The Experience Hoax: A Case of a Failed Country (Mis-Education)
Unfortunately, most older folks don’t realize nor agree that Education is never static. Education changes as fast as the clock.
If I may adapt a powerful Yorùbá adage, the intelligence of today is definitely the foolishness of tomorrow. And Experience – as important as it may seem – is relative with time too. You may have a truckload of experience, but is it relevant experience bikonu?
Take for example fam, Mr. Audu Ogbeh (whom I respect a lot) was Minister of Communication in Nigeria between 1982 – 1983. That wasn’t a problem until one president – who seemed to have lost touch with life itself – brought Audu back as Minster of Agric in 2015 (till 2019), some 32 years later.
Politics they call it, but Audu’s daughter could have better delivered than the dad as a Minister at this age and time.
Sensible people will ask what happened to all the Young People in the Agricultural space. Oooh I see, nobody is capable out of all the graduates, researchers and Agric thought-leaders we’ve seen between 1983 and 2015? Ooh okay, the answer is more obvious than you think, they all lack EXPERIENCE.
Going a bit down South of Africa
We have Emma Theofelus – the Deputy Minister of Information and Communication in Namibia who is just 23 Years Old. Lemme spell it for you óò, Tu-Wen-Ti-Tiri. Plus, she’s the one leading Namibia’s Communication Unit on the Presidential Task Force on CoronaVirus.
So all this once in two weeks waving of hands, lifeless photoshoot and reading of incoherent Speeches – that Nigerians are supposed to be “grateful” for – don’t happen in Namibia.
The 23-Year-Old girl is addressing the nation on a daily basis and as at when due. It’s only fraudulent people that use the word “Experience” the way we use it in Nigeria.
Quick question for the road: how many years of experience did Adam require before God made him to lead in the Garden of Eden and – literally – everything on Earth?
Mis-Education, Whose fault?
When young people in other countries innovate, build solutions, and lead (sometimes) whole industries, the Nigerian elderly fora, and political leaders are quick to use them as motivational examples. But tell them to let young people in Nigeria do the same, that’s when you become a bad child and a devil’s advocate.
At this rate, one would wonder if – perchance – the world was left in the hands of elderly people of Nigeria, who are drunk on their not-so-relevant “Experience” ideology, young people wouldn’t have been allowed to do, lead or build ANYTHING.
his means we wouldn’t have computers, Smart Phones or Facebook; We wouldn’t have Telecoms Services; We wouldn’t have WhatsApp; We wouldn’t have Email; We wouldn’t have self-driving cars; Don’t even talk about Space Exploration or Instagram óò.
Simply put, the world wouldn’t work just as Nigeria isn’t working at the moment. This isn’t a blame game if you think it is, your bad! It sincerely just feels like this whole drama can be put into a book and the title “Nigeria’s Destruction: The Elders Are To Be Blamed” will just be befitting.
Before you go: How to be faster at decision making
Message to my dear reader
Dear Young people of Africa – particularly Nigeria, let no one intimidate you. Let no elderly person box you, discourage you, or discredit you on the alter of “Experience”. Those who ask you for Experience haven’t used theirs any rightly.
The evidence for that is this same dysfunctional country we are all in together – no running water in our homes, electricity remains epileptic, over 13 Million Children out of school, internal security TurningOnEOwn and you know where else the Naija shoe hurts.
Dear Young people of Africa – particularly Nigeria, you’re not the “Leaders of Tomorrow”, you are the Leaders of Today, and now is your time! Next time they carelessly say a Young Candidate XYZ “lacks experience… ” do not just agree and nod your head, ask them how they have used their own EXPERIENCE to provide Electricity, Access to Education, Security and Potable water for Nigerian in the last 50 years.
Ask them! As a Nigerian, it is part of your constitutional rights to answer a question with another question. So, you are still doing well by asking them!
Written by Emdee Tiamiyu
How to master critical thinking by using professional Gamer strategy