First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
Email: babawill2000@gmail.com Twitter: @Babawilly
Nigeria has a population of between 185 million and just fewer than 200 million depending on which way the Google wind blows you. No one seems to know the exact number but it is safe to say that the people outstrip the food, water, light, employment opportunities and housing supply.
With a literacy rate of 59.6 percent, there should be about 76 million people who don’t read or write. The remaining 110 million or so all read and write. With 50 percent of the population less than 30 years of age, there are about 60 million youths in desperate search for self-development and a better life in general.
Sixty percent of the youths are unemployed and therefore hungry. Who will lead them to a better life?
Aso Rock has its own minister of youth but what use is a minister of youth who has no data on the constituency? I doubt that Nigeria can produce a list of its unemployed youth complete with basic data such as dates of birth, sex and area of residency. How does one minister to people you have no information about?
Perhaps we have a minister of youth in America and we just don’t know it; His Excellency Mark Zuckerberg (owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp).
With a total of about 17 million Facebook users and 50 million or more WhatsApp users, ZuckerMan provides service to the Nigerian literate youth on a daily basis. They, in turn, devote about 20 minutes of their time daily to his platforms.
Most young people in Nigeria do not have any interaction whatsoever with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.
A minister of youth not interacting with the youth; is that one too a minister of youth?
Nigeria’s youth are hungry and unemployed and many are now involved in business ventures that rely on interacting with customers via social media platforms. My friend yesterday sent me pictures of an estate in Lekki with apartments for sale on WhatsApp.
Many youths and even older people have made deals on the WhatsApp platform so it is safe to say that ZuckerMan’s platforms are providing a source of income to young Nigerians (there are 83 million fake accounts on Facebook but this is not an article on 419 marriage and love proposals).
Facebook and Instagram are useful tools in the Nigerian music and film industries. DIY public relation is now the norms. Publicity campaigns can now be done at minimal cost on these platforms thus giving new acts in any part of Nigeria a chance to “go viral like chicken pox”.
The way everything is sold along the road in the traffic congestion on Lagos roads is the same way things get marketed on WhatsApp.
Cars, hair, land, furniture, the list is endless.
All good ministers must have friends in high places (or at least know how to get their phone numbers).
Larry Page, the CEO of Google, is a power guy. He owns Google, AdSense, Blogspot.com and YouTube.
Most of the young entrepreneurs in Nigeria use Google in one way or the other. IrokoTV, the African movie streaming site, makes use of YouTube via its IrokoTV/Nollywood page. The Uber and Taxify drivers use Google Map.
Nigerian music as we know it today will disappear if YouTube shuts down. A viral music video usually confers stardom on an artiste.
The popular MarkAngelComedy YouTube Chanel with 1.8 million YouTube subscribers has made Emmanuela “this is not my real face” a household name. With over 150 comedy skits with some recording over 10 million hits, they are providing employment to young people using this Google-owned platform.
Nigeria’s bloggers with their huge following are all the subjects of Larry Page in the same way Nigerian were subject to the Queen in colonial times. This, however, is an invisible colonisation. You never see Larry Page visiting but Google can shut down any blog they wish at any time.
If we add in Class Captain Uncle Bill Gates and Uncle Tim Cook (Apple CEO) as helpers and advisors to ZuckerMan, one could effectively say he has the whole West African youth ecosystem in his pockets. My quick survey of friends showed that Nigerians love Windows and Apple products more than their politicians.
Facebook has plans to beam the internet to millions of people via satellite. Just imagine what might happen if they pull it off. If the youth are promised free internet for one year, it is not just a foreign coach of the Super Eagles we would be talking about, it would be ZuckerMan for President.
I pity the Telecommunication industry. WhatsApp has eaten into their text messages revenue but surely satellite internet will push them all to Nitel purgatory. Young readers, please ask your parents about Nitel.
If a man and his friends can provide employment for the youth, ehen? He can become president na.
Uncle Elon Musk will surely put a solar panel on every roof if President ZuckerMan asks him to.
