By Adedotun Ajayi

Laziness (also known as indolence) is disinclination to activity or exertion despite having the ability to act or to exert oneself.
President Muhammadu Buhari while speaking at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, said, in response to an interview, that a lot of Nigerian youths have not been to school and want everything free (including education and healthcare) because the country is an oil producing state. He therefore tagged the Nigerian youths lazy. Young Nigerians took to social media to protest against the comment of Buhari.
The comment is nothing but a monumental insult and a slap on the face of Nigerian youths; they are not lazy. Our youths are known globally to be enterprising, hardworking and productive. So many Nigerians youths have achieved remarkable feats and so many more are also trying their best under an atmosphere that is not conducive. We cannot say that all Nigerian youths are very good and industrious but it is wrong to generalise and do so in the presence of the whole world. The statement made by the president is not what is expected of him; rather he should have put the youths of his country in a positive light. Many Nigerian youths are graduates and ready to work but the jobs are not forthcoming, so they settled for various vocations. For anyone to refer to them as being lazy is mischievous. Successive governments in Nigeria always pay-lip service to youth development. But, in reality, they shy away from investing the necessary fund or energies on the youths through education, health, housing or entrepreneurship. There is nowhere in the world where the youths struggle for survival and hustle earnestly like in Nigeria. Nigerian youths can endure pain; nothing scares them, not even the Saharan desert or the Mediterranean Sea. The youths quest for success and the zeal to go through stress and turmoil are not just for themselves but also, to make a difference in the nation’s economy. This is because at the end of day, east or west, home is the best. Nigerian youths should be praised for their selfless courage and determination to survive under the country’s harsh economy.
Late Nelson Mandela once said, “Young people must take it upon themselves to ensure that they receive the highest education possible, so that, they can represent us well in future as future leaders.”
Nigeria’s education system is based on the (1)-6-3-3-4 formula: one year pre-primary education, six years primary, three years junior secondary, three years senior secondary, and a minimum of four years tertiary education.
The model had been used successfully in China, Germany and Ghana before Nigeria adopted it in 1989.
But it’s never been fully implemented in Nigeria. Although successive governments have theoretically upheld its objectives, none has successfully implemented the policy.
Nigeria’s educational system is in assorted crises of infrastructural decay, neglect, waste of resources and sordid conditions of service. The country has over 10 million out of school children. That’s the highest in the world. Another 27 million children in school are performing very poorly. Millions of Nigerians are half-educated, and over 60 million are illiterates.
On top of this, many eligible young Nigerians can’t gain admission into public universities. At the same time prohibitive tuition fees, among other factors, are a barrier to the country’s private universities.
After the struggle to get an education in Nigeria, then the reality of Nigeria hits hard, no employment.
Seeing the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria, most youths have taken it upon themselves to provide a better Nigeria, a Nigeria of our dreams by providing opportunity for as many unemployed youths as possible to have an average better life.
As a result of their continuous efforts, yearly, we are seeing more innovative entrepreneurs providing solutions to societal problems, causing disruption in their sectors while creating jobs for the masses.
There are graduates with distinctive grades in various disciplines that couldn’t practise what they studied but, are forced to channel their inner energy into unlocking their passions, flairs for entertainment, fashion and sports with ground breaking results.
They are the ones who put their lives on the line to escape the misery and hopelessness by embarking on the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean sea to start a new life all over in Europe.
They are the rejected stones in their homeland turned cornerstones in foreign lands. Anthony Oluwafemi Joshua, the world heavy weight boxer now donning British colors, Adeleke a one-time fastest 100m runner in Asia representing Qatar just to mention two are examples of the Nigerian youth deemed not good enough by their fatherland but, are celebrated elsewhere.
Take for example, Angel Adelaja of FRESH DIRECT.
Adelaja founded Fresh Direct in 2014, with a goal to make agriculture easy and fun for young people, empower them with employment and strengthen them to also be successful employers of labour.
We also have, Ayodeji Adewunmi who is the the CEO of Jobberman, a company he co-founded in 2009 while in university. Jobberman is the leading employment websites in Nigeria and Ghana and has become one of the most recognised internet brands in Nigeria and consistently rated as one of the most innovative technology companies in Africa. Amongst many others.
Olasunkanmi Opeifa, a teacher at Government Day Secondary School Karu, Abuja, was among the 2020 top 50 finalists for the just concluded Global Teacher’s prize Award. He’s also a Nigeria youth
Talk about two Nigerian youths who built up a tech company PAYSTACK from the scratch and sold it for $200Million. Website like Jumia, konga, Flutterwave, Mobile bloodbank all built up by the youth of this generation who the president tagged as “Lazy Youth”.
A brief interview with some powerful Nigerian youths who have created wealth for themselves was also carried out, with Oluwole Stephen who is the C.E.O of PURE FABRICS in his words said; “I ventured into selling of fabrics such as pure wool fabrics, German fabrics, Italian fabrics and African attire when I saw where this country is going, there’s high rate of unemployment and I didn’t want to suffer, I had to venture into something lucrative” he also said he’s not going to end at just selling fabrics, it will go further to him designing his own pattern on fabrics and bringing innovative generally into the fabrics industry. He also mentioned how the government have been of help in actualizing his vision “the government in their own way have tried their best in making education available for us, because I went to a state owned university, although Tuition fee is high and not every household can afford it, the government provided an opportunity for me to learn about the things I know today” he said.
Feranmi Oyedele, the C.E.O of FORBES IMAGES, explained how he came about the vision “I have always showed great interest in art and creativity, my first encounter with a camera exposed me to how much of my imaginations I can make come alive with a camera, so I started learning with keen interest; the art and science of photography, painting with light and creating epic images, fast forward to 2017 when I started a photography company of my own; FORBES IMAGES. it’s been a great experience so far. I think the earlier we start expecting less from the government, the more we get things done by ourselves on time, from learning to capital generation and operations, it’s been from personal savings and grants from family and friends”
He also explained how the government can be of help. “The government can come in by introducing SMES / startup friendly policies making loan acquisition accessible and easy for startups, working infrastructures in terms of electricity, internet and good environment to enable creators like myself to flourish,” he said.
The current government can kick-start the evolution of the Nigerian youth by having a vibrant blueprint or policy focused on education, research development and empowerment. It should be a mission statement and commitment of the current and future governments. Protecting and securing this vulnerable and left-behind group is now a priority. The president should know that they are the real victims, the casualties and not the other way round.
A saying goes and I quote “if your country won’t do it for you, then do it for yourself and the future of your country”. And that’s what the “lazy youth” have been doing. Creating a better Nigeria.
Nigerian youths are not lazy, they fight for what they want and surmount whatever hurdle thrown at them. They go through school to see they are able to achieve something in life irrespective of the situation of the country. The youths are doing well for themselves but the country does not encourage them. As a result of this, the society cannot bring out the best in them. Nigerian youths are incredibly creative, driven to succeed and very talented. What they lack and which they have been shying away from is good leadership. It is so deficient that it defines every other thing, the reason why we are in this mess. Nigeria will not get any better until we have leaders who appreciate the value of the youths.