Amidst encomiums poured on Obi of Owa, HRM (Dr.) Emmanuel Efeizomor II on September 6, 2025 as he inaugurated the Owa Hall of Fame, the governor of Delta State, represented by his Chief Strategist, Dr. Festus Okubor, called on the wealthy indigenes of Owa kingdom to imbibe the culture of giving back to society that made them who they are. Governor Sheriff Oborevwori harped mainly on the need to join hands with government in efforts to reduce youth unemployment in the state.
The leader of the state described youth unemployment as a time bomb waiting to explode. Understanding the weighty statement of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori takes one to the popular adage that says; ‘an idle mind is the devil’s workshop’.
The alert raised by the governor on unemployment amongst the youths of the nation generally underscores the premium placed by some sincerely concerned leaders on youth restiveness. For some folks, the governor may be proposing massive employment of the young people by the governments at all levels or the organized private sector participants. No, it is far beyond engagements by structured organisations.
In line with the statement following the alert, time beckons for all men and women of reason to embrace the dictum of paying back to the society by offering alternatives to idleness to the teeming population of the nation’s working class. And there are several ways to achieving this noble thought.
There must be continued sensitisation of the youths towards embracing diligent hard work devoid of cutting corners with a view to amassing unexplainable wealth. They should be made to understand that lives of fantasy and building of castles in the air cannot sustain anyone beyond a certain age. It is only when this class of fellows accepts the need to work for wealth that, providing employment for them can begin to make sense.
Along this line, public speakers must be consciously recruited to complement the efforts of the orientation agencies. Of course, those that succeeded by doing legitimate jobs with or without long periods of formal education must be willing to be used for illustrations either by themselves or by references by illustrators. The impact of this category of speakers, especially men like Napoleon Hill, Brian Tracy and Zig Ziglar and others on the American economy easily comes to mind.
Employers of labour, including governments must also be willing to pay attractive living wages that will dissuade the youth from preferring to go into crimes. Fraud-induced rewards for labour must not be more attractive to the youths. For example, it is an act of absurdity for yahoo boys, hook up girls or armed robbers to be preferred as tenants by landlords based on their abilities or otherwise to pay the high house rents in the cities across Nigeria.
Given that it is a global phenomenon for some sectors of the economy to pay higher wages than others; this must not be taken in Nigeria to mean that those blue chip organisations should be paying salaries in excess of the needs of their workers while others are paying amounts that cannot guarantee meeting up basic needs of theirs. The imbalance in the reward system must be addressed.
Entrepreneurs in the country must begin to pattern their business thoughts after those of men like Arthur Guinness whose company – Guinness founded in 1759 is still relevant in today’s economies of the world, providing employment for over 2,400 personnel in Nigeria alone. And the company presently operates in 50 countries of the world.
Many of the youths of today have slipped into the path of self-destruction due to the consumption of illicit substances. Though there are people who attribute this to moral decadence in the society, the fact remains that a lot of the substance addicts are driven into such habits by economic frustrations.
There is therefore need to provide rehabilitation centres for these deadly set of human beings that no longer have control over their God-given characteristics. These are the citizens who are willing tools in the hands of the country’s enemies of progress in political cassocks.
In the meantime, the country’s population is mainly made up of youths who are equally eager to settle down one day with their own families but are greatly hampered by the dearth of accommodations due to high costs of rent and limited number of livable commercial apartments. This calls for a holistic approach in providing low cost housing units for citizens. The informal sector must be captured in the schemes along with the civil servants.
Moreover, it does not make sense for a wealthy individual to have up to four different owner-occupier houses without building at least one for public use.
The summation of all these is that the call by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori at Owa Oyibu on successful persons to give back to the society must not be seen as a call to only the indigenes of the place. It must not also be regarded to as a call to merely offer employment to an unwilling generation of humans. Every step necessary for the productive engagement of youths by all well-meaning Nigerians must be taken in order to prevent the predicted time-bomb.
