Nigerian Students Could Play Larger Role In Nigeria's Development

Naij.com’s guest contributor Adeleye Kunle Emmanuel suggests a plan by following which his fellow Nigerian students and youths on the whole could definitely play a larger role in our country’s development. Mr. Adeleye is a 25-year-old student of the Adekunle Ajasin University in Akungba Okoko, Ondo State.

There’s no place like home, and no place like Nigeria. The world of treasures, the land of dreams and hopes, disregarding the socio-economic, political, educational, security, and cultural challenges.

Many are saying Nigeria as an “unsafe” territory. But we all have forgotten the biblical scripture saying “old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”. All the struggles will definitely pass away at some point, and we shall all rejoice on a prosperous earth. Yes, after many years of reformation, the world is still striving to attain 100 percent perfection, but I have a dream that the world will be great again. I have a dream of unified, functional, prosperous, stable sectors of the economy.

Have we forgotten that in God’s dictionary, there is nothing like impossibility? No wonder Abram and Sarah in the Bible gave birth at their old age, and Joseph was able to fulfill dreams and hopes. It definitely shows that Nigeria will laugh last.

My heart bleeds whenever I think about the clashes of the past that occured out of ignorance. But I believe that one day, we the citizens of the Nigeria will become proud of our citizenship. To make that difference, each Nigerian has to“become the change he wants to see” and be ready to prophesize good things about the nation, get the polity right , shun corruption, be patriotic, believe in God.

It is high time we organized sensitization programs that would expand the mindset, curiosity, horizons and consciousness to ensure a visible change. You and I can come up with some developmental ideas.

The success of any nation lies in the hands of its youths. But every year in Nigeria, thousands of graduates have to battle and struggle with unemployment. We see many graduates walking aimlessly around on the streets because they are unable to find a job, talk less of a good job. Some have even accepted the challenge as part of their destiny. Parents nowadays even contemplate whether to send their children to school or not! What is the gain or joy of a parent who had spent money on their child’s education but the child is unable to secure a job?

To solve this, governments at all levels need to provide strategies and implement plans that can enhance employment opportunities. For example, the government could partner with private and public agencies, or set up business-training centres and innovative programmes in different strategic locations in the country. But the graduates themselves need to redirect their minds, too.

Ending hunger is another key point I would like to address. A popular adage says that a hungry man is an angry lion. In Nigeria’s context, many still find it difficult to eat three square meals a day. Despite the fact that Nigeria “has the second largest economy in Africa,” it’s also among the countries with severely malnourished children. Approximately 26% of children under five years (over a million) suffer from malnutrition and food shortage.

Nigerian Minister of Agriculture revealed there are 13 million people suffering from hunger. To help appease the situation, the Nigerian government announced plans to expand the use of bio-fortified crops, such as pro-vitamin A cassava and orange-flesh sweet potato. The Agricultural Transformation agendahas been launched to add 20 million tonnes of food by 2015. Moreover, the Child Development Grant Program aims to provide support for 60,000 vulnerable households through monthly cash grants over the next five years. But what will happen after those five years? Similarly, in the past many of us witnessed the “Operation Feed the Nation” which was meant to support food supply. But has it actually resolved the problem of hunger facing the nation?

The problem with most of these developmental programs is that they are not based on the long-term approach and have little positive impact on people, expecially when there is a change in government.

But it is improper to put the whole responsibility of tackling hunger on the government and our President alone. Americans were told to “ask not for what your country can do for you but what you can do for America”. I don’t know why Nigerians have folded their arms expecting some “heavenly manna”. Lamentation and complaint will get us nowhere, but creative strategies to resolve the problem of hunger will. Have we forgotten that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step?

We could try implementing the below suggestions:

• developing a mindset. Whatever path one might want to take in life, it must begin with determining their resolve and goals. So, same thing applies to “ending the nation’s hunger”. Note: such opportunities and steps must be of lawful means.
• engaging in small-scale farming for household consumption. This means producing for family consumption, not necessarily for sale. One can engage in small-scale farming with little or no capital, through growing fruits and vegetables of different types.
• creating and maintain a relationship between farming and marketing. This can come up in case of large-scale farming. The world populace will be opportune and free to have access to and market their produce in order to earn enough money to eat better food.

Combating hunger requires teamwork, team and artistic spirit, so that those who have enough can give to those who have few or nothing. Even from a Biblical angle, God expects everyone to treat their neighbour as theimselves. All the sectors of economy should be involved, too, as success cannot be achieved in isolation. Innovative ideas should be encouraged. Take a faithful step today as tomorrow may be too late.

If all the highlighted issues and proposed solutions are put into consideration, our role as Nigerians in a new Nigeria will definitely come into limelight.

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