On Friday afternoon, a day before graduating students of Bowen University would have their convocation ceremony, they were served one more lecture – a sobering and inspiring one.

A lesson to prepare them for their most formidable challenge yet – playing their part in getting Nigeria out of its conundrum.

At a packed hall filled with students and officials of the university, the Chairman of Channels Media Group, Dr John Momoh (OON), brought decades of experiences and successes to bear in painting the picture of the world they are about to face in earnest and the traits that will get them through and enable them to leave a better country behind.

“The strength of your character comes not from how you react to successes of which there will be many,” Dr Momoh told the students in a lecture titled ‘Deconstructing the Nigerian Conundrum as a Panacea for National Cohesion and Transformation’.

“Instead, the strength of your character comes from how you react to your failures of which there will also be many, especially if you are bold, daring, or audacious. So, always believe in yourself, persevere, but be willing to adapt.”

Although it is an “undisputable fact” that Nigeria is a nation of great potential with a rich cultural heritage and abundant natural resources, Dr Momoh expects that the graduating students will face numerous problems. The same ones that have hindered the country’s growth – “a web of intricate and deeply rooted problems” that have plagued Nigeria for decades.

“We are now witnessing different degrees of social, economic, and political difficulties, compounded by the challenge of insecurity in almost every part of the country,” he said.

In inspiring the students to take on the challenges ahead of them, Dr Momoh, took on the daunting task of deconstructing the conundrum, which he says is “complex and sometimes a trigger of disillusionment”.

“The Nigerian conundrum is a sum of our intractable problems,” he said before going on to explain how military dictatorship and the crisis of democracy have resulted in a situation where Nigerians are witnesses to a greater number of self-interested politicians, mostly concerned about pecuniary interests.

“Many of our politicians see the treasury as a tool for enrichment,” he continued. “There’s hardly any distinction, as have been shown in many cases in the past, between their private purse and that of the public.”

The consequence of corrupt politicians is failed promises, deprivation, poverty, insecurity, and lack of economic development with the people alienated from the government at all levels, the students heard.

Dr Momoh also explained to the students the ethnic fault lines of the country, pointing out how Nigeria’s Founding Fathers, great as they were in terms of what they hoped for the young country in 1960, played their politics on ethnic lines.

This has had grave consequences for the country.

“One of the greatest challenges facing Nigeria today is the threat to national unity, as centrifugal tensions, resource control, self-determination, ethnic-based identity politics, and religious cleavages have enveloped national consciousness,” he said.

Antecedents of Opportunity

In painting a vivid picture of the true state of the nation, Dr Momoh’s objective was not to leave the students disillusioned; far from it.

“The intention is not to dampen your enthusiasm as you celebrate. Rather, my objective is to throw up some of the challenges confronting us as a nation and the chaos, confusion, and disorder in which we have found ourselves,” he said. “But even much more, my objective is to let you know that chaos, confusion, and disorder, are antecedents of opportunity.”

To turn things around, the first stop, according to the Channels Media Group Chairman, is “to rebuild our psychology to increase our believer in the collective – the common good”.

“We need a greater sense of patriotism, a better disposition for nationalism, and an increased penchant for thinking about the welfare and prosperity of the community,” he said.

Dr Momoh believes that the youth population is critical to achieving this turnaround.

“So, I charge you to be audacious,” he said. “For the best time to dare is now – the time of your youth. It’s the best time to prepare for life and to take risks, however dire or treacherous the situation may be.

“Mark Zuckerburg was 19 when he founded Facebook, the networking site. Bill Gates was 20 at the time he began Microsoft. Apple’s Steve Jobs was 21. Google’s Larry Page was 25, Ebay’s Pierre Omidyar was 28, and Larry Ellison of Oracle was 32 at the time he came up with Oracle.

“We cannot afford to waste our youthful energy. The energy is not just significant for national growth but helpful to self-development.”