Still on Buhari and Nigerian youths

Before President Muhammadu Buhari mounted the saddle of leadership, now as a democratic leader again, I had written in the newspapers that Boko Haram was a conundrum hard to crack. The emergence of Boko Haram is as a result of years of neglect of uncaring attitude of northern leaders and rich people in that zone in helping their poor people to go to school or learn some skills to become responsible and so they prefer they are left as almajiri. So, the almajiri of yesterday is what has graduated into Boko Haram. And because they have been so neglected and oppressed for too long without care, they believe western education is sinful and very corrupt. And no one should tell me that western civilisation did not come with its own shortcomings, otherwise why should the West be insisting we practise homosexualism so that we can get massive support and grow rapidly and become great? So, I will say “overcivilisation” is a sin with their so-called adult films which are no longer secretly done as any of them is proud of being a porn star. But we can learn from the good ones and move on by having education and skills for progress as a nation. Exploring President Buhari’s comment on Nigerian youths and education, at the recent Commonwealth event, why do we still have high levels of illiteracy and poverty in the North when they have always been in charge as presidents with other top level positions in government to the point that they see themselves as born to rule. If Buhari is worried about the plight of Nigerian youths, as a human rights activist and advocate of youth empowerment, I am more than worried that even those who have gone to school still engage in anti-social behaviour like prostitution, bank robbery, kidnapping and internet fraud. And could you imagine just seven undergraduates defrauding a white man of millions of dollars? Also, if the Lagos State Government could engage 50,000 graduates as bus conductors, even though there are no jobs, are they employable even up to the point of defending what they studied? So, the question goes beyond being educated. Is it about going to school to acquire certificates or to learn and have a skill in becoming more responsible? And what values and passions do they have? Also, has the government thought about establishing a technological hub from where youths can be trained in building cars and others? So, at the end of the day, I won’t blame the youths but Nigerian leaders who are more interested in their pockets. The fact is, so long as corruption still remains in the system, Nigeria will remain stagnant. Before Buhari continues to blame the youths, he should ask our leaders, both past and present, to openly declare their assets if our prison will not be full of corrupt leaders. Government can further help the youths by creating opportunities to excel just like in America where every talent transforms to multimillion dollars. For instance, the late pop icon, Michael Jackson, never learnt music in a classroom but his parents groomed him having seen that he had passion for music and he achieved greatness as a musician at the world level. What about Bill Gates who dropped out of Harvard but became the cofounder of Microsoft? Why can’t we encourage talented Nigerian youths. Our leaders should stop their blame game and make Nigeria a great nation. Emeka Anozie, Adegbola Street, Ikeja, Lagos 08099813898