Nigeria, a country popularly known as the giant of Africa is an ethnically and culturally distinct nation, inhabited by over two hundred ethnic groups that speak over five hundred languages and have unique traditions, cultures, and arts. Its history can be traced way back to as early as 11,000BC, to a number of ancient African communities as the first inhabitants of the area, many years ago before the arrival of the British country. The land is blessed with many breathtaking landscapes, wild reserves, and natural resources which include petroleum, natural gas, and solid minerals.

However, over the years this great country has been faced with various economic challenges which have greatly affected the entire nation and threatens its future. Poverty is one of these challenges. Nigeria, despite its richness in many natural resources, has been categorized as one of the poorest countries in the world with over 40% of its population living in abject poverty. The alarming increase in the rate of terrorism and level of insecurity is another drastic factor that has impacted the country's economic development negatively. This economic issue has turned many children orphans, many husbands widowers, many wives widows and rendered some homeless, many lives and properties have been lost. Consequently, Nigeria has now been ranked as the 16th least peaceful country in the world.

For many years, unemployment has also been a disturbing factor of the country which has and is affecting individual citizens and the nation as a whole. Each year about 500,000 students graduate from schools but then there are no job opportunities, this, together with an increased standard of living, faced with lots of hardships and responsibilities, some then turn in to committing crimes in order to survive. Other economic factors affecting the country's economy are corruption, education, gender based bias inequalities and many more. The level of corruption in Nigeria is very disheartening, it has now become the way of life of some citizens. Considering the abundance of resources in Nigeria, the country can be considered a wealthy nation, however, corruption has eaten deep into the souls of some greedy leaders and so the country's wealth doesn’t flow to the people. Corruption has even spread into the educational system of the country whereby professors collect money from students in exchange for good grades.

The high rate of devaluation in our country is so great to an extent that we didn’t even realize that what we cherish the most “our Beloveth homeland” is at the edge of a Clift. Was this the nation we all looked forward to? A nation where we are scared to even sleep in our homes. A nation with low infrastructural developments due to the greediness of those we call leaders. A nation where because of the fear of death, we can’t speak up. A nation with most of its citizens living in abject poverty, a nation so wealthy but yet so poor!

It's high time we brace up and fight for the rebirth of a new Nigeria, not by protesting or casting blame on the government but by empowering the most valuable asset of our nation, our youths. The youths are blessings to any nation. A nation without youths is as good as a fallen nation. Youthfulness signifies freshness, energy, hope, prosperity, and most importantly change. The passion, charisma, competence, creativity, and energetic spirit of the youths are what a nation like Nigeria needs to reshape its future. The Nigerian youths have the greatest role to play in the emergence of a new Nigeria.

Obviously, there are many barriers preventing and discouraging the youths from performing their duties. The economic challenges of the country are enough barriers already but then the youths must remain resilient and fight against any obstacle standing in the way of achieving their goals and carrying out their responsibilities towards the nation.

The youths have to be smart and industrious, changing the past mentality (days our elders refer to as the good old days) to be better than the present. It's high time young people realize that all necessary facilities for continuity of life is yet to be invented, cures to diseases are yet to be found, and many problems in the country are lying unsolved. It's not all about protests or casting blames on the government, the question is, what can they bring to the table? What can they offer or do? What can you contribute to make this nation great again? Everyone has a role to play in the emergence of a new Nigeria, especially the youths.

Youths should be stewards to the great mother Earth, civilization and sophistication doesn’t call for destruction. Over the years, animals have gone into extinction due to lack of Stewardness of our older generations to protect God's special creation. Man was made to rule the earth and not destroy it. Youths can make a great change to this by standing against pollution, deforestation, and every other thing that tends to destroy the Earth. Youths, as stewards, are therefore called upon to responsibly manage the resources placed under their care. Moreover, most youths have been blinded by the fallacy that white-collar jobs places one's personality at the top and then they run from agriculture. Nigeria as an overpopulated country where there are more persons than available resources to feed on, Agriculture is and should be a priority. Youths should therefore arise from every disregard of agriculture. Youths should also abort the belief that you must be in a leadership position before you can lead because the truth remains that you don’t have to be in power to express power. Youths as great leaders of today must therefore serve Nigeria even in the smallest ways possible, regardless of their positions in the society.

We(Nigerians) deserve better, let us, therefore, look beyond our different ethnicities and come together to build a better Nigeria, the youths have the biggest role to play in this. The youths are the hope of the future”~ Jose Rizal.

Another opportunity presents itself in the forthcoming election. You've probably attended all the one million marches that have been held so far, but the real question is will you come out with that same attitude and energy to vote? If yes, will you vote wisely?

As for me, I am proudly #Obidient! What about you?