BY
MUDASSIR ALIYU YUNUSA
mudassiray@gmail.com
The aftermath of the recent demonstration tagged ‘#EndBadGovernanceProtest’ has exposed the morality, probity and its effects on our children more especially the growing population ranging between 15 – 30 years. Innitially, the protest is believed to be organized as peaceful one and to be demonstrated in a good manner but unfortunately it was hijacked and forcefully changed to be violent in many state of the federation. The conducts exhibited by some adolescents and young generations during the protest have no doubt become threat to our future generation as it is often said children of today are the elder/leaders of tomorrow. However with the above notion, it is easily possible to have assessment of the next generation to come by looking at the present lifestyle and moral etiquettes of our adolescents and youths population displayed during the protest.
It is really a worrisome to see underage children in the society turned to be cruel, nasty, brutal and outrageous all in the name of protest which was planned to be a peaceful one. In some states of the federation So many evidences and exhibits of footage, images and still pictures have captured children and youths that wrecked havoc, vandalised shops, super markets, offices and carted away with people belongings and destroying public properties. This brings total breakdown of law and order, lost of lives, many injured as well as destruction of public goods which led to the government engagement of security operatives and in sequence imposition of 24 hours curfew in many states and cities across the country.
My point of concern is these underage children and youths that are believe to be the future generation and part of them will surely immanent as leaders of the society in the next generations to come. However, with bad inclination and behavioral pattern demonstrated by some youths and adolescent age of the population it is a threat to the peace and harmony of our society and hence if urgent and imperative actions are not taken to change the fortune of our youths, the future of our country is in jeopardy and the danger is signaling now.
The way forward to this danger is a collective responsibility of both government and the society. Government need to be alerted that the issue of economic well being of the citizens is paramount and it (Govt) need to explore and implore all possible ways in respect to this issue and provide an enabling environment for children to acquire sound education, skills and moral etiquettes right from the childhood age to enable them obtain sense of belonging, morality and integrity as backbone of building a just and prosperous nation. Government on the other hand should provide a smooth pathway for children to develop creativity, innovation and invention especially from primary school. This will surely make our youths self reliant and it will also reduce the burden of over dependence on government by people in the country.
The role of community in shaping the behavior of children and youths is highly needed particularly parents, guardians and elders in the society. These children and youths are integral part of the society and the they are living within the community and therefore it is imperative for elders and good people within the community to contribute positively toward proper upbringing of our young ones by giving them good orientation, moral discipline, virtues, meritocracy, decency, good gesture and acceptable behavoural inclination. I want call on various societal organisation like old student’s/pupil’s association, community base social groups, self-help associations, families’ associations that are given more attention to megre things especially during festive period of Sallah, Xmas, New year where we used to witness various meetings and get together where huge amount of money is spent in just food, drinks and event centres, let these meetings go beyond mere eating and drinking, we can make it an avenue for planning our lives, giving out self assistance and let it be geared toward supporting the needy among ourselves. It is obvious that all these children are members of various family and I believe the family meetings could serve as an avenue to embrace these children and youths by touching their lives positively. Those that are in bad shape could be rehabilitated to become good people in the society
Moreso, I call upon all societal base groups including social media platforms to engage themselves in this regard with the aim of changing the fortune of our youths from bad to good, worse to better and indeed worst to best citizens in the rankings. This will certainly build more confidence and patriotism in their minds which in essence provide an excellent, brilliant and exceptional future generation and within them the making of altruist leaders accountable and responsible for transforming our dear country into prosperity, admirable and developed nation.
Caution: in present time, if government and the society fails to do the needful on youths and children our future generations/leaders will be in a great jeopardy
