The Sad Truth Why So Many Youth Will Remain Poor

So many of our Nigerian youths are poor.

Why?

One may be forced or tempted to argue that the government has caused it because they did not plan for these youths.

That’s okay.

But that’s not really the whole gospel truth.

You see, if one is to go by that statement of blaming the government for the poverty being experienced by so many of our youths, then it is akin to—like my great friend Steve Olorun-Ni of Africabusinessclassroom(ABC) will normally put it—blaming a rapist for not taking your daughter to hospital after raping her, if I should use that graphic example.

My point is, you don’t always expect solution from a place where such solution is hard to come by.

If you like, continue to blame the government for all the woes we are experiencing in the country as a whole but the truth still remains that you, yes YOU as an individual has a very big part to play in contributing to your own downfall, or poverty in this case, whether you know it or not.

In this discussion, I will try to highlight those areas which you may be ignorantly contributing to your own poverty.

So listen.

So many of our youths will remain poor because of…

Lack of exposure

So many of our youths lack exposure.

That’s just the sad truth.

Lack of exposure is the reason why so many youths are missing out on so many opportunities to make something useful out of their lives.

There may be lots and lots of business opportunities or career opportunities that may be lying around you but you may not be aware of them simply because of your lack of exposure.

And because you don’t know about these opportunities, the youth may be faced with the dire situation where they will either be grumbling and complaining that the government will just do everything for them or they will just simply resign to fate believing that a miracle from heaven will come and rescue  from their terrible condition they have found themselves in.

But we all know that’s just like hoping your car will run on water.

Not only that it is not just feasible, but it has not just happened yet!

Furthermore, your not being exposed can also affect you negatively when it comes to discovering your inborn talents.

That is why you may have so many talented people around but they cannot just make use of such talents because they are not even aware that such talents could be converted into something productive.

Talk of being ignorant!

If you have the misfortune of finding yourself in an environment or society where people are not exposed, you will surely agree with me that spells doom because that will certainly ensure that you are even pushed further down the putrid smelly gutter of the unexposed.

A hard working woman making use of her professional skills

Lack of training and skills

Some people may be talented but it takes the right training to put the right skills into people so as to make them to be well suited or adapted for certain positions or tasks.

The ugly truth is that so many of our youth today lack the basic training and skills needed to make things happen.

It is quite unfortunate that the tertiary institutions where most of these training should take place so as to impart into the students the right skills necessary for tackling various life challenges are even found hopelessly and disappointingly wanting in that regard.

Every day on TV or in the papers, we see or read about so many youths complaining about unemployment.

It’s sad.

But I sometimes find myself telling those youths complaining to shut it and find something doing with their lives.

Well, I am not trying to deny that there’s massive unemployment in the land but I am of the view that most of those youths shouting about unemployment are totally unskilled in those areas they are seeking employment.

It’s quite unfortunate that some youths think being employed is all about getting paid their salaries at the end of the month but the truth remains that employment is all about exchanging your skills, your technical know-how, your services,  with the pay you’re getting from your employer at the end of the day.

Now, tell me, how do you expect to beat your poverty when you don’t even have any useful skills to exchange?

Lack of good business ideas

Yes, it is true, so many of our youth lack so much when it comes to business ideas.

Today, we live in a world where ideas are the currency for exchange.

Two people might be in the same business but the difference in their earning power at the end of day may just come down to the different information—the business ideas—each person possesses.

It’s quite unfortunate that so many of our youths today are still not thinking about business.

The commonest excuse they normally give is that they lack capital.

Quite alright, I am not saying that capital does not hinder businesses most especially in this part of the world where credit facilities are not yet easily accessible.

But…

I always have this question for them whenever they come up with that lack of capital excuse.

I normally frame the question in this way:

So assuming so, so, so and so amount of money is given to you to start your own business right now, what and what business or businesses can you start?

The aim of putting that question in that way is to make it look like a challenge for any youth who is conscious enough to recognize that he or she should start thinking business rather than thinking jobs.

Each time I throw out a challenge like that, I just want to get the person I am addressing to start thinking on how to become a business owner rather than concentrating all his efforts on how to become an employee.

Worse still, it’s not like those well-paying jobs most of these youths really want are now easily available because to be frank with you, even the available job positions are facing a lot of terrifying competitions from so many even more qualified candidates.

That leaves becoming a business owner as the last hope for our youth.

Unfortunately, so many of our youth are still unable to see this.

Hence, the poverty they are experiencing.

I know so many people reading these words may even try to bring up another excuse by saying that not everyone can become a business owner.

I agree.

But I still have another question for you.

Have you even tried to become a business owner at all?

You see what I'm saying?

In my upcoming post, I will be addressing some of the steps any youth can take to tackle the problem of poverty facing us as youths so stay tuned.