By George Omagbemi
When President Bola Tinubu called Nigerian youths lazy, I was angry. But after reflection and a rethink, I began asking myself an uncomfortable question: are we sometimes contributing to the very description we reject?
The truth may be painful, but it must be confronted.
Too many young Nigerians spend their productive years following the English Premier League, BBNaija, TikTok, Facebook, celebrities, politicians and religious personalities, while neglecting skills, entrepreneurship, education and meaningful participation in governance. Many spend their evenings in bars, lounges and hangouts discussing other people’s lives while their own time quietly disappears.
Instead of demanding what is rightfully theirs, some have chosen to lean almost entirely on hope—moving from church to church, Monday to Monday, searching for miracles and breakthroughs while doing little to change what they can control. Faith is not the problem. Prayer is not the problem. The problem begins when prayer replaces preparation, hard work and responsibility.
P.L.O. Lumumba’s message to African youths remains powerful: “You are not leaders of tomorrow, start serving today.” The youth cannot continue waiting for tomorrow. Tomorrow is being created today.
Government, however, must also take responsibility. Nigerian youths deserve quality education, electricity, security, jobs, affordable financing and an economy where hard work can provide dignity. Government cannot fail its citizens and then place the entire blame on them.
But youths must equally stop selling their future for peanuts during elections. We cannot complain about bad leadership while celebrating, defending and repeatedly voting for politicians who have failed us.
We are not lazy. But we must prove it through our actions.
Let us acquire skills, build businesses, demand accountability, participate in politics and vote based on competence and character.
Let us take off the jacket of dependency, distraction and political manipulation and put on the jacket of discipline, courage, creativity and responsibility.
Today is the tomorrow we were waiting for yesterday. The future is not coming; we are building it today.
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