In these hard times, most youths are caught-up in the web of lack and want, thinking of where to get their next meal from. The reality is that nobody is willing to give out funds or cash for free without your own input, drive, zeal, or ideas that tend to add value to the other person’s life or business.
It will interest you to know that even in free-town there are no freebies. Everything comes with a price tag, that is why we must be creative and full of ideas that will turn our lives and spare time into gains.
The government today will not provide what you need because the basic amenities needed are not in place as it is supposed to be.
Our leaders over time have turned the nation into a drain pipe where they suck the resources from the masses to feed their tasty and greedy agenda, forgetting that “…the earth only has enough to Satisfy everyman’s needs but not every mans greed” – Mahatma Gandhi .
As youths in Nigeria, we must break loose from the noose /ropes that held us bound to think that the government can provide our needs in terms of employment provision or provision of basic amenities needed to live the basic life which we are supposed to live.
Self-made Nigerians
Interestingly every Nigerian presently is a self-made local Government area, because as an average Nigerian you provide almost all the basic amenities needed for your survival. We provide our own lighting solutions through the use of Generators/ solar system, our own education through private schools, we construct our own roads and drainages, homes/shelter, and even provide and plan for our own health care and insurance schemes, …yet we pay taxes to the government to enable them provide us with all these basic amenities that will make us live comfortably as citizens of the nation.
I will like to ask us, if we provide these things for ourselves what then is the government providing for us to keep us comfortable and satisfied as Nigerians? Nothing!
As youths, it is high time we look beyond the now and start looking at the future, what it holds for us in Nigeria. But again we don’t need rocket science to get things done. All that is required is deep thinking, thinking outside the box. Be innovative and Creative to survive.
It will only take us an additional effort to start thinking outside the box to make these changes we seek as youths of this great nation. We need to stand in unity and concentrate on demanding that which rightfully belongs to us, but how do we achieve this you may want to ask?
It’s simple. Be innovative, be creative, stay focused on your goals and Gods given talents. Remember “Creative minds and idealist rules the World” not dependants. Being creative as a youth requires thinking Deep, Create and Act (take Action), these are the three keys to becoming great and successful in life.
Why are we here?
As a matter of fact this is why we are here, to start taking positive actions that will bring about revolutionary changes in all aspect of our society and lives, and Nigeria at large.
Today is symbolic in the history of Nigeria as we commemorate our 58th years of independence. But I wish to ask us, are we Nigerians really independent, or are we still dependent on other nations to survive and thrive?
This is because in every sectors of our nation’s economy we keep depending on foreign aids and supports from the Western world to survive and stand, when we have all what it takes within us as a nation to thrive well.
Breaking Loose
Today as youths, we rise and take a stand to break free from the chains that hold us bound to the many lies that we have been told in the past that youths are the leaders of tomorrow when in reality the tomorrow we sought yesterday is now here with us today, yet we are still lacking and begging the government for job creation and opportunity to live well as citizens of Nigeria.
It hurts me a lot to see that we have over 70% of youths and a large work force in the nation yet we lack active job spaces and employment opportunities. Most times our leaders believe that we cannot lead as youths or handle any leadership or political positions in the nation, but the fact remains that the Nigeria Youths are the arrow head in the nation, we are creative and innovative.
The youths are the ones bringing us as Nigerians to limelight, they are the ones building the nation’s image outside Nigeria, though we still have some bad eggs, but yet we have majority of them doing great things outside our shores, yet someone somewhere will be referring to us as being “lazy and unwilling to work rather looking for free money”.
Today we take a stand as Nigerian youths to call on those guilty of such statements or words to apologize to us (youths of this great nation) because we are not lazy people.
From all these, the fact remains that we as youths need to think deep, take actions, be creative and be innovative, thereby thinking outside the box we have been caged in for a long while now. Though a lot of us are actually thinking outside the box but we are doing these in the wrong manner. We need to start small, from somewhere, instead of thinking about starting big when we know we have not mastered what we intend doing.
We can only achieve these paths when we begin to reason as entrepreneurs and agro-preneurs, thereby creating our own unique products, and putting our ideologies and innovations to work.
We need to start seeing ourselves as inventors, entrepreneurs, agro–preneurs, Info tech specialist, businessmen, and women etc.
It is high time we begin to see ourselves as the builders of this nation and not as benefactors or destroyers of our great nation.
The 2019 Presidential Election is around the corner, but as youths we must not sell our future for peanuts to any politician because in reality they don’t really care about us; all they care about is power, fame and money, but as youths care about the future of your nation.
We need to start thinking what we can do to making that change we seek materialize. We need to start thinking beyond the Now and look into what the future holds for us. If we must make that saying “Youths are the leaders of tomorrow” become a reality, we must hold on to the premise of making our own path just and shining thereby bringing light into our world as Nigerian youths.
We must start thinking outside the box as Nigerian youths. Let’s start thinking constructively, creatively and innovatively on how best we can make that Nigeria of our dreams become a reality without getting entangled with the government and their policies of theories without inactions. But in all, time will unfold the greatness in us all.
You are a citizen of Nigeria, you are an individual in this nation, and you are a youth… You are Nigeria!
Happy Independence day!
So let the conversations begin!
Welcome words by Cadmus Atake-Enade presented at a one day Entrepreneurship Development Workshop with the theme: Thinking outside the Box as a Nigerian Youth organized by Youth Aspire International held at CONGOs Secretariat, Edo State on the 1st of October 2018.
