Not many people these days dream,especially the youth who are either fascinated by the transformation in the info-tech sector, or are overwhelmed by the craze in hi-tech devices like blackberry, i-pad, android phones to mention a few. In fact, the Nigerian youths are worshippers in the shrine of social media sites like Facebook, twitter, hi5 etc. However, while there is nothing wrong in one being crazy about info-tech, hi-tech phones or even social media sites, what is wrong is how we use them, what we use them for and the little gains we get from them. Mark Zuckerberg, who began the magical Facebook, is worth billions of dollars, yet many Nigerian youths refused to ask themselves how Zuckerbergs Facebook could transform their own pockets. What they do is to rather look for girls or boys they hope to hook up with, or magas who they believe would be gullible enough to part with some dollars. The question that is then asked is this, how can we be relevant to ourselves and our societyHaving said this, it is an historical fact and a reality today in Nigeria that more than half of Nigerian graduates are unemployable. President Jonathan reiterated this view some time ago, giving credence to the fact that much has not be done to salvage this most unfortunate story. However, the reason for this sorry state is not because the Nigerian youths or graduates dont have the required certificates to be employed, but because most of them dont know where the jobs are; many dont even know what to say during job interviews, or know how to become their own bosses. Without prejudice to anyone, many of the students in 400 level today in our ivory towers will not get jobs in the next five to ten years simply because of their ignorance or because they have never sat down to think of a future for themselves and the entire nation. This takes us to the question: why is it that there is an American dream that brings food, shelter, water and others on the tables of Americans Why is it not with the average NigerianThe answer is simple and clear. Many Nigerian youths today dont dream, else if we dream, people who live in Nigeria should not live below a dollar. We have failed to understand that underneath the soils of Nigeria lie a gold mine that is waiting for every one of us to tap into. If my dream is to brand pepper and tomato in a way that it would be grinded, packaged, bagged and sealed and have every Nigerian woman as a set target, I would be making millions in a day.That takes us to what PMC is all about. PMC means Premier Motivational Concepts and it was the brain child of three like minds who one day came together to ask themselves the simple question, why are the Nigerian youths unemployable In our different arguments, we came to a conclusion that there must be a fundamental problem inherent in our society that has brought a dilemma on the youth.Without satisfying answers, we agreed to bring three giants from all walks of life to share the secret of their success story with us and enlighten us. The theme of the seminar was tagged being relevant outside our university walls. This writer observed that many who we told about the event cursed us; some even said we were not serious; while others looked at us with pity. It became worrisome when one of us backed out for no just reason. This writer also remembers that the university authorities, though interested in the seminar, its bureaucracy delayed the seminar up till the last day. However, despite the troubles, the main issue was about the dream we had nurtured from the start. From the start, we had told ourselves that if we had spent a huge amount of money and time to organise this program for people to learn a lesson to help their future without getting a kobo at the end of the day, we would have been satisfied that we had impacted lives and hope the youths would become better people tomorrow.The PMC is all about breeding exceptional people, assisting in enlightening the youths, helping to transform our society for the better. We are poised to bringing about a generational change to a debilitating society like ours. If the Egyptian youths had all come out enmass for 18 days to destroy the regime of impunity, what stops the average Nigerian youth from saying enough of the political brigandage What stops us from taking our destinies into our own hands At PMC, we are not revolutionaries, but if we are seen as that, it goes a long way in entrenching a shift in attitudes, orientations, ideals and beliefs. If my fathers generation had plundered this country to ruin, what stops us from bringing it back to the foundation of successThat is what we are all aboutchange and nothing but change. It is believed that heaven will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in their hearts. As a founding member of the PMC, we want to be the first Nigerians to start making progress in breeding people who will make others proud, people who will breed others to see themselves as epitomes of change. We are an organisation that does not believe in looking for white collar jobs after the university years, rather, we are people who believe we can employ others with our dreams.It is for this reason that we brought highly cerebral individuals who have cut a niche for themselves not only within their environment, but the nation as a whole. When you have the like of Albert Oduwole, Sijuade Otegbeye and Olufemi Adedamola of this world inspiring the youth into greatness, it is the view of this writer that PMC had done wonderfully well in engaging the youths to be critical and not see themselves as failures. It is our hope that the seminar would engage us, train us, change us, influence us and transform our orientation towards being relevant when we all leave the university walls and it of course did, when about 180 students participated. Of course, if a party had been organised, one would not be surprised to find more than 2000 youths attending with nothing to gain, except frivolities and drunkenness. Thats how far the youth of this nation have gone.Even as we spent a lot and sacrificed so many things to ensure a success of the programme, though losing a lot of financial resources, the PMC is a big dreamer and we hope to hold this seminar again in all universities in the future. It is also our hope to bring the likes of Mark Zuckerberg here someday to tell us how he made billions as a teenager. The Nigerian youths should not accept the toga of un-employability, we should see ourselves as graduates who will have a stake in the development of Nigeria. We must not because of N1000 sell our future. The Nigerian youth should be above board and truly see themselves as the leaders of today and not the future.At PMC, we believe the Nigerian youth will live in a nation like Nigeria were we will not be judged by the yahoo we do, or corruption we worship, but by the content of our character and dream. Whats your dreamOluwafunminiyi wrote in from Osun State University.
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