MY DEAR NIGERIAN YOUTH ~ BAYO ADEYINKA
My dear Nigerian Youth,
By Bayo Adeyinka
I am very angry and that is why I am addressing
you. You are the source of my anger and I want
to vent my spleen- maybe not at you directly- but
at the arrogance of your ignorance. Of all
nations of the world, you are to be most pitied.
Do you still wonder what you have done?
You don’t have an Ivy League education but with
the little below-standard education you got, all
you could do with it is to write a petition against
someone with the benefit of an Ivy League
education. You can’t even run your personal
economy as you’re almost always and
perpetually broke yet you arrogate to yourself
superior knowledge about the nation’s economy.
You sit in front of a computer and rant all day
through social media but with every click, you
make money- not for yourself- but for Mark
Zuckerberg. With every megabyte of data you
spend complaining and maligning, you make
stupendous bucks for Etisalat, Glo and Airtel.
Over the next two years, the number of Nigerian
millionaires will jump by 47% but most likely you
will not be among because you are too busy
whining and complaining. And yet about 60% of
Nigeria’s 170m population are below 35 years.
Oh, what a waste!
By the way, Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he
started facebook. Africa’s youngest billionaire,
Ashish Thakkar, is 31. He escaped from the
Rwandan genocide and relocated to Uganda
where he started an IT business. Collin Thornton,
who made his millions by fixing bad computers
and setting up Dial-a-Nerd, is 35. Adam Horowitz,
an 18-year-old entrepreneur, started 30 websites
in 3 years before he became successful.
The only thing you have ever started is an online
petition. Have you heard of Jason Njoku? He’s 33
and the founder of Iroko TV. He received $8m
investment into his company just a few years
ago. What he does? Sharing the same Nollywood
films that you spend hours to watch online. He
didn’t just hang around waiting for Buhari to
make something happen or blaming Jonathan for
not making anything happen.
Kamal Budhabhatti was deported from Kenya but
while on the flight, he thought of the
opportunities in Kenya. He found his way back
after 6 months and today his company is valued
at $30m. He’s 36. Have you heard of Chinedu
Echeruo? Apple just paid $1b for his app. He’s a
Nigerian like you and all he did was attempt to
fix a problem.
But for you, the only thing you attempt to fix are
your nails- and your hairdo! Chinedu moved to
New York in 1995 and found it difficult to
navigate the city with ease so he developed
HopStop to fix the problem. Stop listing all the
problems- we know them already but what are
you doing about them?
Awolowo was 37, Akintola was 36, Ahmadu Bello
was 36, Tafawa Balewa was 34, Okotie-Eboh was
27 and Enahoro was 27 at the time of
independence of Nigeria. In 1966, the first coup
was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu (29) and stopped by
Murtala Mohammed (28), TY Danjuma (28), IBB
(25), Sanni Abacha (23) and Shehu Yaradua (23).
It brought in Yakubu Gowon as Head of State at
32 and Obasanjo at 29. You are in your 40s and
you still sag your trousers.
Of course you know Linda Ikeji. You’ve spent
hundreds of hours on her blog laughing and
commenting while she smiles her way to the
bank. She’s just built a house for her father in
the village- just by you clicking on her gossip
and sharing. Your day is not complete without a
stop by at her blog. She was as broke as you
are but she turned a hobby into a business. Are
you that void of understanding?
You think the politicians have any regard for you?
That is why I referred to the arrogance of your
ignorance at the beginning of this diatribe. You
have a false estimation of yourself. You have an
over bloated ego. You are only as good as an
election ticket- pure and simple.
You are only good to used and discarded like a
used ballot paper. Who keeps a used ballot paper
anyway? That is why they only remember you
every four years. You are like a menstrual pad
that is only useful during the menstrual period.
Are you hurt? Okay, let me help you. Have you
heard of Prof Olusola Adeyeye before?
He is a Senator of the Federal Republic at the
moment. But before he became a senator, he
was popular on facebook. Even more popular
than so many latter day facebookivists. I was
one of his many followers. He put up posts after
posts and pander to populist thinking. Then he
was elected and one of the first things he did
was to deactivate his facebook account. Yes,
you read me right. Deactivate. How many times
do you still see El-Rufai’s tweets? No longer
regular? That is how it will dwindle until he
disappears totally. I’m not limiting it to the
aforementioned alone and this is not about any
party. They are all the same. Yet you falsely
believe your future is in the hands of one
politician. You will grow grey hair with that
belief. And by the time you wise up, you’re on
your way to the grave- not with a life expectancy
of less than 60 years in this clime. Can you see
you have wasted your time? And possibly your
life?
See, people have been complaining since
independence. And they will still complain in 4
years. Will you be among them?
I agree with my friend who said Nigerian youth
need mental detoxification. And maybe I should
add that you need a brain transplant. Let me
give you another example. I’ve watched you try
to pull some people down when you don’t like
their face- or their comments. You report them
to facebook. And they get pulled down.
Momentarily. Just momentarily.
Do you know why? Facebook knows those people
draw traffic. Their posts get huge numbers of
comments. And with every comment and click,
someone is making money. Will you allow your
best customers to leave? That is why though
facebook pulled down Adeyinka Grandson’s page,
he was given a facebook fan page in return. Yes,
a fan page. You need to get a job and you need
to get a life. There is life away from facebook or
social media.
If you’re not making money from social media
and you sleep on it, you’re merely existing- you’re
not living. I have seen some of you take selfies
and pose in all manner of ways as you paste
your photos on social media. Are you a
photographer or are you selling something that
we don’t know? You’re unemployed because
you’re unemployable. You don’t have skills.
Sorry, the major skill you have is that of pointing
out the problems and debating about them.
That’s a no brainer! You can’t even diagnose the
problems properly.
You think Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala is your problem?
You are a self-inflicted problem. You are afflicted
with yourself and by yourself. If you’re looking for
the reason why you are the way you are- look no
further than your mirror. Instead of occupying
Nigeria, you should occupy your brain. The only
witch chasing you from your village is you. It’s
time to stop bewitching yourself.
Stop whining about lack of electricity or fuel. Do
something about it. Every adversity has a seed of
opportunity embedded in it. Create something.
Invent something. Start something. Read up a
book. Write a book. Take advantage of the
present situation. Nigeria is a huge market.
Nigeria is a virgin market. Waiting for you.
Unleash yourself. Release your passion. Follow
your potential. Invent your way to prosperity.
Stop waiting for government- government only
needs you when they need your taxes. Don’t
depend on welfare. People who depend on
welfare don’t fare well.
You think you lack capital? No, the problem is
not lack of capital but lack of ideas. Just today,
two men stepped into my wife’s office selling the
new portraits of Buhari and Osinbajo. That’s
someone grabbing an opportunity and seizing the
moment. I have a friend who started out by
offering after-school lessons to kids on her
street- now she has a school.
I know a lady who was indigent and self-
sponsored on campus. Each night, she soaked
beans and made ‘moin-moin’ in the morning for
sale on campus. I bought out of the moin moin
as well as some other students and that was
how she paid her way through University. Not
prostitution. Have you heard of Ayodeji
Megbope? She started her business with the last
N1,000 she had on her by making moin moin.
She is the CEO of No Leftovers.
I have shared the story of ‘Akara Ayo’ and
invited him to talk to us before. He left his
banking job to start a business frying Akara
(bean cake) in Ibadan. And added some
innovation to it.
Start a snail farm. You can start it with less than
N100,000. I started it with nothing- I just picked
up snails in my compound and raised them. In a
couple of months, I had raised close to a
thousand. You have a car and you are
complaining you don’t have a job? Convert it for
car hire. Take it to the airports and see how
people will hire it for the day. Liase with good
hotels and place it at their disposal. I met a
young man in Calabar who charges N1,500 per
hour for the use of his car. There is something in
your hand that can give you the future you want.
The best moment to start is now.
For God’s sake, just do something!
NB: This is just an article to stir up and
challenge people and it’s intention is not derogatory in any form.
www.emyspeaks.blogspot.com
By Bayo Adeyinka
I am very angry and that is why I am addressing
you. You are the source of my anger and I want
to vent my spleen- maybe not at you directly- but
at the arrogance of your ignorance. Of all
nations of the world, you are to be most pitied.
Do you still wonder what you have done?
You don’t have an Ivy League education but with
the little below-standard education you got, all
you could do with it is to write a petition against
someone with the benefit of an Ivy League
education. You can’t even run your personal
economy as you’re almost always and
perpetually broke yet you arrogate to yourself
superior knowledge about the nation’s economy.
You sit in front of a computer and rant all day
through social media but with every click, you
make money- not for yourself- but for Mark
Zuckerberg. With every megabyte of data you
spend complaining and maligning, you make
stupendous bucks for Etisalat, Glo and Airtel.
Over the next two years, the number of Nigerian
millionaires will jump by 47% but most likely you
will not be among because you are too busy
whining and complaining. And yet about 60% of
Nigeria’s 170m population are below 35 years.
Oh, what a waste!
By the way, Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he
started facebook. Africa’s youngest billionaire,
Ashish Thakkar, is 31. He escaped from the
Rwandan genocide and relocated to Uganda
where he started an IT business. Collin Thornton,
who made his millions by fixing bad computers
and setting up Dial-a-Nerd, is 35. Adam Horowitz,
an 18-year-old entrepreneur, started 30 websites
in 3 years before he became successful.
The only thing you have ever started is an online
petition. Have you heard of Jason Njoku? He’s 33
and the founder of Iroko TV. He received $8m
investment into his company just a few years
ago. What he does? Sharing the same Nollywood
films that you spend hours to watch online. He
didn’t just hang around waiting for Buhari to
make something happen or blaming Jonathan for
not making anything happen.
Kamal Budhabhatti was deported from Kenya but
while on the flight, he thought of the
opportunities in Kenya. He found his way back
after 6 months and today his company is valued
at $30m. He’s 36. Have you heard of Chinedu
Echeruo? Apple just paid $1b for his app. He’s a
Nigerian like you and all he did was attempt to
fix a problem.
But for you, the only thing you attempt to fix are
your nails- and your hairdo! Chinedu moved to
New York in 1995 and found it difficult to
navigate the city with ease so he developed
HopStop to fix the problem. Stop listing all the
problems- we know them already but what are
you doing about them?
Awolowo was 37, Akintola was 36, Ahmadu Bello
was 36, Tafawa Balewa was 34, Okotie-Eboh was
27 and Enahoro was 27 at the time of
independence of Nigeria. In 1966, the first coup
was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu (29) and stopped by
Murtala Mohammed (28), TY Danjuma (28), IBB
(25), Sanni Abacha (23) and Shehu Yaradua (23).
It brought in Yakubu Gowon as Head of State at
32 and Obasanjo at 29. You are in your 40s and
you still sag your trousers.
Of course you know Linda Ikeji. You’ve spent
hundreds of hours on her blog laughing and
commenting while she smiles her way to the
bank. She’s just built a house for her father in
the village- just by you clicking on her gossip
and sharing. Your day is not complete without a
stop by at her blog. She was as broke as you
are but she turned a hobby into a business. Are
you that void of understanding?
You think the politicians have any regard for you?
That is why I referred to the arrogance of your
ignorance at the beginning of this diatribe. You
have a false estimation of yourself. You have an
over bloated ego. You are only as good as an
election ticket- pure and simple.
You are only good to used and discarded like a
used ballot paper. Who keeps a used ballot paper
anyway? That is why they only remember you
every four years. You are like a menstrual pad
that is only useful during the menstrual period.
Are you hurt? Okay, let me help you. Have you
heard of Prof Olusola Adeyeye before?
He is a Senator of the Federal Republic at the
moment. But before he became a senator, he
was popular on facebook. Even more popular
than so many latter day facebookivists. I was
one of his many followers. He put up posts after
posts and pander to populist thinking. Then he
was elected and one of the first things he did
was to deactivate his facebook account. Yes,
you read me right. Deactivate. How many times
do you still see El-Rufai’s tweets? No longer
regular? That is how it will dwindle until he
disappears totally. I’m not limiting it to the
aforementioned alone and this is not about any
party. They are all the same. Yet you falsely
believe your future is in the hands of one
politician. You will grow grey hair with that
belief. And by the time you wise up, you’re on
your way to the grave- not with a life expectancy
of less than 60 years in this clime. Can you see
you have wasted your time? And possibly your
life?
See, people have been complaining since
independence. And they will still complain in 4
years. Will you be among them?
I agree with my friend who said Nigerian youth
need mental detoxification. And maybe I should
add that you need a brain transplant. Let me
give you another example. I’ve watched you try
to pull some people down when you don’t like
their face- or their comments. You report them
to facebook. And they get pulled down.
Momentarily. Just momentarily.
Do you know why? Facebook knows those people
draw traffic. Their posts get huge numbers of
comments. And with every comment and click,
someone is making money. Will you allow your
best customers to leave? That is why though
facebook pulled down Adeyinka Grandson’s page,
he was given a facebook fan page in return. Yes,
a fan page. You need to get a job and you need
to get a life. There is life away from facebook or
social media.
If you’re not making money from social media
and you sleep on it, you’re merely existing- you’re
not living. I have seen some of you take selfies
and pose in all manner of ways as you paste
your photos on social media. Are you a
photographer or are you selling something that
we don’t know? You’re unemployed because
you’re unemployable. You don’t have skills.
Sorry, the major skill you have is that of pointing
out the problems and debating about them.
That’s a no brainer! You can’t even diagnose the
problems properly.
You think Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala is your problem?
You are a self-inflicted problem. You are afflicted
with yourself and by yourself. If you’re looking for
the reason why you are the way you are- look no
further than your mirror. Instead of occupying
Nigeria, you should occupy your brain. The only
witch chasing you from your village is you. It’s
time to stop bewitching yourself.
Stop whining about lack of electricity or fuel. Do
something about it. Every adversity has a seed of
opportunity embedded in it. Create something.
Invent something. Start something. Read up a
book. Write a book. Take advantage of the
present situation. Nigeria is a huge market.
Nigeria is a virgin market. Waiting for you.
Unleash yourself. Release your passion. Follow
your potential. Invent your way to prosperity.
Stop waiting for government- government only
needs you when they need your taxes. Don’t
depend on welfare. People who depend on
welfare don’t fare well.
You think you lack capital? No, the problem is
not lack of capital but lack of ideas. Just today,
two men stepped into my wife’s office selling the
new portraits of Buhari and Osinbajo. That’s
someone grabbing an opportunity and seizing the
moment. I have a friend who started out by
offering after-school lessons to kids on her
street- now she has a school.
I know a lady who was indigent and self-
sponsored on campus. Each night, she soaked
beans and made ‘moin-moin’ in the morning for
sale on campus. I bought out of the moin moin
as well as some other students and that was
how she paid her way through University. Not
prostitution. Have you heard of Ayodeji
Megbope? She started her business with the last
N1,000 she had on her by making moin moin.
She is the CEO of No Leftovers.
I have shared the story of ‘Akara Ayo’ and
invited him to talk to us before. He left his
banking job to start a business frying Akara
(bean cake) in Ibadan. And added some
innovation to it.
Start a snail farm. You can start it with less than
N100,000. I started it with nothing- I just picked
up snails in my compound and raised them. In a
couple of months, I had raised close to a
thousand. You have a car and you are
complaining you don’t have a job? Convert it for
car hire. Take it to the airports and see how
people will hire it for the day. Liase with good
hotels and place it at their disposal. I met a
young man in Calabar who charges N1,500 per
hour for the use of his car. There is something in
your hand that can give you the future you want.
The best moment to start is now.
For God’s sake, just do something!
NB: This is just an article to stir up and
challenge people and it’s intention is not derogatory in any form.
www.emyspeaks.blogspot.com
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