I visited a family member who lived in a flat within his property in Ikenegbu Layout Owerri. The man who would later become the king of Owerri asked me: “Ndubuisi, how are you doing with studies in FUTO?”.
I responded: “Sir, Abacha is causing problems in Nigeria. He is making things very hard”.
Immediately, he quickly corrected me: “Ndubuisi, your Abacha now is FUTO and you need to do well, graduate with good grades, etc. Leave Abacha for us”.
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That conversation remains evergreen. Yes, one needs to know what his “real problems are” and works to deal with them. That Jeff Bezos wants to go to space is not my problem today. And I do expect many young people spending all hours on Buhari and Abuja to modulate.
If you are in school, your “Buhari” today is making sure you do well and graduate. Buhari should not consume all your time. Do not make other people’s problems magically become yours. Find ways to remain focused and do not be distracted by issues you truly have no power to fix. Sure, you need to be aware of the issues, but understand what really matters.
This is not to say that young people should not pursue causes and activism. But the key thing here is this: understand when you can make impacts.
Comment On LinkedIn Feed
Comment: “Wise words sir. Put most of your effort on things you can directly influence. Its a lifetime principle that is applicable in almost anything in life. /As a health coach, I help people to understand that there are things you cannot control, your age, sex, genetics, medical facilities, sometimes environment, nations economy.. However, there are things you can do now that will directly impact your health positively. You can choose to have a quality sleep, take a walk and eat healthy to improve your health.” by B.F…. the above conveyed my message better.
Comment: It matters because decisions Buhari is making is affecting their stay in school. Unpaid lecturers stay away from classes and students suffer for it. Endless strikes . Low budget for education . Graduate unemployment after spending years graduating. Unsafe environment, whether on Campus or out of campus. Bandits now enter colleges and universities and cart away children in broad daylight and you , Prof, is saying students and the youth should not bother ?
We have a very indolent, incompetent, insensitive and uncaring leadership. Who only murder harmless protesting youths and you say their book is their Buhari. Let government create a conducive learning environment for our students and their only competition would be Chinese and Asian students !!
How can an average student in Nigeria today, not consider Buhari a problem . With spiralling inflation, economic mismanagement and unpaid salaries etc , what is the guarantee that their school fees would be paid in the future ?
Every youth and every Nigerian university or college student should be concerned about Buhari and should speak out. While studying and not engaging in miscreancy or mischief.
Response: Like I said, no one said you cannot leave school and relocate to fight bandits in Kaduna. My point is this: in anything in life, understand what your powers are and where you can make impacts. If you life is about what Abuja does and you leave the ones you can influence and affect, you may not be optimizing time. As I noted in the full piece, everything is asking for our attention but ask yourself where you can have the most influence. Where can you have the most impact – and what is that? And not where you can make most noise even though it adds no value.
Comment: ” Do not make other people’s problems magically become yours””.
It is very easy to make that statement if you are currently living outside Nigeria. I think it is trite to suggest that s student should relocate to go fight bandits in Kaduna. They don’t have to relocate. The students in Kaduna are very concerned . Unless you are not looking at the total picture.
We agree that students should focus on their studies and not use current problems as an excuse for indolence or mischief.
Every one is making their positive impact in their little comers. Especially the youths. You can be very sure of that.
My Response: ” Do not make other people’s problems magically become yours”” – that is English. It depends on how you read. Those who read on themes understand. I am not saying that if you see a kid riding a bike and who falls down that you cannot help him. Read this piece with a big picture; you are reading the words and not seeing the big theme.
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It’s lack of purpose that makes people arrogate others’ problems as their own, especially when one is bereft of ideas and lacking capacity.
You see some lecturing others on how to spend their own money, plus number of poor people they ought to be helping. How ironical, A hungry man lecturing a wealthy man on what and how to spend his own money? Busy bodies everywhere. If you are such a specialist on how to dispense wealth, try becoming a specialist on wealth creation, to enable you lead by example!
If you are incapable of solving small issues within your orbit, getting angry on things that are way above your level can only affect your mental health negatively.
Again, it’s a waste of time being angry with someone you do not stand any chance of getting a revenge on; you are simply damaging yourself emotionally.
There’s a division of labour in this universe, face your workstation and deliver excellently there.
God bless you for this.