Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka once described his own generation, which played a major role in the struggle for emergence of the Nigerian nationhood, as ‘wasted.’ He was alluding, among other things, to the human capital in that generation lost to the civil strife that hobbled the early years of the nationhood. With sundry challenges that have blighted the country since those early years, succeeding generations have been far worse off than wasted. Presently, we have a generation that seems befuddled and rudderless, no thanks to the abysmal state of the socio-polity. And is there frustration in the land!
An example of confused frustration is Oludare Alaba, a graduate of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, who recently stormed the school to return his certificate and demand a refund of fees paid the school for his training. A viral video showed Alaba barging in on security desk staff of the institution and ranting about his struggles since graduation, with no financial benefits accruing from having the certificate. “I’m suffering, take your certificate and return my money,” he raved in Yoruba at bemused staff.
In a media interview subsequently, Alaba defended his outburst. “I’ve been struggling with life and the only opportunity I’ve seen is for me to do (sic) blood money and I said I cannot do blood money because I want to be useful to Nigeria, my family and myself, and God my creator. I am an entertainer. I even won an award during my NYSC days in 2016,” he said, adding: I am married with two kids; my dad is 90 years old but I continue to borrow money from him rather than give him. My father said he cannot help me go and borrow money again because he borrowed money to send me to school and he is yet to pay back, and that he is supposed to be reaping the benefits from me now…”
There are many things wrong with Oludare Alaba as a person, and it’s not LAUTECH or the certificate it awarded that is to blame. After six to seven years since he obtained the certificate, it is curious he’s waiting for white collar employment, especially with the kind of course he graduated in. Of what use would he be to the nation in white collar employment, as he touted the desire, with a training that presumably equipped him to engage in agricultural enterprise? And now that he’s returning the certificate and demanding a refund, how will the school retrieve the knowledge imparted to him that he’s refused to apply? Oludare Alaba has personal issues and ‘the gods’ of LAUTECH are not to blame.