Thread by @zeal_a

1/ We throw the word “youth” around quite a bit and we use a standard UN age definition but really, is that what youth is?

For me, youth is an “experience” captured beet within a specific age range BUT that age range is NOT sacrosanct and varies from circumstance to country

2/ My alternate definition of “youth” is “the age range uninterrupted by tragedy where you have reasonable financial independence, near zero responsibility and the freedom to waste it all and still have opportunity to start afresh”

3/ This combination allows you to be most creative because there’s no burden of responsibility nor fear of failure and we, as Nigerians, have to redefine “youth” to capture our uniqueness and experience and ensure we extract the true value from the population.

4/ For us, Our economic state and dearth of educational institutions creates “tragedy” too early for us to have a real, productive “youth” population.

By the time the average Nigerian can take the reckless risk of youth, There’s marriage and kids and all that exuberance dies

5/ For example, Between JAMB, ASUU strikes and NYSC batch D, you are starting financial independence at 27/28. Is there time to risk it all and start again without feeling youve lost anything?

Hardly so

6/ Our 28yr old counterparts elsewhere have 6yrs work experience, a mortgage, savings for 1-3yrs and can take 2/3yrs off to pursue anything, fail, and get get right back in. But if that “youth” succeeds at that risky venture, they will, as we say, blow.

7/ in summary, our society introduces fear, trauma & tragedy too early in our lives & that kills our experience of youth even before it is birthed

Sadly, the physical & mental energy of the young, when not harnessed, becomes destructive, It’s the order & #NatureOfThings

8/ If we define fatherhood as an age range of when you reasonably expect a man to have his first child, you’ll probably get 24-40 as acceptable. But can you define fatherhood by an age? Like “youth”, fatherhood is an experience best captured in an age range but not defined by it

9/ By “killing our youth”, we don’t refer to just killing people, we are killing the experiences and potentials that those experiences bring and By killing our youth, we are killing ourselves.