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Thanks for sharing this Pa.
This was my reaction to reading both 'letters':
...........
Fair point, this dude writes well but that is about it.
Read the fella's post and the ensuing commentary on Prof's page and I can see people are getting it twisted.
When will we be weaned off the idea of knowledge accumulation being a means to an end rather than a satisfying and rewarding (ad)venture in and of itself - with or without any subsequent reward?
I think this subtle point (made by a friend) is very vital as a lot of people are not thinking along this route at all. It seems of those who've read the fella's open letter, very few (if any) saw anything wrong with his submissions.
'Why should I get knowledge when it won't bring money into my pocket?' is a quite astonishingly bewildering submission. More so when one considers the number of people that seem to agree with such appalling reasoning.
Besides, what's with this idea of passing the buck? I'm sure Prof's generation was also angry with the generation before theirs - or was it not the generation before Prof's that fought the (un)civil war? When do we begin to take on responsibilities and accept that the state of Nigeria today is invariably OUR fault?
I do hope that Prof Pius will do well by this dude (and his likes) by setting him straight on the absurdly meretricious and mistaken thinking behind his otherwise fine write-up.
To summarize someone's submission on another wall:
"Materialism on steroids and passing the buck..........sums us up, as a people, completely. Tragically so."
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On Wednesday, June 11, 2014 1:29:19 PM UTC-5, Ikhide wrote:
"I don't get it. Why is a generation with a handset, Google, and Wikipedia (the minimum in their endless world of immediate e-possibilies of knowledge) so resistant to knowledge? A piece of knowledge that I could acquire only after one week of reading till 5:00 am everyday with a lantern in the lecture halls of Unilorin, tons of kolanuts on the study desk, and mosquitoes for company, is now just on...e click away in the numerous effizy devices of this generation. Why the effing heck do they refuse to click? Why the effing heck do they insist on publicly wearing the inevitable consequence of not clicking - ignorance - like a badge of honour? Why do they invest in those devices? Just to denge pose? When I go to Nigeria, I see these kids carrying phones and devices that could cause Boko Haram-level damage to my Canadian Professor's salary if I dared to invest in such. Why the heck don't they click?"
Professor Pius Adesanmi, posting on Facebook, June 11, 2014Great question. In response he gets a powerful response from a 20-year old, that includes many gems like this:"Sir, in your own words, your generation, Nigerians in their forties, fifties, and sixties, "are making such a thorough mess of Nigeria today". I couldn't agree with you more sir. Let me also add sir, that your generation is the generation parenting my own generation. You are our parents but how are you parenting us sir? All around us, we look at your generation and we see thieves who have stolen everything from Nigeria and they are never punished. They are given national honours sir. Millions of my peers in polytechnic all over the country have been seating at home for over a year, their lives ruined by members of your generation who are ruling Nigeria sir. So, why should we click on knowledge sir when your generation is telling us in words and in deed that it does not pay to do so in Nigeria?Sir, a member of your generation is the President of Nigeria. He recently went on national television to say that stealing is not corruption. That is an open invitation to steal at worst or a message that says that stealing is not all that bad at best. This is what your generation is teaching us sir, why should we click on knowledge?Members of your generation are Senators and Reps sir. They are some of the biggest thieves in Africa sir. Why should my generation bother with knowledge when we see them? Members of your generation are state governors sir. The only message we have ever gotten from all of them is that after looting for eight years in the states, you can retire to the senate after awarding yourself scandalous pension at the state level. Why should we see all of this and be eager about knowledge sir? Your generation is telling us that knowledge is the surest path to hunger and poverty in Nigeria."Please read...- IkhideStalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/Follow me on Twitter: @ikhideJoin me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
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