‘Lazy Nigerian Youth and the Table Shakers’, a new book tracing the arc of Nigeria’s dysfunctionality and economic woes from the viewpoint of the country’s generation Z, was launched on Thursday, October 29, at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos.
Funto
The debut book of a new author, Funto Babawale, a daughter of Prof. Tunde Babawale, a former director-general of the Center for Black African Arts and Culture (CBAAC), ‘Lazy Nigerian Youth and the Table Shakers’ is a thought-provoking prose that examined some of Nigeria’s fundamental challenges, particularly in governance and politics, and how the country’s undue reverence for age has limited youth contribution and deformed its democracy.
The title ‘Lazy Nigerian Youths’ was derived from President Muhammadu Buhari’s widely criticized 2018 speech in London where the 77-year old leader described the country’s youths as lazy and entitled.
The author, Funto Babawale, says one of the goals of the book is to pushback against the claim of the President that the country’s youthful generation is lazy while offering insight into some of the challenges an average youth in the country has to contend with.
Using several anecdotal examples and historical facts, Funto Babawale opines that, contrary to the President’s position, and the familiar contempt of other members of his generation toward young persons in the country, Nigerian youths are picking the slack of decades of institutional rot caused by those who are now apportioning blames.
The opening chapter of the book reviewed the impact of the media in Nigeria in educating the public, setting the right agenda, and ensuring leadership accountability. According to the book, media ownership and funding, as well as other restrictive legislations, are some of the challenges preventing the media from assuming its full responsibility as the watchdog and fourth estate of power.
Other chapters touched on issues including Nigeria’s taxation and monetary policy, voter apathy, security, and public investment priorities. One of the bold claims contained in the book is that the people, not oil, is Nigeria’s greatest resource export. Indeed, Nigeria’s economy has long relied on financial returns from her citizens abroad to deal with dollar crunch and low investments especially during episodes of the cyclical crash in the price of crude.
In a sense, the book represents the frustration of a young Nigerian displeased with the state of the country’s politics and governance. Funto Babawale chronicled the domination of the country’s politics and governance by an older population who maintains a tight grip through exclusionary policies and practices, and the sustenance of antiquated cultural norms that equate age with wisdom.
She however also reserved some criticism for the youths who she says will continue to suffer the pains of political exclusion and maladministration unless they translate the anguish expressed online into meaningful offline, grassroots actions.
Early reviewers say the introduction of the book, ‘Lazy Nigerian Youth and the Table Shakers’, is timely considering the rising agitations for institutional reforms and inclusive governance by Nigerian youths who are mobilizing with new media tools and recently gained international attention with staged protests across the country, including the Federal Captial City of Abuja, on police brutality and other governmental problems.
Although the book could be understood as a necessary defense for an unfairly maligned demography who bear the brunt of the poor actions of those pointing accusing fingers at them, Funto Babawale insists that “the purpose of the book is to bridge the gap between the older and younger generation to forge a lasting collaboration to move the nation forward.”
The book was reviewed by Dr Jide Johnson, a former Deputy Provost of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, while a veteran journalist and the Executive Director of Media Career Development Network, Lekan Otufodunrin wrote the foreword.
Present at the launch was Mr. Bayo Dahusin, The Global Head HR & Admin, Amni Intl Petroleum Development Co. Ltd; Akin Fatunke, former Manager Mobil Nigeria Plc; Engr. Adebayo Oluyamo, CEO of Avolad Nigeria Ltd and Mountroyal Centre; and Femi Obisesan, the MD/CEO, Edutrust Consult Ltd,.
