A BITTER TRUTH: A WORD IS ENOUGH FOR THE WISE.
What Next for "the youth of Ijebuland?”
Despite the pitiful state of unemployment in Nigeria, ironically, the nation is still rated as the third destination of investors and one of the fastest growing economy in the world.
Ijebuland is a golden land of numerous opportunities for those who are resourceful, ingenious, creative, innovative, inventive, ground-breaking, enterprising, hard-working, focused, visionary and most significantly, disciplined.
Consequently, as a concerned Ijebu man, I want to question the role(s) of Ijebu youths in the current fight against unemployment, starvation and poverty in Ijebuland.
This question was necessitated by my discovery through indirect observations that Yoruba youths are the most laziest, perfidious and egoistic in Nigeria as at today. I discovered that the pride of an average Yoruba youth has over-shadowed his intellectual judiciousness, level-headedness and sagacity.
Today, among ten Nigerians submitting their resume in multi-national corporations, eight would be Yoruba. My generations in the western Nigeria, Ijebuland are too lazy to tap from the abundant opportunities that for instance litter the streets of Ijebuland for primitive accumulation of wealth.
Today, the string and button of Ijebuland, the Nigeria’s indisputable land of opportunities has been tactically taken over from the Ijebus. I was shocked at the last AGM of IDIPR 2015, that an Igbo lady won an award that would have been won by an Ijebu!
The Igbos and the Northerners have indirectly taken over the control of Ijebuland economy. The lucrative businesses has been hijacked from the Ijebus in Ijebuland.
Today, the major work of average Ijebu youths on the streets of Ijebuland is to collect royalty, due and charges from the Hausas and Igbo using their motorcycles to make cool cash from their land.
A new development in Ijebuland is the youth now at various intersections harassing hardworking people transacting their legal businesses in the name of collecting charges and dues for local government. I also discovered that the majority of the few Ijebu youth riding commercial motorcycles are locally trained automobile engineers that have abandoned their workshops.
Let me also assert unequivocally that Igbo youths are now becoming more prosperous in the entertainment industry than the Yoruba youths.
Today, Yoruba hardly tune their DSTV to the Yoruba movie channel of the satellite television, rather, they watch the other movie channel that show English movies starred by Actors and Actresses of Igbo extraction. Why? Because most Yoruba movies are short of creativity. I can also articulate that 85% of the CEOs and Executive Directors of Commercial Banks operating in Nigeria today are Igbo and Hausas under the age of 50. They are very super and talented in boardroom politics unlike their Yoruba counterparts and they assist each other with an amazing ease.
Educationally, the Yoruba are no longer in the first three. According to the National Universities Commission (NUC), Anambra, Imo and Enugu have the highest number of professors and Doctorate Degree Holders in Nigeria. Ekiti and Ondo States that used to top the list have been demoted to number four and six respectively. The 2014 Reports of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO) revealed that the Yoruba have been upturned by the Easterners in terms of academic performance. Ekiti, a state known as fountain of knowledge was number 34 in 2013.
The Yoruba are also missing in the sports sector. The Golden Eaglet, Flying Eagles, Super Eagles, Flamingoes, Falconets, Super Falcons, D’Tigers and other Nigeria National Teams are dominated by the Igbo and Hausas. The team that won the African Cup of Nations for Nigeria in 2013 was tagged Biafran National Team by some Columnists and Social Commentators including myself.
If I may ask, can a young man at 35 with nothing attractive in his resume manage a lucrative conglomerate?
Besides, as Ijebu youths must we be employed by conglomerates? Can’t we resourcefully, artistically and imaginatively employ ourselves? The fact is government cannot provide jobs for all. Folorunsho Alakija started as a Fashion Designer, but today, she’s the richest black woman on the surface of earth. My fellow Yoruba youths and Ijebu youths why are we too proud and lazy to ruggedly and smartly act like our brothers and sisters in the east and the north? Why do we always bringing ourselves down? Why are Yoruba youths missing in action especially the Ijebu youths?
What is the way out?
Think about this!
To your success,
Engr. Oladipupo Iyowun
@oladipupoiyowun
