Life means not more than to be remembered, to leave your trails on the sands of time, make an impact and do something that outlives you.

All these can be achieved no other time than during the youthful days. Nigeria is blessed with creative, brilliant and talented youth who are capable of delivering world class results in all ramifications.

The passion and drive you see in most Nigerian youth is enough for anybody to wake up and do something and be something, but nowadays where is the drive heading?

The first is vain pursuit. The youth we see today are only concerned about amassing wealth and show offs, we are all concerned about who is going to be tagged, ‘the biggest boy and girl’, all we want is to be noticed and hailed, this has led us to sink deeply into the abyss of moral decline.  Most Nigerian youths are no longer ready to settle down and work hard and eat the fruit, which tastes better and lasts longer.

Uncontrolled passion and lust for material things have increased tremendously. More than ever a lot of youths are going into one crime and the other ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping, fraud, cybercrime to name a few and prostitution; the ladies are ready to give up anything just to be in vogue, and these are people who are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow.

Typical of these callous youths, they give up what they use in making a living, risk their lives and go in search of so-called greener pastures, waste precious time, are repatriated, coming back to face that which they ran away from in a harder way and starting all over from square one.

And it doesn’t end here, some take this attitude oversees and to be candid at the detriment of every Nigerian. How many promising and gifted lives have been lost just because of fame representation and get-rich quick syndrome.

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The next is false success. Now when some of them manage to gather wealth through trick and threat, what is it being used for; show up in club with their boon companions, cruising the costliest and latest automobile, buy drinks they don’t need, get the latest gadgets they may not really but just to have something to show off. Then they trudge off to social media, which is now the latest show off arena. Just to have a ride, take selfies and post them on social media and make others miserable of their lives, to a level that a fanatic Nigerian youth is ready to dent up a golden career.

The peril of vain pursuit and false success is really a thing to talk about. The lifestyles portrayed on social media, do they really paint the perfect picture of a happy and fulfilled life and of what is truly important.

This is happening while youths in other countries are working on how to develop self and country.  But, with false success, we think we are winning when in fact we are actually losing; what we get is feigned happiness, double life, embellished images and so on.

We forget that the greatest of all riches is just plain common sense, and that customs and fashions of men are like leaves on the bough which go and others come; we seem not to see that these so called celebrities they are dying to emulate have been busted not once or twice trying to be who they’re not and feigning to have what they didn’t. I try my best to convince myself that we still have hardworking, industrious, and self reliant youths who are ready to go through life route and make it despite the struggles and difficulties they encounter.

This is not meant to castigate, rather it is a clarion call for all Nigerian youths to standup for what is right and remember that we are the future.

Blessing Ezinne Udeh writes from Ondo State