Following the recent NIS tragic recruitment exercise in which no less than 20 Nigerian youths lost their lives, I have been doing some soul searching. One pertinent question on my mind has been: Can the BENSU 1980 - 1990 contribute to the unemployment debacle in fatherland? Yes, we can! When I saw the mammoth crowd of 522,000 scrambling for ONLY 4556 positions, it dawned on me that there are both systemic and structural failings in our fatherland. I recall my dreams as a young undergraduate in Bendel State University, Ekpoma and wonder if it could have been me being crushed in the National Stadium, Abuja? Today, I count myself as fortunate. And thank God for that. But we cannot look to government alone to solve all the problems in Nigeria. There will come a time when we can discuss or argue the merits of what government can and should be doing. Today, can I please implore every great Bensuite to ponder on the challenges that face our fatherland? I may live in the UK as a citizen but my heart lies in my fatherland and bleeds for my brothers and sisters. So what can we do? 1. How about exploring ways to create mentoring and coaching programmes for the students in Campus so that we can institutionalise role modelling ? 2. How about organising skills development workshops, free training on ICT, project management etc to complement the rudimentary education that is offered in our universities? 3. How about designing a framework where we can work in collaboration with both the existing university management and academic staff to ensure a robust, resilient and flexible consultancy unit is set up by the institution to give both existing students and ex Bensuites with the relevant skill set, the opportunity to gain experience whilst adding value? The list is not exhaustive in terms of what we can collectively and cooperatively bring to the pot. As ex Bensuites, a number of us have achieved success in our various endeavours. Why cant we come together to rub minds and think up solutions that will educate, inform, capture, nurture and develop the pool of talents that is in abundance in fatherland? We are scattered all over the world as Diasporans. Some of us have no intention of ever going back to Nigeria again but I know deep down inside of us, Nigeria still occupies a place. Importantly, we all have family and friends living in Nigeria. And I fear we may NOT have a country or fatherland to refer to if the number of unemployed graduates who turned out en masse on that fateful NIS recruitment day is anything to go by. I fear an implosion that even the most gated community cannot hold back when the rampage takes hold. For instance, what is the distance between our leafy neighbourhoods and the slums areas in most of our cities in Nigeria? Any youth uprising therefore can only result in mayhem, chaos, loss of lives and properties in these affluent areas because they are seen as representative of the massive corruption, fraud and inequalities in our society. But we can do something about it now!!! Today, I have resolved to stop complaining on facebook, twitter and social media about governance in Nigeria and channel my energies to challenge myself on How can I contribute to the development of fatherland?. One step at a time and yes, we can do it!!!! The message is simple: Love thy neighbour as thy self and it is only in love that we can give freely. Shabbat Shalom Great Bensuites!!!!!
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 15:50:01 +0000
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