Opinion: There is a new tribe I want to belong to

by Opeyemi Olugbemiro

One thing I have noticed here is, sometimes the society expects from you what it has not equipped you to give back. In this context, the Nigerian society.

Our educational system is in shambles, yet we expect a set of well-equipped youths – academically and psychologically to manage the affairs of all aspects of the society.

Poor teacher training schools, yet we want to miraculously have an excellent educational system with wonderful teachers. The secondary and primary schools have almost exactly become a dumping grounds for graduates who couldn’t get jobs and we expect to produce students who have been properly taught the needed curriculum to prepare them to be solution driven.

Professors and lecturers who have refused to evolve, still man the battle stations of producing the next set of foot soldiers to drive the country’s economic, political, social, technological and ideological revolution; how will this be possible?

In all these, one conclusion, we can say the school was a shield – it guarded us against the challenges it would later expose us to.

Unarguably, there are flip-sides to these coins. Good schools employing qualified teachers. Lecturers who are up-to-date in their teaching styles and contents. Leaders in the society who are burdened with the need to cause a rift and change in the way things are done, but we need more lights to give the dark knights a run for their money.

Every day I learn. I meet challenges the school never prepared me for. I have had the opportunity to have friends and colleagues who nurture paths that other people call abnormal on the route to success. This has helped me grow and build the right systems to keep my thoughts on the path of excellence and impact. A slow steady ride.

It takes a lot to stand out. Some of the people I admire – Joel Ogunsola, Victor Fatanmi, Kitan David, Chude Jideonwo, John Ogunlela, Timi Dakolo, Sam Adeyemi, Akin Ojo, Solomon Elusoji, Ayo Aregbede…(It is a long list); have always shown a knack to be on the side of disrupting normal societal routines on their road to success. More like, this is not what normal people do. Sometimes I wonder how people admire the success of these people but fail to appreciate that there are systems, habits and processes that lead to the impact they exude.

When I opened my notepad, I wanted to write about how difficult it was for me to charge my friend for an excellent job I just did; the fact that success in business is a purely different terrain from what school taught me (although I cannot overemphasise the importance of the quality of education I experienced), but ended up penning down a heartache: the need to create a new tribe–of solution driven, innovative, disruptive and development-oriented Nigeria where the society acts as a spur for a better you. I think this year’s the Future Africa Awards (TFAA) is aimed at discovering such people; I can’t wait to see the list.

My pastor, Akin Ojo will say, choices are determined by actions. You can say this is what you want, but if you act in ways that are not aligned towards getting to that point, you will live in the misery of only achieving set goals in your mind and not in real life.

Let’s build it. Let’s build it together.

We can.

We will.


Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail