Leadership and power of the tongue

This piece was inspired by the statement credited to Mr President at the just concluded Commonwealth Business Forum on 18 April 2018. His remarks that “More than 60 percent of the population is below 30. A lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare and education free,” is one of the generalizations of our times. Mr President’s expression attracted spontaneous reactions from many youths across the country. This writer read quite a lot of negative and disappointing remarks from our youths on the twitter and other social platforms. They claim among other reasons that a country which urgently needs to polish its reputation globally must not be de-marketed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian enterprise-Mr President.
There is power in the tongue. Our words are more powerful than we may realize. We must have heard, and perhaps, used an old saying that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Words can be more destructive than sticks and bones, or even guns and knives. Words can have a lasting effect that is difficult to recover from. The scripture supports this that “the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Yes, there is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to our youths who are either jobless or underemployed may likely lift them up and help them weather the storm of life. Conversely, a destructive word to them could be what it takes to dampen their spirits. So leaders are always encouraged to speak life to those they lead.
It was Mr President’s tongue that got him into this sensational hype across the country. This writer is sure that his ears would be burning uncomfortably after making some expressions at the Commonwealth Business Forum which he did not realize were harmful or hurtful until it was too late. That is why national leaders are encouraged to always tame their tongues. In our environment politicians often times use foul and irrelevant remarks during political rallies. The tendency therefore, is for them to always think they are addressing a political rally anywhere you give them a microphone to speak. But the Commonwealth Business Forum wasn’t a political rally. It was a platform for heads of Commonwealth governments to market their countries before foreign investors. Self-control and wisdom- key factors for a leader’s control of the tongue- would’ve played significant roles at such forums.
One has seen different types of leaders either in military uniform or in agbada/babanriga. It’s observed that an individual may have the best of training in the world and be analytical, coupled with seamless supply of smart and brilliant ideas but such a person may not be a great leader. A successful leader in my opinion will be an individual who understands himself or herself, the organization or nation being led, the environment-local and global, and the people he/she is privileged to lead. Leaders are always encouraged to open doors of opportunities for those they lead.
As far as one can recall, about 18 million youths were unemployed in Q3 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Nigeria’s population of about 198 million, is growing at a rate of about 3.5 percent but the economic growth rate is about 0.8 percent in 2017. As the youth population grows, so does its unemployment rate. With these data, Nigerian youths will not get jobs as the country’s efforts to create employment is getting worse under increasing population growth and weak economic climate.
It is no news that about ten million children of school age are out of school and for anyone to say “they want to sit down and do nothing because of oil money,” is incorrect. Have we forgotten so soon that for several years, most of our youths have been hawking both smuggled and locally manufactured goods on the streets of Nigeria in any weather condition? The situation is so bad that hawking is becoming a way of life for many youths.
Nigerians still remember that the country was in recession from 2016 to sometime in Q2 2017. It was around mid-2017 that Nigeria barely came out of recession with 0.55 percent GDP growth, according to the NBS. Most Nigerian youths are frustrated because of the economic and security challenges in the country. They do not have access to quality education and healthcare facilities. These are children whose parents are indigent and circumstances beyond their control have changed their dreams to hawking on the streets for economic survival. When workers don’t receive salaries timely, and those paid earn minimum wage of N18000 (US$ 50)/month, no one will expect children of such workers to be enrolled in schools that are not free.
Deficient school curricular and poor teachers’ training are some of the factors that have contributed to failure of educational institutions. Schools in rural areas are disadvantaged in terms of infrastructure. Flawed and inconsistent government policies on employment has aggravated youth unemployment situation.
While many programs at states’ and federal government levels are targeted at creating youth employment, more needs to be done. These programs must be sustained. The business climate must be conducive for businesses to thrive so that our youths could be gainfully employed. Nigeria needs a vibrant educational system to provide our youths with appropriate skills that are pro-industry.
It is time for both states’ and federal governments to start considering ways and means of controlling the nation’s population. If the nation continues on the path of increasing population without corresponding economic growth, there will be rising youth unemployment. This will spell doom for the nation. As time ticks, this occasion calls for a total overhaul of the nation’s infrastructure, education and healthcare facilities.

 
MA Johnson