Essay Topic: For many young people in Nigeria, there is an argument that “the future is uncertain.” Why do you think they feel this way? What factors guarantee that someone’s future is certain? What can be done to restore hope for the future in Nigeria?
This essay response was written in a supervised examination hall with a time limit of 90 minutes
The future is popularly believed to be a happening after the present. The future is commonly said to be a better version of the present and the outcome of whatever is done in the present. The future can also be referred to as “the later present”; whatever comes out of life, the future will always be, or later become the present we live in.
The future is uncertain; it is a term applicable to anyone. Scientifically, the future is unknown, and whatever is unknown is uncertain. The future in Nigeria is affected by many chequered and unbeguiling factors.
Mostly in underdeveloped countries like Nigeria, the thoughts clutched by the citizens are that there is no way to gauge what would happen next. Stability in prices, security, peaceful living, and so on is not a dream harboured by Nigerians. For instance, suppose we say that the most controlling factor in Nigeria is the price of fuel, and in a society with such poor conformity to price control, prices fluctuate habitually and instantly, regularly. Fuel controls the smooth running of most things in Nigeria; the price of essential provisions for daily living shoots up when the price of fuel shoots up. Then, how can we expect normal thinking people, nimble and deft in calculating things going on around them, to believe that with those instances the future would be certain.
Factors that guarantee a person’s future are left mainly to him/her. In the compound world we live in, the only applicable rule in any matter that concerns the future is the “do it yourself rule”. However, in Nigeria, instability affects the rule.
Hard work and diligence are crucial underlying factors in any topic about certainty, yet they can be overcome. Stability is a stark determinant when it comes to any question posed about the future. Life is a series of changes. Nature’s motto is change, but not only change, but habitual change — change reversing back to previous change. In Nigeria, the change goes from bad to worse, to terrible, not in a cycle, but in a definite line devoid of constant improvement and a curve defiant to join the sprint in the steadily developing world. Nigeria doesn’t want to be amongst the denizens of prosperity, or at least no interest on her part can be found due to her appalling behaviour of instability. The future is uncertain, but why? is an issue that is going to be addressed.
In Nigeria, the change goes from bad to worse, to terrible, not in a cycle, but in a definite line devoid of constant improvement and a curve defiant to join the sprint in the steadily developing world.
Culminating from my “do it yourself” opinion, I would like to draw points from my fountain of knowledge. My starting point would be from a crucial assessment of the behavioural constraints of Nigerians. Nigerians, starting from their politicians down to the last scrap of persons in the community, follow one binary, and that is “depend, depend, and always depend”. Politicians depend on their foreign relationships, corruption, and nothing about infrastructural developments. Citizens depend on their incredible politicians for the infrastructural development that is being neglected. Nigeria is like a withering bee in autumn, which never blossoms in summer because its reserves are stomped upon and consist only of fragility. There is no being alive during this era that can inform me about any world-worth action that Nigeria has taken without any gargantuan assistance, and again, we ask why the future is uncertain?
The future can be deemed uncertain when the greatest thing a country can offer as one of its leading factors is the gregarious number of its population, with all this sprawling number of people based in Nigeria, more than fifty percent live in abject poverty. How can the future be certain? Nigeria certainly does not possess an indulgent behaviour; it possesses a hostile environment where, wholeheartedly, “survival of the fittest” is its defining motto. It is not that our country has no inkling of sense, but the facts are, opportunities are rare in Nigeria, and we are not ready to become aware that opportunities have to be created.
People can choose between righteous indignation and standing up for their rights, or sit down waiting for a miracle like the man by the pool of Siloam. Standing up for their rights means they liberate themselves from the snag of inactivity and follow the actions of the countries they profusely idolise, to become exactly like them.
The God-given gift to human beings was the gift of long-suffering, not forever-suffering, and with that, we begin to notice that no one wants to live in poverty the rest of their life, and no one wants to reach the end of their journey and realise there was nothing noteworthy in their traipse through life, and this generation is a shattering proof of that. There is no more straddling in the way we have shown; we have decided to create our own plan. A good mission is a created vision and vice versa. Nigerians who are responsible enough not to abandon themselves to the waves have taken it into their hands to place the future safely within their grasp of their hands. This can be seen in the example of people gaining practical knowledge and skill acquisition, using one to forge a path to another, or using both to forge a path to the future envisioned.
Also, another thing that can be done to restore hope for the future is to forcefully take off the blindfold that has temporarily blinded Nigerians to the truth that “a good offense is the best defense”. People can choose between righteous indignation and standing up for their rights, or sit down waiting for a miracle like the man by the pool of Siloam. Standing up for their rights means they liberate themselves from the snag of inactivity and follow the actions of the countries they profusely idolise, to become exactly like them.
In conclusion, the future is uncertain is a story used to sell alcohol to people looking for solace in the back alleys of their world of inactivity. Nothing makes the future uncertain except for our own wrong and inferior viewpoint.
A.G. Project 