 Welcome to The Advocate, where we discuss topical issues in a no-hold bad manner. In other words, we call a spade by its name. According to Julia Hart, there's a lot of clarity in hindsight. So today, I'm taking you on the journey I have titled Things I Wish I Knew Before Now. Felix, who makes his debut today, is lecturing us on youth and leadership. Julia, who also makes her debut today, is telling us about how much our environment influences our lives and coyote wraps the show up by asking if we even know that as Nigerians we have rights. So sit back and after this break, we'll be here to dissect it all. Stay with us. Things I wish I knew before now. So here I am, taking stock and checking out things and I decided to do a listing of all I've learned over the years. So, fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride with me. Here goes. 1. What my 18-year-old self should have known. It's so important to have a life plan and no, I wasn't too young and neither are you. 2. After law school and maybe before, it would have been a good idea to have a career plan. A little bit of career planning and strategy wouldn't have been so bad, right? But hey, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. Because how would I have gone from a law degree to a master's degree in international law and diplomacy to working in international media and then varying into branding and education? Anyway, you get my drift though. A little strategy would have helped my wanderlust have a path. So get your digs on and put a strategy on that career. Ah, the one that I learnt and enjoyed and still do is meeting strangers and becoming friends. And I have a story about that even today. It's such a pleasure to work up to strangers and leave feeling like best friends. A small tip on how to do that. Just find a way to make it about the other person. Remember, everyone likes someone who makes them feel sane. Should I share here my first full on public experience with a knife? Oh my goodness, my law school dinner. All I thought of was, how is this chicken going to be demolished with a knife? Like, how do I not pick up the chicken with my fingers? Well, let's just say I'm glad for my mother's lessons and an observant eye that quickly scanned the room. So my dear, dear, dear, grab some dining etiquette tips so that you don't bump on your next business lunch. Seen me now. It's hard to believe I was terribly shy at some point, but I was painfully so. But a few lessons on how to build my confidence straightened me out. I do hope that you are also doing some stock taking because life in Nigeria is hard. But it can definitely be a bit different when you look at your life and all you are where and can become. So like me, maybe you want to ask yourself, who am I? What are my strengths? My weaknesses? What opportunities is life offering me based on where I'm coming from and what I am now? There is a proverb that says, if you don't know where you're coming from, you can't know where you're going. So yes, while the threat to life right now may be Nigeria itself, what are those things you have learned over the years? What do you wish your 18-year-old self had known? And what would you want your 70-year-old self to say about the life you lived? Well, price of rise, base and gary has increased, but we are here and we all need life hacks to survive. This is my own to you today. My advocacy is find how to mentally survive in Nigeria and become the person that you want to be. So I guess Juliet, that was what the movie worked for you. So what are your thoughts, Juliet? I think she can identify with it. Probably tell us your first experience before her knife. But you see, actually, this is what I see. What you just discussed or just presented here is a subject that affects a lot of people. Of course, we're talking about the lighter side, the fucking knife bed, but a lot of people go through school not knowing what they want. I have a niece who today is into catering and doing very well, baking cakes and all that. And we're talking about it. And I said, you know, just we studied appearance school. We said, why no, I'm just going to baking school from secondary school. And I started making money long time ago. And the truth is it was bad in the 80s and the 90s when we were finishing school. But now it's worse. Because back then, you still had people you could look up to. Maybe, you know, we're trumpets, maybe law or engineering or something. You had people you could look up to in the family. You had mentors that were mentoring you directly or indirectly, people whose life you were shaping yours after. But right now, we don't have, quote unquote, father figures anymore. So the youth are a lot more lost right now than we were doing our own time. Because though you were lost, you see that people you could see around you that you want to emulate. But now I tell people that a lot of the English, it was like grammarian. It was like bogus. We used it wrongly for a long time. We picked all that from some big boys in the area. We picked some of these words from music. We picked it from movies. But now I don't know if I know, I know that this is the general viewpoint that people hold about how things are worse. But then at the same time, I sort of feel like maybe back then, when we were growing older, parents also felt that things, the older ones felt this as well. I'm sure that somehow, because I was having a discussion, interesting it today, about a few things, but I feel like there's still a real hope. And I feel that rather than us continuously talk about how things are worse or they're getting bad or like young people don't know what to be, maybe we should start shining the light on how they will actually find their own pathway. Change is the only constant thing in life. And I think Juliet may have some views on this as well. I mean, this was very profound. I was actually lost in the entire text. I was just like, wow, the context of the lesson was very profound and it was very clever. Where you're coming from actually helps where you're going to. It was so, so, so out. And it resonated with me. But one thing I also know that people should look at is determine where they are going to. Where are you going to? Where do you want to be? We just go through life without planning, without an idea on the final destination. I think the educational system helped us to think like that. I think this is my opinion, because for some reason you just don't do a lot of things. You get into primary one, you finish school, the school pushes you here and there, you do lessons, you get into the university. Everything just seems to be automatic. That's true. Then you graduate and it becomes what next? And you are like, the government is not doing anything. The place is not safe because there's no more enabler like the school system helps. So you've been sport for like 12, 15 years on automatic growth and there is no plan. Very true. But what I tell people is you have to define your destination. What do you want? I know the country has issues, we all agree. But in these rots, people are still successful. Very true. What are they doing differently? And that is one motivation. That's one thing that pushes me. What are your own thoughts? My thoughts, I agree with what you said, but I would slightly differ. What you said, the system is systemic. You go through like a robot and then you come out, I finish primary to secondary school. I think the Socratic Deton says, examine life is not what living. When you grow into adult would think about your life in rich respect, just like what you're trying to say. Just like how you have to learn how to use the fucking knife and you're environmentally centric, environmentally centric. That is your way of your environment. And then you see like feedback mechanism in engineering, you take back your errors, take it internally, internalize your mistake, learn from your mistake, move on and write your scripts. The future is a script. Write it out and play it out. What you're saying now, I agree both of you strangely. Let me start with you. Now I'm going to use a very good simple example. Something that happened recently. My wife took a course online and after I did the course, submitted the assignment and there was a feedback that, okay, she still worked on the assignment because it was an assignment-based course, certification, that she worked on the assignment. And interestingly, they gave bullet points of what she was to write. And my man, I'm like, why are you giving the answer already? What's all this? But you know what I noticed? By the time she started answering those things, she discovered things she never knew because she now had to research, do new findings to answer, though they've given her all the points. But the amount of work that went into it made her stronger in that course compared to hours where you don't tell you where to study and we feel we are being so strong. You do all your, I build a whistle, you know, carry and drop and all that. Coffee and paste. I build a whistle. I don't wear that in the long time. In the long time, you know. In my school, it was coffee and paste. So that's one man. On the other hand, I mean, where I tend to argue slightly, we use that. Listen, yeah, it's good to have a retrospective view at life. However, you can only be retrospective if you have understanding of where you are. And that's where we're getting it wrong. A lot of people don't even listen. There are a lot of people now that don't understand until it's too late. When they're in their early thirties or so and they realize and what brings about the understanding, it's not an introspection. It's the reality that, hey, everybody around me is gone ahead of me. I'm 30. I haven't done this. Wow. So then you start looking at life. That's okay. So there has to be an awakening element. And like you said, not something has to shield you or guide you, not necessarily all through life. Like, I mean, the school, unfortunately, is the school that does that for us. But if you're able to develop the brain to the extent that you have M and E mechanisms around us, you know, exactly, then we'll be able to grow better. And listen, we're not going anywhere. I was just telling someone recently that, listen, we seem to focus a lot more on entertainment. Okay, I think we haven't had discussion earlier on. There are no more values. When I'm buying exercise books for my kids, and I see a sports person, a celebrity, I'm like, no, give me one with somebody wearing suits. You know, there's time for everything. Okay. I remember when my son was in primary school, they told him to write their top 10 celebrities or popular people, famous people, famous people. So I was really interested to see who he considered famous, right? He was in primary school. He had Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, but there was Mandela and Jesus. Eight people. I didn't know some of the people, but I knew there was Beba, there was Michael Jackson, there was Nicki Minaj. And I was like, he said, no, but they're successful, mom, they're successful. So which is in line with what you're doing. Anyway, we both just have been quite an interesting one. And I believe that the process of becoming successful is just as important. So up next is Felix. After the breaks, stay with us. Defining youth and leadership. Youth is best described as best understood as a period of transition from dependence of childhood to adult's goods independence. Youth is often referred to as a person between the ages of living compulsory education and finding their first job. The United Nations for statistical purposes defined these persons, those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 as youth without prejudice to order definition by member states. Leadership is all about strategy, development, impact, positive influence, and being environmentally aware. There are so many issues associated with being a youth, both from a global view, with respect to a country system enhanced by its policy and in the Nigerian situation. Generally, youth are associated with being energetic and innovative due to their young mind and perhaps young bodies. According to population projections by the United Nations for 2020, about 43% of Nigerian population comprised of children between 0 to 14 years and 19% age 15 to 24 years and about 62% are below 25 years. By contrast, less than 5% is age 60 and above. Despite Nigerians increasing young population, there are some issues posing as barriers to youth development. Some of these issues are ageism and exclusion. In adequately funded educational institutions or lack of proper education, youth delinquency, insecurity, lack of adequate engagement on unemployment and unemployment, developing youth opportunities and benefits includes inclusive policy, both in public and private sectors, jet tours, national sustainability, intergenerational skill transfer and mentorship, building thrust and collaboration beyond the stereotypes of ageism towards effective leadership, harnessing youthful effervescence and inspired innovation for fast socioeconomic growth of Nigeria, reorientation of the society towards service-driven system for our collective achievement as a nation. Can I say here that I'm a youth? Sure, sure. You are. My energy and my that place, I'm not. Absolutely. Thank you. Absolutely. 5%? No! I'm forever younger than you. So I was going to ask a question to you anytime. What do you think about this issue of ageism? You know, when we talk about ageism, some people have this, in some quarters, you tell you this stereotype, oh, at this certain age, you cannot achieve these same things. Like during the Sorosoku Isega, police will tell you, oh, you're a young boy, how are you driving this kind of car? You know, this question is a very interesting question for me and not just because you're bringing up, and I probably, your example of Sorosoku, which is a young boy, but the first part of it that really hits me and a few years ago, like five years ago or so, I actually did the post on Facebook and I said to myself that why do a lot of opportunities that come up, especially when you're looking at international global opportunities, stop at age 35. I mean, I raised that, I said to myself, so it raised people coming up and sending questions to me, and I just called a few platforms out of Nigeria that actually have programs that really launch people back into life. So I spent it for women, where so ageism is a real problem, but then taking it to the younger people. I think one of the things that has happened in Nigeria, especially as a country, is that we, sort of like mollycodiles are young people, we so pampered them, everything is a matter of you finish school before you actually go and get a job. So the expectation for income or for independence is at a certain age. Well, ideally your school is not supposed to be just a means to an end, it's a learning process, and you should be able to start to do some level of independence. So you triggered me by asking about that ageism question, because a lot of things, I mean, I pushed for a lot of those things around that. But then on both sides of the divide, no one is too young to be successful, and no one is too old to start a dream afresh, no matter what the weight is that your career or your mates have been. I like that, I like that. Actually, during the 2019 election, the period I had right there, the 2019 election, when it came to not too young to root campaign, I had this thought in me. Yes, I like the fact that they want young people to be involved in policies, but I also feel that I don't like being around young people that think old people have aspired, they should go though. I think everybody should be allowed to do whatever they need to do, in as much as they have the right skills and knowledge to contribute to societal development. What do you think about the issue of systematic inclusion and policy, especially for gender issues relating to my job? We're talking about youth, youth is not gender focused. A youth can be either a woman or a man. So most times people have this idea of saying, oh, young boys should do this, young men should do this. What do you think about developing young ladies too and having young men contribute meaningfully to leadership and national development, Juliette? Thank you for that question. There's a lot of questions really. If you come to the gender side, I think in terms of development, everybody should have an opportunity irrespective of your gender, your race, your nationality or anything. If you are interested in something, you should be given the opportunity to express yourself and be developed like you have said. So I don't believe we should do a gradual, what's it called, integration of young people into leadership. Leadership is influence. Leadership is a lot of things. Anybody can be a leader. Once you have the interest, you have the skill, and every skill is learnable. So I don't think there's a particular age where you should cut off people and say, oh, you can't be this, you can't be that. Anybody can be anything. If the person has the interest, all the country needs is that structure to make it effective. So I can be 20 and be a leader. I can be 80 and be an if ineffective leader. It's not age-based. So open the system. Let there be a criteria to bring people in irrespective of their age. And let there also be a selection process to kick people out. That's it. But at the end of the day, right, if you look at this, age is on its own. Since we are, I mean, we're also talking about that. Let me not be the only one that is looking at that. Age is on its own. For me, it's both a reality and a problem. Why do I say that? Yes, we use age to kick a lot of people out of what they deserve. But at the same time, age is a reality in the sense that when we look at the states and maybe the West from, and that's why I told you that from a teenager, you are taught to go work in the supermarket, to raise funds for yourself, go and do this, go and do that. So from a tender age, maybe 15, 16, you're working so you can make money to buy your phone. But from our own tender age, you are giving all these things. So if somebody tells you in Nigeria that age of 20, how did you get this? He hasn't done anything wrong. Technically, in a context as Nigerians, because at age of 20, let's tell ourselves the truth. How many youth are working at that age? That means a lot to live a certain lifestyle. So we didn't, but however, in the states, for example, you're talking about Max Zuckerbergs and their likes, when they start their company, they've been working for so long. How many people at the age of 22 in Nigeria have bank accounts? Some people open bank accounts when they're going to the university, of which in some other climes, I mean the Western stuff, you're working, you're saving, you're doing this. Even when we are giving money as kids. And parents don't give it to us. They spend it. They collect the money. They collect the money. So if at that age, you are told that this for the context. I agree with your thought, but hang on a second. There is, hold your thoughts and then let's link it to this idea of intergenerational skill, transform mentorship. You were saying something about too much focus earlier on entertainment and neglecting other aspects. We have youths that are talented in different areas. Every Nigerian youth must not be involved in entertainment. Some are talented in technology, in the art and other aspects. So what do you think the government or the society, both from the private sector or the public sector, can do to enhance this skill? Because I remember some time ago, I went to a telecommunication industry, then why our company, I will not disclose the name, while I was doing my IT so many years ago, not so long ago. You don't want to fall out of the youth bracket. They said they are not going to accept any young Nigerian undergraduates to work in their fame and internship, because they have a higher build system. So I kept wondering, if they don't transfer this skill to us, and it's a foreign company, by the way, how do we have people that can stand up? Listen, the truth is, a lot of times when we talk youth, we talk youth like they are handicapped, like they are underprivileged. Youth are underprivileged. Listen, I believe in this, that when we said nothing is working in Nigeria, almost every aspect of Nigeria that is working today, that is working, you have a lot of youth influenced in it. If we're winning awards globally in the music and entertainment, it's run by the youth. Sport is the youth. So that's why I tell people that when it comes to politics and all these things, we did not wait for it to be handed over to us. The youth, well, I'm a bit above the youth age, but we did not wait. People fought for it and kept spending their own time and money, but that we don't practice when it comes to politics. And the if, no, but you see, and politics itself, we have a wrong idea understanding of politics. We look at politics at the presidency. No, politics is your area. If you get your area right, people can even tell you that if you don't go for a chairmanship, we'll support you. How many people have Ernest, that kind of influence in their area to end the trust of people, to the extent that you are told go and listen to all these people who talk about the issues that uncle, they all started as youth in their thirties. They fought their way through the question that he asked you about intergenerational transfer of skills and mentorship. I have a, because this question came up, I saw on somebody's status and she spoke about how, you know, you're already a young person, you go for a job and they ask you for experience. And then he said he went to for an internship and he said they want, they didn't want young unemployed, young undergraduates. But I have, I have a question. I said, well, I understand that issue and we used to all kid about it. The reality of life is that knowledge is accessible to almost everyone. As well, I explain it today. If you're a young person, if you've been, if you've been a young person or in that age bracket for the last five to 10 years, you cannot actually hide under the guise of they did not have big assets. You know what I'm saying? That is a different topic on its own. We need to move on. I'm saying, you know, that's it. All right, so, before we round over, I'm so sorry. It's what he said about people, I mean, sectors behaving like they are handicapped. It hits. Wow. You know, that hits. It hits. I know the economy does not enable, it doesn't make it easy, but nobody is disabled. Exactly. You can do something. You can make a difference. I know you can be the president, like he said. You can start from your streets and make a difference in your school, in your place of work. Just try and don't behave like you are disabled or you are handicapped. Thank you very much. Thank you for your contribution. We would actually try our best. We encourage youth out there to try their best, do something, don't waste one. Then speaking of which, after the break, we're going to call on Juliet to come and switch on. The power of your environment. Recently, I saw a post online and it reads, If you hang around five billion years, you will become the sixth. I thought it was profound. So I shared it with my son. As an African mother, I tweaked it a bit. So when I shared this screenshot with him, I now wrote in text below. Son, if you hang around five losers, what do you think would happen? And he responded, I will become one of them. My son was 16 at the time and he was always getting into trouble in school with his friends. Well, I'm not going to go into my son. His father is his coach, not me. But let's come back to the power of association. Power of association is very powerful. It affects your thinking, your habits, the way you speak, and what you do. To achieve your goals and your dreams, it is important for you to surround yourself with successful people. Now that we are on the same page, let's take this a notch higher. Beyond your association, your entire environment influences what you do, what you become, and what you have. I know people who want to quit smoking, but they spend their time in the same joints. They hang around the same set of smoking friends. And they wonder why they can't quit smoking. It is impossible to quit smoking if you don't change some things around you. So there are basically three ways people attempt to change. The most popular one is when you change yourself, but you retain your environment. If you use this strategy, growth will be slow and very difficult. It will be like an uphill task. Another strategy people use is that they change their environment, but they remain the same. In this instance, growth is also slow, but not as difficult. The ultimate strategy to effect change and growth is to change your environment and to change yourself. Using this strategy, growth will be faster and more successful. I will leave you with some examples of environment because sometimes it looks vague. And I also want you to know some questions you ask yourself to determine the optimality and effectiveness of your environment. Let's look at music. What songs lifts you up? People that are smart know what songs to play at different times. Imagine, for example, you are listening to Celine Dion. My heart will go on and on and you are in the gym. You will get nothing done. It's a very depressing song choice for the gym. So people that are smart know their song choices. Let's look at the home, another environment. What family members enable your progress? I'm not going to go there. Family is very sensitive. Another environment is friends. What people encourage you and help you become a better person? Since I changed my network, I have some of them here. My growth has been exponential, both my personal life and my coaching practice. It is very important that you choose the people you spend time with wisely. Let's go to another type of environment. Books. What books add value to you? Check out people who read books on manipulation, like the 48 laws of power. Please don't read it. People like these are excellent manipulators. If you want to excel in anything, read books that enable you in that area. Another environment. There are so many examples but I will try and exhaust the feel that come to my mind. Let's look at recreation. What activities revive you? For some, it's swimming. For some, it's the movies, the spa. For me, it's sleep. Once I sleep, I'm revived. There is no wrong answer. You just need to know what works for you, what activities ultimately revives you. Let's look at another powerful environment, your experiences. What experiences revitalize you? I have clients who have trust issues. They can't date as a result because of some negative experiences they had in the past. The truth is if you reflect in your life, you reflect honestly, you recall both great and not so great experiences. People that grow focus on the great and good experiences that ultimately rejuvenates them. My dear friends, the simple truth is that growth in any area of your life is enabled or hampered by your environment. So you must guide your environment seriously. Look how you do. What do you think? When you started talking, the first thing that came to mind is how you ended it. You become what you profess. It reminded me of what my pastor said many years ago. He said, listen, if you're a man that has always been to brothels, all your life, or for a very long time in your life, then you become born again. You don't go, you don't choose to brothel as your first place of evangelism. A few months. That you don't go there. He says, you need to live that world. Go and preach. Maybe after two, three years, you can go back there and say, okay, let me bring you out. Because if you don't, we're rather a minister to them. They'll minister to you and win you back. And that's exactly what you're saying. If you don't live the environment where you are, and you want to create a change in your life, you have what people don't understand is you don't have any reason to change. That's what your environment tells you. And I dare say that is one of the reasons we are where we are now in Nigeria. Because when you meet 10 people, they're complaining about how bad the country is. We know there are challenges. We know it's the worst in the world. If you want to put it that way, but for me it's not. We've seen more terrible countries. But if the more you sing that song, the less you understand or see the opportunities in Nigeria. For example, successive governments over the past two tenors or so, the Jonathan Tenor and now President Bwari, they've hammered a lot on agriculture. We complained Nigeria was bad under Jonathan. We didn't get into agriculture. The president has come, Bwari is there now, he's still pumping and talking a lot about agriculture. We have all this stuff by CBN and stuff loans or not. We know everybody that applies to get it. We are in Nigeria. We know, but how many of us have even tried to say, okay, I'm complaining in Lagos. I've not had any stable job in the last two years. Why don't I go back to my village? You have a vast land there. I have cousins I can order. We will with the farm or the land that will grow things. How many of us have tried doing that? But we are not thinking in that regard. Why? Because the people around us are our complainants and we enjoy complaining. So I'm going to throw a couple of comments. I'm going to say something first. I mean, I understand the power of our environment and all, but the reality I mean, let's ask, so, where in Nigeria, does that mean that right now I should just relocate to Canada first? Because we are telling them, you know the truth is, I'm asking them, I really would like to know in this situation, how do we actually get to do this? The environments were in this scenario when we are in, what are we going to do? So even though truly, I feel like when I was talking before the show, I was having a conversation with Juliet when we were doing what women do best, makeup, you know, and when she was talking, she had no idea why I was smiling and I kept on saying, keep going on. Because there was something she said about power of environment and all on your network. And I said to her when the progress I said, there was a purpose for which, a reason why you had to say all that you said that we had our conversation. And I do understand that issue of a network because one of the things that I try to do every time and everywhere is that because of the complaints, complaints, complaints that we all do, we all put out there, I ask myself that, how are we going to survive this? It grieves, it really saddens me. It demoralizes you. You know, for men, I don't even know if you men understand it as much. When you look at the next generation, and you look at people coming, you look at children. So we are looking from 9 to 18. I talk to, I don't do youth empowerment because I feel that there's a lot to be done in that space. But I kind of feel like when you talk to people in their 20s and their 30s and they say, we don't see hope, then you ask questions that the question becomes, how does hope come? And I think that this part of the environment for me, it hit deep. But I mean, my first thought was, can I just escape out of this environment? But then again, I asked myself, in this same environment, somehow you are thriving. Not the way you want to, not the way you think you should. But like you rightly said, I just want us to be able to really, really drop the complaints curve. It drains us and changes the truth. The experiences I talk about now, when you focus on negative experiences, it's anti-growth. But if Feliz has something to say, why are you saying, can you just also talk about how the average Nigerian, who sees that the country is bleak, how can he use his environment and be positive in terms of growth? Well, what I would say is that man at birth is a tabula razaar. It means that it's in plain slits, it's waiting to be written on. So the environment is responsible for the rubbish we see in older ages. But the only way to correct is at this level, when you are conscious, try to be a positive influence in your environment. You don't know who's person's life you are writing on. So that's how to start. Why we start the process of reorientation on the older persons, who can learn from feedback mechanism, from their past experiences, for a good output. Oh my God! If you don't stop Feliz, you will spend another episode analysing his words. That was good and I liked that. Thank you so much guys. I mean, this was even I learned in the process. But the truth is that, the truth is that if you want to change your life, you have to do some work. Nobody's going to hand it over to you. So after the break, we're going to have a look how you're doing here next. Do you know you have a right? Every day we complain about Nigeria, its challenges, unfairness, lack of opportunities, inequalities, and of course, non-representation by our representatives in governments. We have so complained that we've become accustomed to a particular lifestyle. For example, when someone comes conversing for votes, we say, when the cuckoo gets there into power, it will not perform jerry. When we hear of a second Niger bridge being constructed, we say, government is lying. Which second Niger bridge then debuted? When we see pictures of this built, we again say, these people are lying. It is Photoshop. When the journalists are taking to the grounds to visit the bridge, we say, bridge with them, no go complete. When we see that the work is progressing after many months and years, we again say, the materials with them, they use, no be good one. That bridge, no go last. I'm sure you get the picture. And I'm sure a lot of you, as you listen to me, will say, no mind am, na apc, na dem dem. Well, you're wrong. And these baseless accusations are responsible for where we are today. Once a statement does not align with your thoughts, beliefs, or understanding, we attach religious, tribal, or political leanings to it. That is the safe rallying point. That way, we get other lopsided, sentimental thinkers to join you in opposing what the person is saying or doing. No matter how relevant it is, but the picture I'm painting here is that Nigerians have become a bunch of complainants who like to talk, lament, but never seize opportunities to better themselves. No matter how low-hanging these opportunities may be, we only exist. We stopped living. We move around like we do not have a right. Again, we are quick to say, you know, see waiting them you do show everyone claim rights. I know that standing for your rights with government is a tall, but achievable order. There's a way to go about this, but that's a story for another day. For now, let me point you in this scenario. I had gone to nearby kiosk to buy an item. As I walked towards the kiosk, I saw people standing idle. Getting to the kiosk, I realized that vendors where the vendor rather was having a heated chat with someone. Other people who came there were definitely livid, faces turned red and obviously agitated. But they looked on and complained, waiting for minutes. After 30 seconds of waiting, I left. You know why? Because there were other kiosks in the corner who saw the same item. You see Nigerians patronize a food vendor, a mama put for example, they are unhappy with the service, complain of insufficient use of salt, yet they go back there every day and engage in the same round of complaints. And painting this scenario to emphasize our weakness as a people, we've become used to complaining while we continue to live an unhappy life. We offer advices which we need to other people and we never implement the same advices on our own. Lastly, before, okay, let's say this, lastly, and believe me, this is truly a life story that happened to me last week. I had gone to a mobile network provider, I won't mention the name, to make an inquiry. When I got there, nobody was allowed into the compound. It was locked and we felt like we were at an embassy trying to get visa to travel out of Nigeria. And obviously people were unhappy and obviously dissatisfied customer cried out, this government shot. So I turned, I looked at him and asked, now government get this institution? He said yes now, banks, mobile companies, all of them are government costs. If we all decide to leave our network providers due to poor service, they will sit up. But no, we won't. Knowing that we won't, the network providers keep rendering terrible service. Have you noticed that multinational companies offer better services in their countries of origin than they do in Nigeria? Have you noticed that beverage companies offer diluted quality of the quality drinks they sell in other countries? We have a broken spirit. No wonder politicians take us and never take us seriously. We are a back worse than a bite. All right, so like I was saying, that telecommunication theme I told you of India country, you will be shocked or you won't be surprised that they will allow youths, young persons on the graduates to participate in an internship and then there by transferring skills. But in Nigeria they come, they make a flimsy excuse that they have a high hybrid equipment and when it spoils, they need to get expatriate from outside to fix it. Therefore they don't want a Nigerian undergraduate to work there and the government will not say anything about it. The Nigerian government is supposed to tell them if you want to do a business here, please make sure you're not only making money from the citizens, you're also contributing many food, you're impacting the life in different areas. You must be able to do entertainment. Everybody has rights. Your rights ends where another person's rights starts. Other clients as well, the people are active. The people could just decide to blacklist that company and that's it. What we do as Nigerians, we don't take action, we complain and expect a government that is faceless to do the work. I say faceless because there are so many facets of the government. When you say government, it depends on the sector you are complaining about and there's something that people say, oh the fragile government, I don't want to call any more the president, you know who. So I want to ask people, okay this issue is happening in your state. Exactly, thank you. Your state governor is not a satan, your state governor is from your states. Your local government chairman is from your local government. Even though they don't stay there all the time. But you get my point, the point is that is the person that will go and hold, not the president. So I know the presidency can do more but some of our problems can be solved at granular levels even from our own end. So the problem with Nigerians is we won't change but we don't want to take action. In anything, we buy the wrong stuff from Conga Juma. Thank you. People call Conga customer service and say, this thing I ordered is not what was delivered. It's work. We just be complaining. I will call Conga and they will come up. In the picking it takes time, it takes effort. But that thing I have done will cause Conga to sit up and tomorrow they will be better. But when nobody complains, anything you don't complain about means it is alright. I know Edith wants to say something but let me explain this scenario. When was it called? National health insurance started in Ghana around 2003 or 2004, I'm not too sure but around that time, I have a friend who went to the hospital pregnant and was going through the process and she was called to the corner and listened, if you want to burn your child, go pay, make you, leave national insurance. No bother yourself. Go and pay and do your antenatal. But today in Ghana, that same national insurance, this is not the emcee, it's a friend that happened to. That same national insurance scheme is one that when you go to the hospital and your card is expired, you just pay through mobile money and immediately it is activated. It's the same health insurance where when you use it, they send a text message to you immediately to ask if you're the one that used your card, if not reports. But it started the same way Nigeria's insurance is. But what are people doing? Nobody is using it. Nobody, we're just complaining in our homes, not even complaining on TV. I'm sure any time it comes, I just want to add something. There was something that happened not too long ago while I was serving. I served in Onitsha, Annambara State. I remember one day I was going to come from Onitsha to Oka and then we had to board the will you be a no boss then they called it will be a no boss. And then you see some people were jumping lines, you know, I've read Nigeria so much of them. They don't respect line and me putting on my coppers, I came there, what is going on here? Or everybody maintained one line and they came and said, who are you? Ideally Copa in Annambara State. We are going to beat you up here. I told them, as far as I'm concerned, no body is going to move this line. They try, try, try, try. Imagine someone coming by while telling me I was being foolish. Why don't I just allow them? I said, no, we have to do the right thing. I fought and fought and fought on T to some extent to my strength. My strength carried me and we were able to maintain line and then we got into the bus. Some of the passengers were telling me I was to, they use a busy program. Why some silently told me to do the right thing. I wish we had somebody. Anyway, I won't talk to him. Interestingly, I mean, all through what, where you were, when you were talking and with the discussions, all that kept on resonating with him was we have a broken spirit because we have trashed this issue in various platforms, in various places. We talk about it every day, social media, small gatherings, large gatherings, about the Nigerian people, about governance, about everything. And I, and I kept the question was, what exactly is responsible? You know how you need to go to the root course of something. And I remember there was a documentary I said a few years ago about the Great Depression in Britain and how at that point the same Britain, UK that we know today, people would actually, to get a piece of bread, they would actually literally almost beat each other up. And I realized that maybe there's some answer, some circle in that bro, how do you heal the broken spirit of people? What about maybe one of the places that we need to start looking at is that we have a national psychological spirit too. And I don't mean that in a bad way, but I mean that the place of, you know how people pay lip service to mental health and healing because some of the actions and the things that we do and the reactions and the behavioral patterns that we're looking at now are not just basic. I mean on the face of it all, because I was involved, recently while talking I was being involved in a particular behavioral change campaign and initially it was just a matter of advocacy on TV. But then even the funders realized that you need to look at paradigm shifts. These are not things that you just complain about or talk to people that you need to look at, how do you actually systemically change everything? So maybe we're going to have to take a good look at our mental health institutions and across board really, really look at how in governance, how do you go into psychology, as a people, as solutions, policy changes, everything. Everything is a system. You're right. You're right. You know, let mental health hear too much in Nigeria and it's important. Those are the corridors of power and not the exact same thing. We can trash this. It's like he said, from mental health to, you know, even bugging itself. You can take it to any angle. But the bottom line is that you ask the question about how do we regulate this? And I think it starts with this kind of program. If you look at every country that's falling into depression of gone off the radar, one thing they do is that they just end up having a group of people that decide there must be a change. And I think that's what we're saying today that as Nigerians we must change. Now there is not certainly never enough time to discuss issues on this platform, but we make do with what we have. Please don't just listen. Remember what they say. Rome was not built in a day. Play your parts, even if it's just to share their advocate with family and friends. The more diverse thoughts we share, the richer the solutions they inspire. Don't forget, the advocacy continues on our social media platforms on Facebook that's facebook.com. Don't forget, the advocacy continues on our social media platforms on Facebook that's plus TV Africa and hashtag advocates NG and Instagram at plus TV Africa hashtag the advocated NG. To catch up with previous broadcasts, go to plus TV Africa dot com four slash the advocate NG. 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