When act of thugery is thriving, you can’t expect hard work and integrity to be in vogue.

A trained welder, after observing the trend, decided to elope with a new friend who seemed to value his skill. At the end, he became a professional in dismantling iron burglary to carry out his new trade of burgling banks. A brilliant young boy graduated from the university as a pharmacist. His brilliancy got manifested in the adulteration of drugs because of more monetary value it offers. A brilliant young lawyer became so intrigued with charge and bail to a level that crime became his second name as he was financially engaged by the fraudster to defend their illegal activities. They all got the tool and the skill but lack the character and environmental value to channel the skill to societal benefits.

Skill Acquisition is regarded as a key Solution to Nigeria’s Unemployment and crime rate, but the reality is showing that skilled people are also involved in crime as the unskilled. Some people are even suggesting getting skilled before being offered admission to higher institution. Beautiful, but not sacrosanct, many skilled are also on the wrong side of the law while the unskilled that are mannered are law abiding.

Many first class graduates have developed into first class obstacles to true national development. It is not their fault, but the fault of the system that celebrates greed as values and corruption as success. What do you expect from the youth?

You can not violate the laws of sanity and expect miracle to prevail.

Many of these boys are blessed with parents that guided them to obtain a skill, but society has built a new character contrary to their expectation, thus, they blended. Many drivers are trained mechanics, while many Okada riders are trained professionals in one skill or trade – carpentering, brick laying, tailoring, tiling, electrician etc. Many of those boys that sell on the road were actually sent by their parents to learn a trade secret from their bosses, uncles or townsmen. But the society has restructured values, thus, made them to lose the character to sustain the bestowed legacy. If skill is so important, why are many that have it are still not comfortable or contented with it. When act of thugery is thriving, you can’t expect hard work and integrity to be in vogue.

Government units, agencies, parents and many NGOs are emphasizing on skill acquisition without considering the first important parameters to sustain the skill. There are lots of skill acquisition units but very few character acquisition units. We developed skill but neglected the base upon which those skills will thrive. When a trend is not producing, why not look for an alternative, or check the reason for its non-production.

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained – Mahatma Gandhi

The encouragement to bring the best of the skill learnt was absent, thus, the patience required to bring it to fruition is lacking. The endurance required for fruitful skill acquisition is gone.  The hard work required to bring the best of values into fruition is short-lived. Many are blaming the youth but did nothing to correct the abnormalities. It is unfortunate that many that blame them contributed to the nemesis. The church that had them in great numbers only use them to achieve their purpose. Trust them, they are watching and waiting for opportunity to multiply what they observe.

The most important part of an edifice is the foundation. No matter how beautifully painted, a weak foundation will be evidenced within a short time. It is highly frustrating for skilled and passionate hardworking man to see the unskilled, unlearned and uncultured mates of his being successful out of crooked ways while he lives a frustrating life. As earlier said, the primary cause of poverty remains the immaterial, which is a deficiency in education, organization and discipline. You cannot give education and ignore organization and discipline which are primarily by example.

When act of thugery is thriving, you can’t expect hard work and integrity to be in vogue.

Skill without hope is like cutting a snake at the middle: the head part will do the ravaging damage before its actual death. What do we build first, for skill acquisition to be of benefits? Download the book, “Youths Under Fire” to get details.

Niyi Ogundiji

Curled form the book “Youths Under Fire“.

Localised Human Resources – Need for Local Government Autonomy.

We have failed to take care of the people at the suburb, while they also make our passage to the urban difficult and terrifying.

It is deduced earlier that a good government should “Create People First  before Infrastructure”. The people will create the infrastructure. If you create infrastructure rather than humanity, the people will destroy the infrastructures.

The closest government to the locality is the Local Government System. No State Governor can know the local suburbs as the Local Governemnt Chairmen. You can’t withdraw the resources of the local government and expect humanity to get to the suburb. By weakening the usefulness of Local Government apparatus, we create an absolute and centralised power oriented system in the state. Absolute power usually corrupt absolutely. The after effect is improper communication and weak economic impact on the lowest cadre of the structure. The supportive arguement is on Infrastructure, but people are not made for the infrastructure, rather infrastructure is made for the people. People First, before Infrastructure.

I used to hear the cleanest local government award in the 90s? Now, to clean a local communiry requure the state apparatus; what then remains of the local government functìons? The elites have centralised the local resources and functions, leaving the the local government to idleness.  The after effect is local crime. When a state borders more on local government works, how will such state have time for more innovative thinking? The most damning security crisis now happens in the Local government. We have failed to take care of the people at the suburb, while they also make our passage to the urban difficult and terrifying.

A localised crime became the trouble of the State Governor instead of the Local Government officers. Most governors do not have courage to call on the weakened Local Government officers for help, because they knew what they left on the ground. A local crime that could have been nibbed on the board became the  National abattoir, because we failed structurally.

Please, dont build infrastructure, build people first. The people will build the needed infrastructure.

Curled from the book “Youths Under Fire”