Are Nigerian Youths Really Lazy?

If I got one Naira for every time I hear a sentence beginning with “children of nowadays…” I’d be a billionaire by now. The average Nigerian youth is perceived as a lazy person who wants to get rich quick with as little amount of work as possible. This statement I believe is very true and very false.  There are a number of reasons why these accusations against our youth cannot be faulted. These reasons are very obvious and easily identifiable by everyone except the youth.  Dear Nigerian youth, I am not on the other side, we are both on one side, the young side. Please listen to one of your own and change as required because the “change” we have all been asking for from our leaders, from the forth coming elections and from our system will only begin and succeed when it starts first in our minds, and then in our attitudes. We will have to live this changed lifestyle as the new normal. Without this, this change will be worth a little more than the 10 Naira change our president recently gave us for one litre of fuel.

Dear Nigerian youth, we have been accused of being lazy, impatient, not being ambitious and being over-ambitious as the same time. Now, let us look at this closely, you start as a graduate trainee and compare your salary with a colleague’s who has worked 8am till late for 5 years, yet you refuse to stay back even 30 minutes after work hours without a mountain of complains. I think you should judge yourself because this does not just make you lazy, it also makes you a budding criminal in some way. Another scenario is that you work at Me & My Sons Ltd and you are very unmotivated and dissatisfied because your friends in Oil and Gas spend your salary at Lunch? Good news, please quit and try comparing your “salary” for being unemployed to the Oil and Gas money. Also, your Facebook page is filled with pictures of Ferraris, dollar bills, and nice things (I like nice things too, that’s good, that’s ambition). However, those things should motivate you to get up on Monday mornings and attack the week. Instead you sit at home and complain about how the government and society have not given any opportunity to the Nigerian entertainment industry to grow and how the government has not passed legislation for the weather to get cold enough for you to wear hoodies. My dear, your ambition is reading in negative figures. However, I understand your plight and I see where you are coming from. The rich seem to be getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, so what is the point of working hard.? Nevertheless, if there is one thing I know like I know my last name, it is the fact that consistent hard work, with virtues and character always end up winning.

Dear Nigerian youth, I love you like I love myself because I am you and so when I tell you the truth, I speak to myself too. We need to bring back the value of hard work our fathers had, we need to put dignity back into labour. Whatever you find your hands doing, do it well, do it with pride and do it with love. Nobody moves backwards by stepping forward, so be patient with your current status and shun excessive and unsubstantiated ambition. When you wake up every morning, wake yourself up again and attack the day. When you launch this attack, do not forget to your weapons; hard work, patience, love, diligence, intelligence, preparedness, patriotism, and contentment. Believe me, no one launches an attack  for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year and does not end up with victory.