Already with only 55% as literates, Nigeria is laden with the task of preserving its future, but taking a peep into the future, what do we see? I see an ugly trend among our youths, the expected leaders of tomorrow, trading their posterity for fame on the platter of entertainment. Every youth wants to become the next TuFace – and I dare argue that our media is not helping the matter. Kids and youths alike are modeling their lives in paths that will deplete our already pressured number of people who will take over the leadership of our nation.
This is the highlight of the issue – scores in schools are dropping, academic performances are deteriorating, visioneer youths are depleting and there is no more motivation towards attaining high professional standards that will lead this nation out of its present predicament. This scares me because I see that at this rate, with the few outstanding, passionate youths already emigrated to nations in need of their expertise, we will leave our nation in the hands of unbaked, untrained, untried, selfish, greedy buffoons who will further rubbish the already largely smeared state of our nation.
Do you see otherwise with this trend? Nigeria will flourish again!!!
I am the author of Scaling for Success: Empowering African SMEs. I am a Partner at Sahel Capital, a food and agriculture-focused private investment firm in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sahel Capital manages the Fund for Agriculture Financing in Nigeria (FAFIN) and the Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA).
I co-lead SEFAA, an impact-first fund investing in agribusinesses that provide direct or indirect benefits to smallholder farmers across 13 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. I also lead investments and portfolio management for SEFAA and manage FAFIN portfolios, two of which were recently exited. I am a director on the board of one of the portfolio companies and serve in advisory roles for several startups and SMEs.