COMING GENERATION SCARES ME...REAL HARD!
While we have been busy talking about Nigeria of today, I
wonder if we have spared a thought about how this country will be in the next
TWENTY-FIVE years. On October 1, 1979, when Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari was
sworn-in as president, Goodluck Jonathan was just a 22 year-old undergraduate
of University of Port-Harcourt. Shagari was 54 years old. Ayo Fayose was 19
years old. Bukola Saraki was 17. Yemi Osibajo was 22. The generation of the
likes of Shagari, Richard Akinjide, Adisa Akinloye, Sabo Barkin Zuwo, Ifeanyi
Nwobodo, Ume Ezeoke, Akin Omoboriowo, Olusola Saraki, Sunday Awoniyi, Garba
Nadama, Awal Ibrahim and soon have gone for good! Some of us in our 40s, 50s
and 60s when in school, either in the university or secondary school, had lofty
dreams, both personal and societal. We were always motivated by nationalists
and inventors who had impacted positively on the cause of humanity. We were voracious readers of novels and other
books. Nelkon for our Ordinary Level Physics, Lambert for Chemistry, B.O
ADELEKE and Goh Cheng Leong for our Geography, Phebean Ogundipe for Practical
English, Achebe and Soyinka for Literature and others like that. We were always
flaunting our knowledge of current affairs. Inter-school quiz, Literary and
Debating competition were the in-thing. Nowadays, students can hardly string a
sentence together in English without errors. Those that attended nursery speak
with impeccably but can't spell the words correctly.
Fast forward 35 years on and you are shocked and disturbed.
Have you ever spoken to or engaged a 20 year-old boy? Ask him what motivates
him and he is likely to mention music, hip hop to be precise and comedy. He has
hundreds of downloaded songs on his phone. He can sing all of them off hand. He
knows all the singles of Nice, Neato C, Timaya, Davido, Whiz Kid off hand. The
babes among them take pride in enticing men old enough to be their father on
social media with buxom physique. But s/he does not know anything about
history of nationalism in the country. Ideas about good society, responsible
family and good conduct do not motivate him. He just wants to make money
because his friend who does yahoo is rich and rides a good car, her friend who
has numerous ‘Ariosto’ drives an SUV! The things that interest him/her are
things that do not add value. S/he has google but never uses it for advancement
of knowledge but to download porn and other inanities. Yet, in TWENTY years
time, they are the ones that will be contesting to become governors, senators,
Reps members and even president. They belong to a generation that does not care
about morality. They belong to a generation that is motivated only by money and
its acquisition. By 2035 to 2040, they will be our senators, Reps, governors and
so on. I wonder if we have ever spared a thought for how this country will look
like under them. I told a man recently and these are my words: IF A GUY WHO IS
IN LAGOS COULD USE FALSE PRETENSE TO
OBTAIN $20,000 FROM SOMEONE IN UNITED STATES, WHAT DO YOU
THINK WILL HAPPEN IF SUCH A GUY BECOMES A STATE GOVERNOR AND IS IN CHARGE OF AN
ALLOCATION HE DOES NOT EVEN HAVE TO OBTAIN UNDER FALSE PRETENSE? WHICH HIS/HER
STATE IS STATUTORILY ENTITLED TO. How did we get into this mess? How can we get
out of this predicament? I am worried, deeply worried. Are you?
Written by my wonderful teacher MR AJANI OKE FATAI