Youthfulperspectives

Photo by Ayano Tosin on Unsplash In one of her interviews, the famous poet, activist, and civil rights campaigner Maya Angelou once stated the importance of anger. The emotion Anger has had a bad rep since forever, probably because it is said to be at the root of many disruptive activities. At that moment, an angry person is perceived as a bad person who should be avoided because they are perceived as unyielding, not bending societal rules of conduct, and literally consuming anything on their path.  In this particular interview, Maya Angelou saw anger in a different light. She believed that anger was not a bad emotion to express. She believed it to be honest and purifying. It consumed everything impure in its path, fearlessly fought against injustice, and advocated for sincere accountability. This thought pattern makes perfect sense and can be extrapolated to fit the Nigerian situation.  See, I have always advocated for Nigerians and their right to be angry with their leaders...

Photo by Shedrack Salami on Unsplash Suddenly, my brother blurted out, "Guy, Shey, you know say if our refineries dey function, subsidy no go dey o". Well, spending a few days in Lagos and having to go back and forth on double the transport fares will make you have such thoughts. So, I fully understand where my guy was coming from.  Sometimes you get so angry at the system, and how things can be better done, and after some time, you calm down and then try to rationalize how powerless you might be in the grand scheme of everything. But anything for national development, right? If you can find a way of positively changing the thoughts of those in your immediate ecosystem, then all hopes might not be lost.  Although another factor to consider is how unhelpful it is that you are dealing with some of the most optimistic sets of people you can ever meet. No matter how terrible a government policy might be, there will always be its defenders. Even if the consequences of su...