By Chief Ojukwu
As we can see…, not everyone out there protesting wants to destroy property or attack police. Not everyone is an anarchist or anti-government like some people are trying to force down people’s throats.
Most just want police brutality to end, but there has always been a war between the older generation and the young ones. People between the ages of 35-45 are now caught in the middle.
I am of the age where I understand clearly how the mind of these oldies work and also know where the youths are coming from.
The old ones believe work and earning a living as – go to school to study medicine, law, accountancy, pharmacy etc, work for a period of years, buy a small car, marry while still living in a rented place, add a few more years and then build a house in the village.
To the old, the other set of lucky ones are the ones who make money through government/contacts.
The oldies see agriculture as hoe, machete; cocoa, palm oil, groundnut, poultry in the backyard and a few goats. The oldies believe in hard work until you are old and bent, and they also have a serious problem – they are always right! Nothing you say to convince them and make them see your perspective.
A 25-year-old lady I know works with Patterson & Zochonis (PZ). She drives a highlander and lives in a flat. She is stopped frequently by the police. She is profiled daily as an ashawo. Why? They don’t understand how a 25-year-old girl can drive SUV and look good. She must be into prostitution.
Another 26-year-old works for Jumia. Meanwhile, he has different certifications: web/app development, coding etc on the side. He rakes in nothing less than 500k+ salary every month. Some app gigs put millions into his account all at once. He drives a Lexus sedan. SARS officers have extorted him so much that he now goes to work with a bus. Yet, they have picked him up while at a park waiting for a bus!
To them, you can’t be young, have an iPhone, iPod, Tab and a laptop without doing Yahoo Yahoo!
A young man just got an offer letter from a bank for N600m. Turns out his company turns over N300m yearly. He needs the cash infusion to expand. He isn’t yet 35, has a babyface, no beards. A guy who runs a company that can do over N300m a year can drive a G-wagon but the cops won’t let him rest and the oldies will say he is either into Yahoo Yahoo or even something worse!
Another person just got CBN intervention of N1bn. He owns a farm and does about the same N1bn yearly! The oldies ask how possible is it because they do not know that a metric tonne of sesame seed is between $2,100-$2,500. They do not know that a metric tonne of ginger is between $1,800-$2,300. The oldies see potato as ‘buy, peel, fry & eat’, meanwhile the young one sees it as ‘buy process into powder, slice and packed or pringles’.
The oldies see snail as only peppered snail or inside Edikaikon, meanwhile, the young ones will extract the slime, export to Vietnam, pocket dollars while also doing pepper snail with the meat.
A young lady had me tweet her beauty products a few months ago. Few days before the lockdown she had just returned from a fair for companies that manufacture beauty products hosted in the United States. It was an all-expense trip paid by the hosts. During the just-concluded BBN show, her company paid for advert placement. She just recently got a cash infusion from a foreign investor, she is 25-year-old! Almost every day she and her brother have to call me on the phone because they are being stopped by the police. She eventually stopped using her Mercedes GLE for peace to reign.
Kids less than 20 are doing skits and boom companies sign them up for adverts/ambassadors. Some do this for numerous companies. How much do you think they are being paid? How much do we think YouTubers make daily from constant visits of their page?
Agric has moved from hoes/machetes to hydroponics/aquaponics/greenhouse farming etc. These and many are the things the oldies have refused to come to terms with!
They don’t understand the fact that Lagos has become the tech hub of West Africa!
They have refused to come to terms with seeing 29-year-old entrepreneurs owning companies valued at over $5m! You can’t be that rich unless you are Yahoo or a ritualist! That is why most of them agree with the police and their harassment! Most of them see these young upcoming success stories as a huge threat!
An average policeman in Nigeria will never come to terms with a 26-year-old driving a Benz while he stands under the sun/rain with an AK47! First, he will envy and next he will hate!
Not all youths are fraudsters! Youths don’t just work hard, they work smart! Yahoo guys steer clear of this…! You guys contribute to the mess we are in today!
Chief Ojukwu (Twitter/@ChiefOjukwu) do not throw pearls at swines; do not have time for nonsense. Contact: [email protected]
