's foot?" 1

Then was Odúwa angered exceedingly:

"Am I not king? Did not Arámfè make

Me lord of Gods and men? Begone! Who speaks

Unseemly words before the king has packed

His load."

Excerpt from Myths of Ife by John Wyndham

or so long the youth of this country have abdicated responsibility for the state of the country, like the story above, when Orisha sought his rightful heritage from Oduduwa;we have crept around the issue and usually broached the issue in a manner which might raise the ire of our predecessors. However,  with a little introspection it's possible to disagree without being disagreeable.

  The first step in any endeavour of such magnitude is to realise that just as Orisha being the younger was given the bag of wisdom, so also in the present stage of civilisation in which we find ourselves, it is necessary for the younger generation to take back the bag of wisdom and shine the light for the older. Lest there be any misunderstanding , a little clarification will suffice, in the present stage of civilisation the elders have earned their positions of leadership which is as it should be but they ought to comprehend that there is a necessity that they do not neglect the input of the youth who have come of age in this period of time and are more equipped to navigate the pitfalls of this present era.

Charles Darwin it was who indicated that for any species to survive it needs to both cooperate and adapt to the changing environmental factors in a timely manner and how else is this adaptation consolidated if not by the subsequent generation.

The elder statesmen need not vacate their positions but rather as is logical, deduce that there  is a need for their work to be carried on both in principle and in the form of a physical embodiment.

Yet the youth are also to blame for how else does one excuse the pursuit of anothers culture without any attempt to blend it ito ours. we want to emulate western culture in all aspects basically becoming our own neocolonial masters.

The present state of the nation  is clearly evident as a fraction caused by the loss of harmony between older and younger generations. Look from the niger delta down to the north,from militancy to terrorism it points to one common problem, there is no one on the side of team nigeria.

But how can one be on a team if there is no coherent social agenda that establishes the core principles of this entity.  Yes we have a national anthem and even a constitution but even before the whiteman brought these abstractions to our shores we had something more important which was... community. Yet this communal feelings were based on certain understandings that the interest of the individual were not seperate from that of the community,hence why if you go from the deepest forests of the south, to the village squares of the west,towards the market squares of the east, the drinking houses of the middle belt and the grazing plains of the north one theme is consistent despite all our individual distinctions,which is the age group system in one form or the other which we have lost sight of in our haste to imitate western politics. 

Truth be told we cant return to those times but there is something important to be picked from that custom,which is that everyone must contribute to make soceity a haven both for themselves and others.

For so long the youth of this country have abdicated responsibility for the state of the country, like the story above, when Orisha sought his rightful heritage from Oduduwa;we have crept around the issue and usually broached the issue in a manner which might raise the ire of our predecessors. However,  with a little introspection it's possible to disagree without being disagreeable.

  The first step in any endeavour of such magnitude is to realise that just as Orisha being the younger was given the bag of wisdom, so also in the present stage of civilisation in which we find ourselves, it is necessary for the younger generation to take back the bag of wisdom and shine the light for the older. Lest there be any misunderstanding , a little clarification will suffice, in the present stage of civilisation the elders have earned their positions of leadership which is as it should be but they ought to comprehend that there is a necessity that they do not neglect the input of the youth who have come of age in this period of time and are more equipped to navigate the pitfalls of this present era.

Charles Darwin it was who indicated that for any species to survive it needs to both cooperate and adapt to the changing environmental factors in a timely manner and how else is this adaptation consolidated if not by the subsequent generation.

The elder statesmen need not vacate their positions but rather as is logical, deduce that there  is a need for their work to be carried on both in principle and in the form of a physical embodiment.

Yet the youth are also to blame for how else does one excuse the pursuit of anothers culture without any attempt to blend it ito ours. we want to emulate western culture in all aspects basically becoming our own neocolonial masters.

The present state of the nation  is clearly evident as a fraction caused by the loss of harmony between older and younger generations. Look from the niger delta down to the north,from militancy to terrorism it points to one common problem, there is no one on the side of team nigeria.

But how can one be on a team if there is no coherent social agenda that establishes the core principles of this entity.  Yes we have a national anthem and even a constitution but even before the whiteman brought these abstractions to our shores  had something more important which was... community. Yet this communal feelings were based on certain understandings that the interest of the individual were not seperate from that of the community,hence why if you go from the deepest forests of the south, to the village squares of the west,towards the market squares of the east, the drinking houses of the middle belt and the grazing plains of the north one theme is consistent despite all our individual distinctions,which is the age group system in one form or the other which we have lost sight of in our haste to imitate western politics. 

Truth be told we cant return to those times but there is something important to be picked from that custom,which is that everyone must contribute to make soceity a haven both for themselves and others.   

This mental laziness which is predominant amongst us the youth where we think our contributions are too miniscule is merely an excuse to do nothing,for if the water drops had the same attitude there would be no ocean.  However,  its clear that its not so easy to contribute meaningfully, hence why dont we start at the very beginning and ask ourselves what sort of soceity we desire to reside in and if by our actions or inactions we are creating a hell or heaven.

  The people running from our country to foreign shores forget that it was not people who ran from their countries that created the society which they are so eager to run to ,but those who embraced their community with all its flaws and strove to make a better place.

Hence, let the shifting of blame be temporarily halted and instead engage in self reflection for even if there is much to fix there is also much to gain...

For while other countries are conspiring on how to exploit our lack of unity,we give them more fodder for their cannons by attacking eachother. At the very least if we can't be like the bees in the hive who make pleasing honey,let us at least emulate the  clown fish and sea anemone who despite divergent goals are aware of the necessity of cooperation. We gain nothing by destroying eachother and we gain more by symbiosis..yet we fail to see why our stolen funds are taken to foreign shores while we complain of hunger at home....it is said the dog the gods have chosen to kill does not hear the hunters whistle , hoping that is not the case....

SERVANT LEADERS; is it but a wish in Africa?

                         

The difference between knowledge and wisdom is as sunlight and moonlight, one is only a pale reflection of the other,on its own merit it dwells in darkest ignorance. For in the sun lit day we see every thing as it really is and even the dreaded phantoms of our imagination hold no sway over us,but in the moonlight we see only dimly and at times our imagination has to compensate for clarity of vision to either good or evil outcome.

Now it would be easy to be misunderstood taking such a stance but what other alternative can there possibly be when those who have read or memorised other peoples understanding of certain phenomenon decide unequivocally that it gives them a right to dictate to others what is acceptable or otherwise in response to their situation.
I see a lot of this notion that if someone who is considered successful says something then it should be accepted without scrutiny, and that's why we can have someone who plays pretend for a living(an actor) arrogantly think because they are known it makes their perspectives rational.
The first basis of any society is self interest and you can only coerce someone with words when the gains outweigh the loss. Our leaders complain that the youth are unambitious,lazy and disrespectful yet they see no irony in the fact that each of these traits can in one way or the other be attributed to their inability to lay the foundation for our future.
I have often heard people speak about how a leader should be a servant leader but think of our culture and you see this is a ridiculous expectation. In our culture per example in a bank an elderly person is given prerogative to bye pass the line others have been standing on for hours simply because he is older which would be commendable if it wasn't deemed as rude to object when you yourself did not feel the desire to be altruistic. The notion in our culture is that the superior is at liberty to disregard the needs or even rights of one who is considered inferior and we wonder why our politicians trample on the citizens who elected them? They are only reflecting the society that produced them.
As a society we complain about our large number of miscreants like militants, Boko harametc and yet we do nothing to fix the underlying cause of these phenomenon. The root of democracy is the notion that a community's interests are best served being part of a larger entity than otherwise but the goal of the government is to interfere as minimally as possible in the activities of these communities except as a final arbitrator of dispute or benefactor. The best any gany government can do is make the best of the situation it faces. Until we can create a communal structure that integrates all diverse societies in the nigerian geographic space, the recurrent problem of rebellion against the governments authority will remain insoluble.
Until our leaders show by example they are willing to create a society they can be part of, then will they convince others to get on board.
Another issue is the prevalent grovelling for western approval by our so called elite .I get that they have moral codes that put us to shame but that is no reason to embrace their decadence as our society is too fragile to survive such. Recently I hear that the U.S president has demanded that primary schools create provision for children who do not identify their gender with their sexual organ but with whatever fantasy suits them presently.
It has always been uncomfortable coming to terms with ones sexuality in the presence of peers but this muddles the issue more. I think enough has been said on this matter or do we emulate them here too?
Finally, we seem to all want our society to be magically transformed into a paradise but not one person is willing to lift a finger rather they assume some nebulous "others" will take on the task. Its one thing to be in denial of reality however its quite another to wish upon a genie like an aladin, until we see that there is no one coming from the skies or anywhere else to save us we will continue to delude ourselves that Nigeria will get better on its own but the unvarnished truth is only we can save ourselves. Yet I see we are hellbent on proving reality wrong...