WHOSE CALL DO WE ANSWER? WHOSE LEAD DO WE FOLLOW?

By Kolapo Olapoju

 

As youths, and hopefully, 'leaders of tomorrow, we are burdened with the task/responsibility to start catering for our future from today.

Acceptably, there are a few starting blocks out there for us and there are not a lot of good examples to emulate in the society.

All of that is well known, and well seen.

But in spite of this, we have no excuse to be lesser than what we can be.

What will we tell our unborn seeds if they wake up to a crippled society, immersed in disarray?

What excuse can be adequate for our failings?

None my peers, hence, we must act and be better.

But then, whose call do we answer? Whose gospel do we preach?

Whose counsel do we court? Whose lead do we follow?

Is it the call to be entrepreneurial, exemplary, and morally upright by the government who has chained our hands and shackled our feet?

The government and people in governance who do not have the word 'moral' in their lexicon, the hypocritical government that shouts 'run' but hasn't provided us with running shoes.

How can one run on hot gravel,barefoot?

Is it the call of our leaders?

Clowns in cloaks who fart in hallowed chambers and sometimes put on a show of 'free for all.

The stuttering baboons who roll around like oil drums.

If we actually do take the 'leadership by example' saying literally and seriously, if we actually follow the example of people whose sole talent is pilfering, the society would be in chaos and anarchy would loom.

The only things we learn from our leaders are vices and ills.

I stumbled across some lines in the NYSC anthem and I'm thinking the composer must have meant these words sarcastically and ironically-'with dedication and selflessness,Nigeria is ours,Nigeria we serve'.

I mean, seriously?

Dedication! Selflessness!

Those are strange words here, in reality.

Or are we to answer the call of the judiciary that has hoodwinked us every step of the way since our inception as a sovereign nation. The judiciary who were once 'noble attorneys' but now possesses lofty aspirations of owning houses on the moon like their peers in politics.

The judiciary which has failed severally, - to the point where we now see basic judgment as landmark cases.

That judiciary, that's in bed with the swindlers of our future and Goliaths of our present.

Or is it the Education system that is perched on its head.

The education system that still uses the same curriculum my mother used over 25years ago.

The education system that feebly preaches left and right, yet mocks our collective fate in silence, and feed us with stale and trite knowledge.

No, not one of them is worth listening to, but regardless, we owe it to our parents, the selfish society and our children unborn, to fashion a way, to jog on hot coals if need requires, to achieve security for ourselves and be the adults we wish our present adults were.

We are the youths; we own tomorrow and are responsible for the future.

We gotta find our own way.

Our hapless, old and tired leaders, tomorrow they'll pass away, kick the bucket, die.

And we'll control the tide; will it be stormy or clement? It’s in our hands.

We've been failed, but we must not fail.

Failure is not an option; its price comes in billions.

Bad market!

We owe it most importantly to our children, to the future.

We owe them what we were never given; honor, courage, responsibility, selflessness, dedication, neighborliness, common sense.

The onus is on us to make their lives better.

Regardless of our circumstantial dwelling and environment, we have no excuse for failure.

My fellow youth, stand up, make something for you from the gifts you've been bestowed with and fight all odds, break down barriers, rise above challenges, move mountains.

It’s our mandatory obligation to give tomorrow a bright prospect.

The same NYSC anthem also says ‘Youth obey the clarion call, let us lead our nation high, under the sun or in the rain'.

That, I believe we can do, or at least try.