By Adekunle Adekoya

I have often felt a bitter sorrow at the thought of the German people, which is so estimable in the individual and so wretched in the generality. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832).

Whenever I ponder the above quote from the German philosopher and scientist, Goethe, in light of our situation, I not only get angry, I also get disillusioned, disappointed, dismayed and displeased by the state of affairs.

If you remove the word “German” and substitute with “Nigerian”, the quote, in my estimation, applies to Nigeria and Nigerians.

I get emotional because at the individual level, I do not think there is a better creation than the Nigerian, and as such, there shouldn’t have been a country better than Nigeria. Even, as insecurity rages nationwide, the average Nigerian is still who he or she is — friendly, hard-working, and dignified — whether rich or poor, with that can-do attitude that sweeps failure aside.

You cannot but wonder how a nation that produced Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, Timothy Mofolorunso Aluko, Cyprian Ekwensi, Iya Abubakar, Ishaya Audu, and Adamu Baikie, to mention a few can remain mired in the begrimed muck of under-development, with a wobbling economy, and pestilential insecurity.

It will continue to befuddle the mind how the country of Akinwumi Adesina, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Amina Muhammed, Arunma Otteh, Philip Emeagwali and others has somehow refused to be able to generate enough electricity for her own citizens, yet bids to sell power to other countries.

It is also mind-boggling that 60 years after flag independence from the British, and as other African countries equip schools with internet, supply tablets to school children, we remain manacled in a self-created gaol of primeval considerations and conflicts around cattle and grazing routes, a development whose fall-outs have generated the fearful spectre of looming famine. Skyward prices of foodstuffs is evidence.

While these stare us in the face today, what is even more fearful is what will happen tomorrow as a result of what we are doing today, or what we are not doing. The tomorrow I speak of is about a generation thence; some 25-30 years. Seeing where we are in 2021, what will be the situation in Nigeria in 2050?

Thepopulation  of  Nigeria is estimated at 211,184,869 as of Wednesday, June 30,  2021, based on an elaboration of the latest UN data by Worldometer, a global online database. Youths make up most of this, with people below the age of 50 constituting more than 60 per cent of our population.

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Most of the youth, right now are not in school, and Nigeria is on record as having the highest population of out-of-school children, put at more than 13 million by various multilateral organisations, though government says the figure is 10.1 million.

The problem is that these unmanaged youth are currently into all kinds of anti-social activities — they are into drugs, prostitution, banditry, kidnapping, ritual killing and robbery. The “upscale”ones among them find solace in internet fraud and wire scams. Which leads one to the issue of Chidinma Ojukwu and the murder of Usifo Ataga, late CEO of Super TV.

The girl revealed in the course of interrogation that she used, alongside her deceased paramour, certain psychedelic substances during their trysts. Note that Chidinma is 21, while the unfortunate fellow was 50. They qualify as youth.

How many Chidinmas do we know of? And their client paramours? They are legion — millions in number, mostly urban-based, many of them wealthy, in high places, and living in choice parts of our towns and cities.

The reality is that as a nation, our future is already troubled. Are these the people that will become executive officers, directors, permanent secretaries in the ministries? Is it from among them that governors will be elected? Senators?

Members of the House of Representatives and state assemblies? Speakers? Senate Presidents? Many of them will even find their way into the Police, Army, Air Force, Navy, etc. Can you guarantee that some youth who use tramadol or rohypnol will not get jobs at NDLEA?

Right now, the use of cannabis is so commonplace it is like buying satchet water and drinking it at a bus stop. That wasn’t the case some 30 years ago; people who used cannabis took great pains to hide their habit and were heavily censured when discovered. Friends even ostracised peers they discovered are users.

What to do? The first step towards solving a problem is to admit its existence. Thankfully, government did that at the launch of the war against drug abuse last weekend in Abuja. But beyond rhetoric, this is a clarion call for government to take immediate steps towards social re-engineering.

We must get more serious with schools, schooling and teaching. Parents, in particular, must take their duties more seriously. Imagine Chidinma’s mother saying she saw her last 10 years ago! The building blocks of character are laid mainly from childhood through adolescence to about the age of 21.

That means parents have the duty to mould their children’s character. Government must take action and put policies in place to make parenting easier. We must re-engineer Nigeria, and fast too!

Vanguard News Nigeria