THE FUTURE OF THIS GENERATION –A Wake Up Call for Nigerian Youth Home and Abroad

I’m sure that you have all read through three guest writers on ‘ DIS GENERATION’ page managed by amiable Jennifer, for the past weeks; Temidayo Israel-abdulai, Isikwenu Oghenefego and Jessica Rimington all discussed one thematic focus which is FUTURE and YOUNG PEOPLE .

I want to share an excerpt from an address that was delivered by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered at Oberlin College on June 1965, Ohio entitled ‘Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution’ he shared the story of Rip Van Winkle; the things that we usually remember about this story that is -Rip went up into mountain for his long sleep, when he went up, the sign had a picture of king George iii of England, when he come down, years later, the sign had a picture of George Washington, the first president of the United States. When Rip looked up at the picture of George Washington he was completely lost; he knew not who he was. This reveals to us that he slept through a REVOLUTION.

Revolution! That is my focus, the three guest writers talked about the issue of future generation without sounding the word revolution which I believe as only solution to under-youth development in our country. Dayo Israel , a young Nigerian I respected so much, talked about “My Hope for Future Generation” I could remember vividly in one of my meeting with him in Lagos , I said that we need to bring down our commitment and passion to grassroots so that young citizens there would understand those developmental issues and participate.

Isikwenu Oghenefego said that many young people have lost hope in this country- Why? Those countries they ran to had their own turbulent period and through socio-political-economic revolution they are smiling today. What am advocating for is in support of what Jessica Rimington of One World Youth Project talked about “The future’s Future” in her context she encouraged connectivity of ideas and frowned at social inequality, believe me my fellow young Nigerians the concept of egalitarianism should be encouraged among Nigerian youth home and abroad and our coming together-‘the synergy’ is the key.

My wake up call to all Nigeria youth on a final note is in accordance to what an elder statement, politician and journalist of higher repute Chief MCK Ajuluchuwa of blessed memory said “… I foresee a revolution, may be after my life time, a great revolution arising from the youths, a violent revolution not a peaceful one, where all the tyrants, all thieves of public fund will be slaughtered like in the RUSSIAN REVOLUTION of 1917 .

Never allow it to be said that you are SILENT ONLOOKERS, DETACHED SPECTATORS but you are involved participant in the struggle to make social revolution a reality, a revolution without violent in Nigeria .

By Guest Witer on Dis Generation, THE NATION Newspaper (sundays):

MAYOWA Adeniran A youth- development Journalist with Youngstars Foundation, Jos Executive Officer, African Youth Television Network, (AYTV)

GO ASK ALICE!

Do you know enough about your health and sexuality to help you stay in good shape and out of trouble? It is no longer news that where providing comprehensive information is concern, some parents and teachers still find the task difficult. Thus, they only tell us what they want us to hear and sweep the rest under carpet until the media rescue us from our state of deprivation!

Talking about the media, despite the junks on the internet, there are some outstanding websites that are taking the lead in providing useful information that can be accessed free of charge by anyone. I stumbled on one of such wonders of the Internet recently, actually I heard about the link in a programme organized by MTV Base Youths Are Talking. The facilitator simply said, “…Check out www.goaskalice.com…”. The name alone is enough to spur anyone into action. I was intrigued by the resourcefulness of the website.
Basically, Go Ask Alice is an interactive website that is created to provide reliable, accurate, accessible and culturally competent information to help readers make responsible decisions about their health. You can “Go Ask Alice” questions on relationship, emotional health, alcohol, drugs, fitness and nutrition, sexual health and other general sexuality and social issues.

I actually posted a question to Alice (don’t ask me what question) but was disappointed when I did not receive an instant response as expected. This is because all questions and responses have to undergo a review process in order to ensure a qualitative and accurate response is given. When you submit a question, Alice checks her archives to know if similar queries have been addressed in the past and if it has, you are directed to the page prior to getting a response to your question.

Go Ask Alice, which is supported by a team of Columbia University Health educators, health professionals, research experts and health related organizations world-wide, can be accessed free of charge by students, parents, teachers, other professionals, the elderly, and everyone! Some interesting features on the website are: Questions and Answers of the week, Go Ask Alice Archive and Ask Alice (this gives you an opportunity to submit a question). However, Go Ask Alice is not created to address all issues because there are questions that should be better directed at “go see your professional doctor or counselor”.

“I am afraid to tell my mum I am pregnant”, “Should I tell my friend I am attracted to him?”, “Is social smoking really bad for me?”, “dining out effect on health”, “confused about HIV statistics” etc. are some of the issues I read up from the archives. It is amazing how much you can learn from this professional website. So whether you want to do some armchair psychoanalysis, learn by reading the diverse issues raised by others, or ask a question of your own, Go Ask Alice and get a fresh perspective to help you stay well informed and healthy!

PHONE DATING EXCESSES OR CRISIS?

On a lighter note, I will love to share with you my friend’s phone dating dilemma…in his own words “…so that no guy ever falls into the same pit that I did”. And yeah, I am sure ladies can learn from this too since mobile phone has become a critical tool needed to hopefully negotiate, build and keep an intimate relationship, a new added value of GSM!He writes: A couple of week ago, a certain number was constantly flashing me, so I decided to send a text to know who it was.

The 1st call came through at exactly 12 midnight. If I had known it was some phony call, I wouldn't have picked it up because I have a standing rule that every person that does midnight calls is nothing but a damn cheap-skate.Unfortunately for me I did pick it and lo' and behold on the line was the most beautiful female voice I have ever heard, believe you me, it so beautiful that she would make you pee in your pants. So we did get talking while I still trying to know how she got my number. Before long that became no issue, all that mattered was talking to this chic. I was stuck on her. I called her about 5 times a day and she did same, telling me that if she doesn't talk to me in an hour, she's not satisfied. My male instinct kicked in and got me excited!

After her exams, instead of going home she decided to come to Lagos . I should have got a cue of what was to come when she asked if I wasn’t interested in seeing her. She got to Lagos on a Friday night; my expectation was stake high, hoping to see a beautiful damsel that would totally knock my socks out. But my expectation crashed to debris, leaving me blank, as I tried to convince myself that the person in front of me wasn’t the girl I have been talking to, considering the fact that she told me that on a beauty scale of 1 to 10, she was an 8 but what was standing before me short of a 6.

The next couple of minutes got me thinking about how to ditch this girl. She was every thing that I don’t want in a woman- fat, too spiritual, the whole anchelada. I later found her hanging with my friend whom I think gave her my number, and she asked me to come see her. To avoid her suspecting on my plans to ditch her I paid her a visit that Saturday. After all said and done she simply refused to get the silent message... Girl Get a life! Well to cut the story short, she left for school this morning and I haven't called her. I do hope that she don’t call me or remember me. Like I said before screw free call and phone dating. What do you think?

(Thanks Samuel for sharing!)

PROTECTING THE FUTURE!

“What is with the trend of having guest writers on your column?” someone asked. He was wondering if I am tired of writing so soon! My voice is not silent, I am certainly not tired of writing because it is a positive way expressing myself! But this month, I am inspired to share this platform with other young people of like-minds from different parts of the world- Dayo Israel, Jessica Rimington, Oghenefego Isikwenu. They are epitome of young leaders who will do nothing but succeed in their mission to protect the future. They understand the beauty of being youth and making positive impact. By engaging and commititng themselves, they are using their brain and heart to influence others with hope!

What happens when you loose hope? You don’t want to do anything anymore. You become a detached citadel of pessimism and even act as a barrier to the success of others. And everything stop being of real value because of your inability to achieve your goals. God forbid that our generation become shapen into a hopeless one!

The three guest writers who were featured as part of this year’s international youth day celebration did express their hope for this generation and their commitment to protect the future despite the many challenges facing our world today. We can indeed stop the earth from being driven into premature extinction if we all desist from activites that promote social inequality, man inhumanity to man, enviromental degradation, poverty etc.

It is because of the present as well as the future that we need to be more accountable and stop ourselves (not just our leaders) from squandering the resources God has blessed humanity with. Industrialization is one of the contributing factors to global warming and even at rural level, poverty is causing men to depend solely on earth to survive, thus they cut down trees to feed but leave the land they tilled for food bare and neglected.

The decisions you and I make everyday affect generations ahead. However, our passion and loyalty could be channeled towards moving things forward. We need a paradigm shift from the materialism mess we have got ourselves into by not denying the value of money i.e money is great to have if you do great things with it, but by understanding that there is only enough to meet our needs and not our greed. Protecting the future is all about sustainability. We all need to hold hands and join hearts to make the world a better place for posterity and not shatter our hope into piece.

THE FUTURE'S FUTURE (Guest writer)

An OWYP colleague from Nigeria and I were recently discussing all the societal divisions we face, all the prejudice and discrimination. We were equally frustrated with parallel situations in our parts of the world. We asked each other: Would it ever get better?

I saw a 15 year old boy freaking out once because he too saw the burden our generation faced. He was on the verge of tears because he saw it only as a burden. Yes, it is a burden in one way. But, the beautiful side of it contains a truth that is almost too overwhelming to admit to ourselves and perhaps this is why we do not yet fully own it. That this generation and the ones coming right after us have the gift and the challenge of re-imagining the world for our great-great-grand children, is there anything possibly more important and exciting?

If I had to put a theme to this I would say: curing human detachment and the precipice on which our generation finds itself resting. Though that sounds really bold, I claim no profoundness or shocking insight, only observations. Some very smart people told me that this all happened not all too long ago. That it arrived with the Industrial Revolution, the age of Colonization, and genocide of indigenous peoples. They said that we started internalizing this new story of human existence around the time we did not need to be directly connected to the land to survive. Paul Hawken says the crux of it all really comes down to oil. That once we discovered what we could use it to make, without having to use the actual energy, we spiraled fast in a direction that most now label as progress.

Our lives and world were transformed. And, it is all incredible in its own way. I can stand in Las Vegas and love it just as I can stand in the Redwoods and love it. But, it doesn't change the fact that something is wrong. If I dare venture to define what is wrong I would say: (1) Somehow in the process of so much growth, we have become detached from what it is to be human. (2)Our current ways of life are utterly unsustainable. The reason it matters is because we are pushing humanity toward a premature extinction. Our global economic system has detached us from the basic essentials of life, methods of extraction, production, consumption, and waste. This disunity allows for great injustice. According to Van Jones, "Two problems confront us: social inequality and environmental destruction. Both problems are reaching crisis points. We act as if they are separate problems, but they are linked economically, politically, and morally."

Around the globe, people are starting to do in their own ways, in their own communities what has to be done; we see this in the influx of NGOs, and even in the media's relatively new attention to "being green" and promotion of community service. Out of necessity we are going to have to literally change the world starting with the way we interact with it.

Guest Writer: Jessica Rimington,

Founder: One World Youth Project.

My faith in Nigeria, my hope for the future (Guest writer)

Many young people have lost hope in this country, so all they think of is how to leave the country; it’s quite unfortunate, but I will love you to know that you have a part to play in the rebuilding of this nation. I believe so much in Nigeria that somehow I have a way of seeing the silver lining behind the cloud. There is hope! Our fathers (THE LEADERS) have disappointed us in many ways, the hope we have left is the generation of young people whose mentality have not been entangled in the corruption that stinks all over. The wind of corruption has caught up with some young people, but we have a remnant. It is no more a hidden fact, they are everywhere, and in every sector of our economy young people are proving themselves as leaders, achievers, goal getters and good managers. The increase in civil society, international organizations and even corporate organizations concern for leadership development among young people has proven to be a step in the right direction.
This is where I get my hope from. Our present leaders did not have the opportunity to undergo leadership trainings before they took up such positions, so they just learnt on the job. The African Leadership Forum, LEAP Africa , YoungStars Foundation, Inspiro Communications and Media, UNFPA, UNDP and a lot more organizations have concentrated on leadership development programmes for young people. You may not feel the impact now, but there is hope. Let’s concentrate on building a peaceful, equitable and sustainable future for our children. Our fathers did what they could and gave us the Nigeria we now live in; you have to construct and build the Nigeria you want your children to live in and now is the time.
This is our opportunity to contribute to nation building, do not wait till you are the President, Governor, Senator or even the Counselor to make an impact. Your next door neighbour looks up to you for leadership and direction, your kid sister believes so much in you and will be devastated if you fail, what about your parents, they always believed you will be better than them; my fellow Nigerian youths, we have a lot of work to do in reconstructing the Nigeria of our dreams. I certainly cannot do it alone, I need you to make this happen; you are important! I believe we are the hope of our country, Nigeria . Stop complaining, contribute your part, I will do my part, am sure together we can achieve a Nigeria we would be proud of, we can give our children a country they will boast about.

Guest writer: Isikwenu Oghenefego, National Focal Point, Global Youth Coalition on HIV and AIDS (GYCA), Action Partner, Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) and Coordinator, Inspiro Communications & Media (ICM).

My Hope for future generation by Dayo Israel (Guest writer)

I live with Hope. Hope for a better tomorrow, Hope for a Brighter Future and a Safer World. However, this hope is not just for me but also of and for the over 30 Million Young People all over the World and the Unborn Generation. It is this hope that inspires my various International travels all over the world to gather together Young Leaders in their thousands to pray for the world through the Youth on the Frontline Conference.
I’m opportune to be born in this generation that is regarded as the IPod Generation, even though we have our records of uncomplimentary achievements, I am not in anyway envious of the past generation - My Parents Generation. The generation responsible for the ills of our today’s society, with records of corruption, massacre, under development, local and foreign debt, and foreign aid dependence as a result of bad political decisions such as the Structural Adjustment Program that has enslaved the African Citizenry. From Rhodesia to Kosovo, South Africa to Cuba, Liberia to Vietnam & South Korea, Afghanistan to Iraq, our “parents generation” Leaders fought wars that they had no business fighting in the first place. Wars that made so many Families Homeless, Children Parentless and turned so many Future Leaders into Child Soldiers.
Today's challenges are daunting. Top of the list is the Climate change and AIDS Pandemic that threaten us in an interconnected world. The Free World has continued to re-colonise the developing nations through various International Policies such as Globalisation and Open Market Economy. One of such is the Economic Partnership Agreement advocated by the European Union. The Iraq war and the resurgence of Taliban, and other global terrorist networks, have made our world more menacing by the threat of nuclear proliferation. The fears of terrorism have made our skies unsafe for travel.
Faced with these new generational challenges, the youths of this generation have continued to express passion and commitment to meet even greater challenges that may come with time. We have fought unemployment through Entrepreneurial alternatives. Our Innovations have posed major breakthrough globally. With Information Technology as one of the blessings of this generation, we have been able to tackle the challenges facing effective communication and information sharing. Young People now have a voice than we did 10years ago.
My Hope for the future generation is for a World filled with Love, Peace and armoHarmHarmony. A world where Young People: Succeed in education and continue participating in learning until University Graduation.; Take part in activities that develop their resilience and the social and emotional skills they need for life, and enjoy their leisure time, making real contribution to society using their energy and dynamism; Are emotionally and physically healthy and able to cope with the demands of adolescence and becoming an adult in a safe and supportive environment. Let us arise and build, working hand in hand to make this world a better place.
Guest writer: Temidayo Israel-Abdulai, Coordinator for the Nigerian Youth in Diaspora Organisation, a TV Talk show host and Youth Evangelist.