Encouragement for a struggling Nigerian youth, By ‘Tope Fasua

Perhaps someone will make some sense out of some of these advices. Some are worth more than any money I could ever give.

And so, I imagined myself as a young Nigerian just trying to figure our life on that day and chose to write to average Nigerian youths; any Nigerian youth trying to figure out their lives at this moment. Some are clear where they want to go. But others are less certain. Some are intimidated by it all, while some feel more in control.

I recently took a trip to the new Orca Mall in Eko Atlantic on an idle Sunday and typed most of this article on my phone. I started my career in banking just down the road, in a building that was next to the then NTA Headquarters, ADRAO Schools and the Printing and Minting Company, in 1992. In my head on this Sunday were ideas around the big question of Nigeria’s poverty. Yes, poverty is a reality in every country. Nigeria has a bad poverty problem, though not the worst in the world, and we must never be defined by it. The reason why the problem is enhanced in Nigeria is because we have a fairly large population – the largest on the black man’s continent – and of course Africa is the last frontier for economic development; the place where the last set of colonialist experiments were conducted. The Europeans who used brute force to bring the whole world to their developmental point-of-view and reality through slavery and colonialism, were last in Africa. This is not to heap blames on the ‘West’. It is just what it is – the reality of life – because some of our own communities and civilisations also engaged in slavery. But this fact is important to countenance, chiefly because we are still in the process of writing history. Nigerians need to stop speaking and acting as if our fates are sealed. Who knows what may emerge in future?

Some scholars write about the East-West Pendulum; an hypothesis that chronicles how economic development and supremacy shift from the Eastern to the Western Hemisphere, every other two or three centuries. Civilisations in China and India were documented to be way ahead of their Western counterpart a few centuries ago. Even here in Africa, we have had great civilisations in Egypt, Benin, Sokoto, Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Shonaland (Zimbabwe), Mali, Oyo, and many more, that were comparably ahead of whatever could be mustered in the West several hundreds of years ago. The idea of a civilisation overriding another is that people discover new ways, ideas and methods, from time to time, and have these new ideas imposed on other civilisations through conquest. Therefore, we may not be able to tell where the next overriding idea that redefines civilisations will come from. This exists in the realm of ‘UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS’ and there is a chance that when that idea comes, we may be totally blindsided. I mean something more profound than AI and Robotics. All this is to say that whereas I acknowledge the superiority of the Western civilisation, which has redefined our systems today, imposing new economic systems and standards from within which we define poverty, wealth, success and failure etc., we must make room for anything that could happen in future and I cannot give up on Africa, on Nigeria, on the black man and woman.

So, the debate rages on about how Nigeria is a poor country. Media personalities seem locked on repeating, ad nauseum, on their economic shows how Nigerians are poor – in many ways solidifying the perception, creating despair, and cementing a wrong take about Nigeria in the global community. This is what sells and improves their ratings. Like narcotics, it is addictive because it endears Nigerians to the most extreme journalists who are adept at selling apocryphal tales, half-truths, sensationalism and so on, even as they themselves ‘cash out’. Our people are naturally bored listening to journalists who try to be balanced. Can’t blame them. I will, therefore, continue to engage that space because it is the toughest one for every government and every person. Beyond specific administrations, we owe it to posterity to lift our people, our civilisation. Karl Marx once wrote; “Philosophers have analysed the world to a large extent, but the point is to change it.“ I will urge those engaging in the poverty debate to think about solutions, not just shifting the blame on ‘our government’, or ‘our leaders’. This is a question for a lifetime, and Africans – especially Nigerians – should not fall into the usual trap of oversimplification. Oversimplification, the avoidance of personal and group responsibility, an inability to think deeply about solutions to our own problems, are what got us here in the first place. These attitudes are what made us vulnerable and easy pickings for the West. Looking into the future, we should not repeat the same mistakes.

And so, I imagined myself as a young Nigerian just trying to figure our life on that day and chose to write to average Nigerian youths; any Nigerian youth trying to figure out their lives at this moment. Some are clear where they want to go. But others are less certain. Some are intimidated by it all, while some feel more in control. For them I write as below:

Dear Nigerian Youth (and the not-so-young),

If you’re finding it hard in Nigeria and you can see this… I just want to encourage you but there are also some things you must do:

1. Make sure you don’t fall into any addiction that takes your money, time and/or mental abilities.. e.g. drugs, gambling, porn, etc. With these kinds of habits nobody can help you but yourself. Don’t complicate your life, first and foremost.
2. Make sure you don’t wear your anger as an attitude on your face and body. Everybody in this world is taking their own chances. Nobody is responsible for where you are at present. People have been there before, and many, not all, escaped to a more desirable point in life.
3. Your self-presentation is important. Even I used to buy second hand ‘Okrika’ shirts at Oshodi and later at Quay Side behind Mandillas. I don’t buy “Bend Down Select” anymore but I am proud of my story. There was a time when I was broker than a church rat, coming through university. There were no student loans in those days. Scholarships and bursaries were extremely rare too.
4. Don’t write off your country. This will perhaps be the worst way you can harm yourself, if you wake up daily and believe people who tell you Nigeria is bad, is terrible, is useless, and only does bad things to people. Don’t be one of those who exclaim ‘Nigeria has happened to me!’ only when something negative happens. Nigeria is your best bet. Believe it. This is where you have the largest concentration of people who can help you with opportunities. Many who travel abroad where they think because the environments are well organised from the outside, then opportunities are cheap and meritocracy rules, are now running back, burnt and disappointed. In many of those countries, corruption, nepotism, discrimination, racism and other ills abound.
5. You’re going to need human beings somehow and no matter what. God doesn’t descend from heaven to help you, but does this through other human beings. Learn to be respectful to people. Learn to be tolerant, forgiving, accommodating, sacrificing, towards people (with whatever little you have, and especially your time). Don’t be the guy/girl that opts out at the earliest excuse. Opt in instead. Say ‘Yes’ to legal ideas more than ‘No’. Volunteer. Offer yourself. Learn to love people. Don’t always be in fight mode. Nobody really has your time. Everybody is hustling to survive, one way or another.  Nobody has the time to think of you more than you do yourself. Not even your mother. Also, don’t think only your religious/tribal leaders really care about you.
6. Get fit. Sleep less. Don’t be a couch potato. Get moving. Get motivated.
7. Seek inspiration. Even if you live in the worst ghetto, from time to time, find some money to travel to where there is more sanity/organisation. It will be a good investment. Don’t be totally subsumed and consumed by disorder, filth, chaos, poverty, and neglect. When you go where ‘rich’ people live, or even the financial districts with their glistening offices and skyscrapers, don’t fume at people, thinking everybody got there by corruption. Some of them did not. Some are honest and are trying to create a better world. Wear a smile on your face as much as possible, dress neatly even if in cheap clothes. The world will smile back, and you can meet that one person. Just one person.
8. Freakonomics teaches us that some people are dealt a bad hand from the beginning through no fault of theirs. The accident of birth. It could be abandonment at childhood. Or bad unfocused parents. Maybe bad genes. Undiagnosed mental disadvantages while growing up. Too much poverty in the background. Physical challenges. Take inspiration from those who have passed through where you are but who managed to stay positive and make something of themselves. Peter Dinklage made us see that dwarfism does not stop talent. Our own Nkubi and Ade Joe are pulling their weights, no pun intended. But some people have all the advantages we envy… rich parents, height, good looks, great education, ivy league friends, passports of the UK and US, yet they missed their ways. In fact, having everything itself is a more serious problem in a world where you have to find yourself. Fun tip – those who rise to the zenith of the world are often from the most deprived backgrounds. They employ those from good backgrounds.
9. If you are considerate, kind, and have a happy demeanour, you will find help to coast along in these days, where you can work your phone and hustle a few thousands of naira, here and there from family and loved ones. In the not-too-distant past, this was not possible. Thanks to the improvement in payment systems.
10. Perhaps, most importantly, have a grateful and thankful spirit. I’ve seen many a Nigerian who enjoyed scholarship from this country (most of us have enjoyed free education and free health at some point any way) but still talk down at the country and rail against those who are more financially secured than they are. Some are on every social media app, with their fast fingers, sending their account numbers everywhere someone is doing ‘giveaway’. They collect everything from everyone but are still resentful and hate-filled. The truth is that there are few countries on earth where people give away as much free cash to random strangers than Nigeria. You will never get such in advanced economies, except from the state, which has a way of putting you in some miserable loop.
11. Never look down on those you are better than. Ditch your arrogance. The world has changed. Those jobs you would rather not touch are the ones delivering good money to many people today. They are the jobs that artificial intelligence cannot easily take. Plumbing. Electrician. POP fixers. Masonry and bricklaying. Auto mechanics. Painters. Furniture making. Tailors and fashion designers. Hair dressing and beauty technicians like make-up artists. Cooks become restauranteurs. Caterers become Event Planners. Musicians. Comedians. Some people out of envy only want to immediately be like the ‘big boys’. Many youths want to be like the Tony Elumelus, the Dangotes, the Jim Ovias, the BUAs. The Tinubus? They are looking at the finished work. But if they know the stress some of these men go through, they can’t even cope. There is a sweet spot somewhere in the middle. With CONTENTMENT, you can live your best life, bearing no ill will against anyone better than you, and loving your country the way sane people should, while being part of those who add to her progress.
12. Lastly, be ready to use ALL your talents. I believe strongly that these innate talents were what God meant for us all to survive – until the global economy became complicated. Today, the smart ones are making good money online and on social media using those talents.

Perhaps someone will make some sense out of some of these advices. Some are worth more than any money I could ever give.

‘Tope Fasua is the special adviser to the President on Economic Matters.