TM Contest

Zest of Youth; The Naija Aura [Entry 57]

TM Contest | 8 | 22 | ,

Few days after the independence celebration, it hasn’t escaped the mind how vapid the moods of many Nigerian youths were on the day joy and excitement ought to rule.

Of course numerous reasons precipitated such bland celebrations and those reasons are what every Nigerian youth can easily mutter. It has always been so easy to blame the government and the old generations than to look beyond and see the heroes we lock-up within.

Casey Stengel once said- All blame is a waste of time. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration

Yes! The country as well as her citizens deserves more but that is a discussion for another day.

UN defines a youth as “those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years” while in Nigeria “a youth is someone within 18 to 30 years”.

Now let’s mute all the raging blames for a while and remember those individuals born and nurtured in Nigeria yet they strived and survived under the same government with similar or probably worse conditions.

  • Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun. a.k.a Wizkid (Nigerian singer)- Born in Surulere, Lagos state, grew up in a household with twelve female siblings.

 

  • Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigerian Footballer)– Born in Imo state. Represented Taye Academy of Owerri as a youth

 

  • Tara Fela-Durotoye (Nigerian Make-up Entrepreneur)– Born in Lagos. She started House of Tara at the age of 20, from her living room.

 

  • Genevieve Nnaji (Nigerian Actress)- was born in Mbaise, Imo State…etc

There’s an innate aura that every Nigerian begot, originally crested like a patent right on our souls that needs exploring. There are many others whose situations were as casual as ours yet they didn’t spend time whining about the numerous problems in the country. They discovered what they could offer to their father land through their talents; they invested their time in exploring, developing and displaying those talents amidst all hindrances; their “Naija Aura” came to play and now, they contribute in saving Nigeria.

It is sad that most youths do not even have a vision except the one that lie in bets, waywardness and drug abuses.

“Recent study by Dr Aliyu Abubakar stated that 85 percent of mad people in Nigeria are youths within the age bracket of 18-38 years,”

How can we tell the upcoming generations that we as youths found gratifications in inhaling animal faeces, toilet pits, and dye powders? That all the hope we could build was wasted on bets and coupon numbers. No way!

Our generation is blessed with intrinsic and extrinsic resources. We have social media, zest of youth, our Naija aura and our problems because without problems there won’t be a solution just like without a race, a winner cannot emerge. So “Naija” is our home, make up your mind to slay every obstacle in your path and together we shall join to save Nigeria.

 

This article was written by Livinus Onyeka; connect with him on IG here

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22 thoughts on “Zest of Youth; The Naija Aura [Entry 57]”

  13. Chioma · Edit

    This is a very good write-up. You did a good one hitting the nail on the head.I think what most youths need is a platform to express themselves or someone to give them the push/support to actualize their dreams.

    Reply
  14. Chioma · Edit

    This is a very good write-up. You did a good one hitting the nail on the head.I think what youths need is a platform to express themselves or someone to give them the push/support to actualize their dreams.

    Reply

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