I came across the following blurb in the Feb 2008 edition of Essence magazine:
"In a survey on the global awareness of children and teens in ten countries, students in Nigeria - the only African country included - ranked highest, showing the strongest grasp of international affairs. Dead last was the United Kingdom, just below the United States."
As a Nigerian, I was literally glowing with pride as I read that quote. Not that I was particularly surspried - Nigerians tend to be very well versed on international affairs and can discuss intelligently on topics ranging from Barack Obama's chances of clinching the Democratic nomination to Victoria Beckham's wardrobe to the factors mitigating against peace in the Middle East. Well maybe "discuss intelligently"is a bit of a stretch sometimes, but we sure can discuss loudly and robustly on any topic under the sun! And it doesnt matter whether we have any real knowledge on the topic at hand, we still have an opinion, and a strong one at that! LOL!! We are, in essence (no pun intended!), a nation of masterful pontificators :-)
Seriously though, for Nigerian students to be ranked first in such a survey (trumping the UK, the US & other presumably "first-world" countries) is quite a feat and Nigerians everywhere should be chuffed. It isn't often that we are in the news for something positive so my people, let's bask in the spotlight o jare! Have you finished basking? Good, now come back to earth! Our students have demonstrated that they have the ability to shine anywhere in the world but as a nation, we are not doing anything to nurture their potential. Now if that doesn't equate to a waste of natural resources, I dont know what does! We will never be taken seriously as a nation until we start to take ourselves, and especially our young people seriously...
OK, that's my PSA for the week. I'm out!
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3 comments:
I love your blog! It's so well written. Carry on and I look forward to more reading. But where do we start with nurturing and appreciating our young people? Everyone wants to get into oil and gas, nothing wrong with that. But I'm not sure we're too concerned with ourselves as a community. It's basically a "make I chop" kinda mentality. I love Nigeria, I no go lie, but where do you start?
Thanks Chanteuse!
I can't pretend to have all the answers but I think that if we are really serious about nurturing the next generation, there has to be a shift in public policy - the government has to begin to allocate more time, more effort and more resources into rebuilding our public schools on all levels. Basically, we've got to see a real investment in the education sector.
That's the starting point. Everything else will follow from there, I think..
I quite agree with your train of thought Kemi but I would like to add that it is more of an ideological problem which is quite cancerous! Our leaders don't believe in human development. Leadership must be borne out of a desire to serve and true patriotism. Not until politicians and political leaders understand that the future of this country lies in nurturing the next generation, they would only have increased the number of leaders who have squandered the resources of this country!
Leadership, or any position of leadership should come with the desire for service and true patriotism. We can not enthrone mediocres and expect them to perform?
I will always advocate for a paradigm shift! Get the youth involve in the decision making process! Show them they are important and you won't believe what new breeds of human without greed we would be raising!
Take a cue from this, why is it that when a Nigerian youth is giving an equal opportunity with youths from other countries, he does better?
......You write brillantly Kemi. I give it to you!
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