The quality of every youth today is been determined by the standard of living of every child yesterday, we can’t keep fighting for a better future if we fail to act positively and life will always give us in return what we give. This is to say; we should not expect to plant rice expecting to harvest beans and neither will our politicians in Africa train youths as thugs or criminals for election purposes then expect them to become regular citizen after electing them to office.
That is why at this point in my life I will have to say that western civilization, the religions that came with the civilization, African people being not able to balance traditional believes and religious worshipping of the African people. Innermost nature revealing its true identity because when a country faces recession, this should be a time to reflect on what are the things it fails to do right or cutting down excess spending and managing it's little it has got left. Introducing policies that would unite with its citizen's but not dividing them because naturally recession divides family, friends, neighbor’s, bringing out the animalistic nature in people, turning traditional priest to a blood money ritual priest and all of this should not be so.
It high time the leaders of Africa takes the bull by the horns because the future of Africa is collapsing if we don't introduce radical policies to withstand what we stand for as a continent, must especially that of Nigeria, a country that immorality is increasing by the day, a society that youth and children is been adopted by terrorist and religion extremist, a society that young girls are being molested and raped on a regular basis but the good people of Nigeria keeps forgetting that the government cannot do everything that the Nigerian people themselves are the government.
Youth are the leaders of every society and a wasted youth is equal to a single wasted generation that is why I cry internally when I see youths being rotting away by the help of hard drugs and also being used and abandoned by wicked and evil politicians. That is why one of the key solutions to Nigerians problem is the establishment of an environmental academy that will be located in the six Geo-political zones of Nigeria. where abandoned kids, homeless children and wasted youth is being picked up off the street and then sent to this establishment where they would be trained for environmental needs in the area of cleaning, moral values, craftsmanship, agricultural needs, traditional pharmacist that would know the use of trees and leaf, being disciplined as enforced agents and machinery’s for natural disasters relief.
As I drink a class of water to life, believe me, potable water is the only liquid mineral that brings life to the human body and here I say Happy 2020 world water day.
Weather is generally determined according to four seasons in northern hemisphere: spring, summer, fall and winter, but in many African countries, however, the year is divided into rainy and dry season but area in west part of Africa has got two rainy season, one lasting from the end of April to mid-july and another shorter one in September and October but in west part of Africa rains are typically brief and heavy, rarely lasting longer than a few hours, so will one say African’s are not blessed with a good weather season and the reason why introducing harvesting of rain should be mandatory adopted as a sustainable way to make use and also to retain water because rain water harvest itself can be traced back to the Neolithic Age, when waterproof lime plaster cisters were built in the floors of houses in villages, a large area in South west Asia, South of the Taurus mountains, bound by the Mediterranean sea in the west, the Arabian desert in the South and a number of Canadian law since the mid-2000s which has increased the use of this technology and making India-tamil nadu the first state to make rainwater harvesting compulsory for every building so that to avoid groundwater depletion however rainwater harvesting as been proven to have its own independent water supply during regional water restrictions and it's often used to supplement the main water supply, providing water when a drought occurs, helping mitigation flooding of low-lying areas, most importantly reducing demand on wells which may enable groundwater levels to be sustainable but above all rainwater harvesting system in urban water supply as been proven to provide a substantial benefit for both water supply and waste water subsystems, reducing the need for drilling wells or having a borehole distribution systems, also helping in the reduction of stormwater runoff pollution to freshwater bodies, but if we are to look at how quality rainwater harvesting can be appropriate in terms of safety and how this method provide low-cost disinfection options for drinking purpose, we would begin to see that rain water itself can be suitable for drinking only by making the water pass true a simple water level one filter system and then boiling it after because rainwater is a clean source of water often better that groundwater or water from rivers or lakes but the process of collecting and storing often leave this water polluted and non-potable. Rain water harvested from roofs can contain human, animal and bird feces, mosses and lichens, windblown dust, particularly from urban pollution, pesticides, and inorganic from sea and dissolved gases, but apart from this rainwater naturally stands out and also making this harvesting technic be one of the solutions to the reoccurring drought and flooding disaster all across Africa.
Who knows if the establishment of an environmental academy and also redeploying 50% of NYSC core members to this establishment, maybe the true purpose of NYSC would become visible and also help in solving various SDG’s all across Africa?
Don’t get me Wrong, I am not trying to say that the establishment of an environmental academy will take away this young youth fundamental human rights of having a free life but the question will then remain freedom to an extinction of the African race because a sickness that affect a poor man will also affect a rich man.
Just food for thought.
Olubode Afolabi
References:
UNODC- united nations office on Drugs and crime hand book on children recruited and exploited by terrorist and violent extremist groups: the role of the justice system
United States institute of peace(why do youth join boko haram? By freedom c. onuoha) www.usip.org
List of gods in Nigeria- table of gods: your guide to the world gods, spirits, demons and legendary monsters. www.godfinder.org
Mediterranean journal of society sciences homeless children and youth in Lagos, Nigeria: their characteristics, street life and sexual behaviour(Patrick A. Edewor) www.mcser.org
THIS DAY: Nigeria and its homeless citizens(Kaylee Fasua-reporter ) www.thisdaylive.com
Homeless children must access basic education, says destiny trust: By Sahara reporter New York(AUG 09,2018) www.saharareporters.com
THE GUARDIAN: Over 108m Nigerians are technically homeless https://guardian.ng/news/over-108m-nigerians-are-technically-homeless/
PUNCH: Solutions to Nigeria’s economic recession
https://punchng.com/solutions-to-nigerias-economic-recession/
INDEPENDENT: African rand weakens as economy enters recession
www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/south-africa-recession-rand-weak-econo
FOREIGNAFFAIRS: WHAT KIND OF RADICALISM FOR AFRICA?
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/swaziland/1965-01-01/what-kind-radicalism-africa
LAUSANNE: Africa Traditional Religious System as Basis of Understanding Christian Spiritual Warfare
https://www.lausanne.org/content/west-african-case-study
