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What Young People Are Going Through
By Reuben Abati, Lagos
Young people in Nigeria today face special challenges. They live in a
society that is morally disturbed, where values have been turned upside down
and there is so much uncertainty. They are bombarded daily by spectacles of
failure and dispossession, in form of bad roads, epileptic power supply,
absence of basic infrastructure, and widespread poverty. They are growing up
in the midst of area boys, okada cyclists, prostitutes in the neighbourhood,
gruffy artisans, armed robbers and pick pockets on the prowl; they are
surrounded by desperate compatriots who are involved in a rat race:
kidnappers, drug couriers, rapists, undisciplined motorists, corrupt men in
uniform extorting money from the public, callous landlords and land
speculators, treacherous public servants, with each and every one trying to
take advantage of the other.
These children are no longer taught history, so they do not have access to
the past glory of our heritage. They may never know that hardwork and
perseverance used to be hallowed virtues among our people, that valour and
honesty used to be treasured. Parents no longer tell them folktales under
the moonlight so they have no access to the rich lores of our people, the
symbolism of those stories and the interconnected world of man, animals and
spirits, the cultures and occupations which represent the African reality.
Even the young persons who are growing up in the rural areas lack the same
opportunity: their parents are too busy trying to make a living, or they are
busy as members of the local OPC, MASSOB, Egbesu trying to fight for space
within Nigeria. In the cities, how many parents still have the time to sit
around with young adolescents in the house to tell stories when there are
huge bills to be paid, competition with the Joneses, and too many
distractions in the world of business?
In the past, the churches used to help, the school system too. But Nigerian
schools are no longer what they used to be. The few ones where standards are
still maintained are beyond the reach of majority of young persons because
they are expensive; to get good education in Nigeria today, you must be
ready to pay huge bills. In most schools, the teachers are unhappy, they are
distracted because teaching is for them a last resort, they would rather be
banking executives or wannabes in a telecomm or oil and gas multinational
company. They don't have time for the children. In places of religious
worship these days, the principal message is that only the rich can get to
Heaven.
The rich have special seats. They are accorded special recognition. The poor
are the only ones who are required to pay attention to the Scriptures. Nor
is Government inspiring. Young persons at an impressionable age in their
lives read about thieving Governors, about Ministers who have inflated
contracts, and collected or given bribes; they hear about Governors who
dress like women and jump bail in a foreign land; local government Chairmen
who go to the Council only at the end of the month to share money, lawmakers
in the National Assembly who collect N50 million to mortgage the people's
sovereignty... they see all these persons and they are persons who by
Nigerian standards are considered successful. Young persons in Nigeria today
are left at the mercy of these dangerous signals; they are exposed to too
much violence, too much foreign television and too much Nollywood with a
disproportionate exposure to ideas and values. The effect is an emergent
population of adolescents who have been wrongly socialised and whose values call for worry and concern.
It is not an accident that nations of the world pay close attention to their
young population. Successive Nigerian governments have also talked about a
National Youth Policy, and the importance of young persons. The youth
represent the future. In Nigeria, where the population is predominantly
young, the youth indeed represent the face of the country and its future.
The competition among nations now and in the future is now at the level of
skills; nations will grow or die or stagnate depending on the quality of
their human resource. An investment in the young population of Nigeria
therefore would be an attempt to develop the country's capacity to compete.
This will require a development framework which locates the human being at
the centre of governance. There is a big responsibility in this direction
for government at all levels especially in the light of available, sobering
statistics. Parents have abdicated their roles too. The rat race is
destroying families. Too many parents are throwing money, toys, gadgets, and
holidays at their children; what they get in return are children that they
do not know, adolescents who grow away from the family and become something
else; the truth almost always arrives too late. Throwing money and gadgets
at a child cannot serve as a substitute for parenting. On a long-term basis,
Nigeria itself must be reinvented. Ours become a new society where the
individual, young and old can develop a sense of worth. When pensioners are
not paid and they are allowed to die on long queues waiting for money that
may never come, when corpses are allowed to rot in the open, when policemen
shoot innocent citizens indiscriminately, what is being said is that ours is a lawless society where the human being has no worth. Young persons growing up in a society where individual worth is valued are likely to have a higher sense of self-esteem.
But must the young people of Nigeria wait till this society is restored
before they take charge of their destiny? The simple truth is that in spite
of all these woes and miseries that we have outlined, Nigeria is still an
interesting country of beautiful contrasts. It is a country where an
individual can still make his or her choice and excel at it. Nigeria may be
disorganised as a corporate entity, as a collectivity, but there are happier
stories at the individual levels. In the midst of chaos and failure, many
Nigerians still stand out; they live a life of virtue, of excellence, they
stand out as good examples, they are the silver lining in the clouds, the
lilies of the valley; they provide a sharp contrast to those who have been
pushed under by despair. It is a question of both choice and opportunity.
For young people, it is more a question of choice.
There are many young persons today who are in a hurry to enter the world of
adults, they are impatient with the rituals of passage from youth and
adulthood. Having watched television and films, they want to live in a
surrealistic world of pretense. They want to be like Madonna and Shakira.
J-Lo and Britney Spears are their patron-saints. They want to dress like
Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry. They want to be seen in the company of the
likes of Baby Face, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and R. Kelly. They
forget the simple admonition that "Rome was not built in a day." When they
are told that "not all that glitters is gold," they retort that Daddy is
preaching again. And so our young persons turn themselves into vulnerable
objects of desire. By the time they are 13, they are already dreaming of the
day when they will have a boyfriend and experience the kind of passionate
kissing that they see on television.
At 15, they go on a discovery tour of the mysteries of sexual relations. Not
surprisingly adolescent sexuality is one of the major problems facing
society today. Official statistics indicate that the largest percentage of
persons living with HIV/AIDS is to be found among young people, particularly
adolescents. Apart from the risk of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, there is
the additional burden of unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortion. Many
young lives have been lost to criminal abortion procedures. When sex is not
the issue, young persons take to a life of drugs or cultism. The boys want
to dress and look like 50 Cents, Snoopy Dog and Ja Rule. They want to ape
the Hip Hop stars of America.
They want to be the future Akon. Either male or female, they abandon their
studies, whereas they cannot recite a line of the organic table, they know
and they can sing every lyric that ever fell from the mouth of DBanj, Styl
Plus and Beyonce. Their heroes are those criminals who are now known as
"Yahoo Boys". Living a life of illusion can only lead to perdition. Young
people need to be guided to know the difference between make-believe and
reality. They must be assisted to acquire the right sense of proportion.
What they see on television is not necessarily reality. It is an extended,
magnified version of reality. Art does not merely imitate reality, it
expands it, its message is embodied. The so-called heroes we see on
television are not direct renditions of their real-life versions, but
artistes involved in a make-believe performance. Young persons need to be
rescued from the dangers of fictionalized reality which sadly is the selling
point of all forms of entertainment and commerce.
Every parent having a young child, growing up in this troubled nation today
has a major task on his or her hands. Do you know your child? That child on
whose behalf you are running from pillar to post, hoping to help her find
her feet in the world. Going about in this society, I see many of our
distracted youths, totally abandoned to their own devices, lost to a world
of endless boundaries and pressures. In the end, there is not much
difference between the privileged child who lives in well-appointed
neighbourhoods and attends special schools, and the forgotten lot who roam
about on the streets of our cities. Sooner than later, destiny would bring
the two together, in a manner that exposes the fault lines of our society.
Re: The Man From Calabar
You rattled the python's tail, "Ete Rueben" with your enchanting, (some may
even call it an unsolicited PR piece) on Calabar. (The Guardian on Sunday,
September 10, 2006) Who says you are not entitled to fall, in love with a
city. The irresistible menu you served, the pepper soup, the rich night
life, and the thriving hospitality business are a welcome departure from the
litany of woes of our otherwise richly endowed nation and people now being
suffocated by bolekaja politics. For once in a long while, we saw the other
side of Reuben the dramatist, social critic and fault-finder.
The Calabar man, cleverly left out his exploits, memories of which "touches
hidden aspects of the sub-conscious," but he has the right to remain silent
on such salient issues, so as not to spoil our appetite for the menu. Still,
he was at his elements in his compelling narratives, taking the tourist
along the intricate foot paths of Calabar, and drawing a mental architecture
of the city whose women look like they never visit the toilet! The
unmistakable landmarks including the TINAPA magic export duty free zone and
the Obudu Cattle Ranch where the sheep live harmoniously with the high and
the mighty and with a Presidential villa to the bargain for a people "who
like to enjoy life" are strong tourism statements. Who no wan enjoy life?
Ask Liberian warlord and deposed dictator Charles Ghankay Taylor why he is
literally shedding tears over poor feeding in his cell at the UN war crimes
tribunal at the Hague.
But what a comic irony of history for a man of substance that exercised the
power of life and death over his people for more than a decade to be
uprooted from a fugitive haven in Calabar, Nigeria's one-time capital, and a
land of hospitality flowing with exquisite cuisines, wonderful cooks and
serviceable women, to a prison cell of regimented life and tasteless meals?
The Man from Calabar could be a dangerous postcard not only for adult
Reubens now living in lawless Lagos after enjoying adolescent good life in
Calabar, but could also evoke in Taylor a rueful memory even as he awaits
his day in court.
I do not how the tour guides will explain the preference for a Presidential
camp or villa when it is clear that presidents do not visit often (unless if
the area is planning to produce our next president), but I am sure the
forward-looking Cross River State Bureau of Tourism will have an
explanation? One reminder from The Man from Calabar is that national
integration can be fostered by interpersonal and relationships. The National
Youth Service Corps programme was conceived along that line resulting in
inter-ethnic marriages and better understanding of Nigeria by Nigerians. We
need to visit and live among communities and people outside our own, that
way we can eliminate prejudices, stereotypes and unfounded myths reinforced
by time, tradition, religion and ignorance.
If the people of Cross River State should know how they are deeply loved by
the Abatis from Yoruba land their fear of domination by larger groups will
dissipate, and o also will the derogatory references to the Calabar woman.
Nigerians must crave for Ibibio, Efik, and Annang, efut, efik, and atam
dishes the same way that Chinese seek out Chinese cuisine.
Just when I thought you were going to end the Calabar piece on a salivating
note, you returned to Lagos, to find that trees lining the route to the
International Airport were being felled. What do you expect in our mega
city. City dwellers are pathologically arrogant and pompous people, who
think they know it all, when in fact that are suffering from a malady
associated with people who are alienated from nature. We city people are
unnatural and this disease calls for serious medical research, because its
consequences are proving worse than the combined effects of poverty,
HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB. We need a deliberate policy on environment and
people-friendly rural development to decongest our overcrowded and squalid
cities.
The only time I visited Calabar was in 1994 on may way to cover the
Nigeria/Cameroon Bakassi war. There was very little time to savour good
dishes, but your piece and love for Calabar has activated my taste gland and
on my next home visit, I am imposing myself on you to either take me to some
of the "hidden places" you know, but refuse kiss and tell or at least as
close as we can get. Ete, Eti edidie? Ndem fo?
Paul Ejime
Dakar, Senegal
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