By Jude Atupulazi
I bet we would all have read about the raging issue at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, UNIZIK, Awka, concerning a lecturer of the university and a female student. In case anyone doesn’t know yet, the female student was doing tik tok in a busy place in the school during peak hours.
A lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts who was passing by, tapped the student at the back and asked her to excuse him to pass. The student immediately, according to the viral video, muttered some obscene words at the lecturer who now came back to ascertain if the student was speaking to him. He then asked the student to delete the video in her phone where he was captured passing.
The student refused and the lecturer then proceeded to ask for the phone, trying to snatch it from the student. All hell was let loose then as the student attacked the lecturer and even bit him in the arm. All this was as other people there, mostly students, strove to hold back the girl.
As the dust settled, rather than apologize to the lecturer, the student started to claim being the victim. This was the situation till the university authorities met and expelled the girl who thereafter was reported to have gone with her mother, also a lecturer in the school, to beg the assaulted lecturer.
This issue had generated a lot of controversy in the social media throughout the country, with many faulting the student for having no respect for the lecturer who is old enough to be her father. There were however a few others who sided with the girl, claiming that her rights were violated by the lecturer who touched her while asking to be excused to pass. In fact, even as I wrote this, the controversy was still raging.
My take then and now has been that the student was wrong. First of all, why should she be doing tik tok in a busy place at a busy period? Was that what those sponsoring her education sent her to do? I was even made to know by an insider in the school, a lecturer, that minutes before the incident, the girl had had her phone confiscated by another lecturer in her class when she was busy surfing with her phone in the middle of a lecture. He phone was returned after the lecture and minutes later, the incident with another lecturer happened.
Before her punishment by the school authorities was announced, I had wished she would not be expelled but given a lesser punishment, being that she was already in Year Three. But, alas, she was given the maximum punishment which was expulsion. But being that she has now gone to the lecturer to beg for forgiveness, maybe her punishment will be mitigated. But beyond that, what lessons are to be learned from her saga?
Now, everyone knows the kind of generation we have today who are known as Generation Z or Gen Z for short. It is a generation that has little or no respect for elders, constituted authorities or institutions. Rather than abide by existing rules and regulations or laws, they make theirs and regard others with contempt and disdain.
They always believe in having everything their own way. They hate hard work and believe in the easy life. You try to correct them at your own risk. It doesn’t matter how they were brought up in their various homes. Once they go out and begin to interact with their peers they begin to change and there’s little or nothing you can do about it.
Nothing is sacred to them. You will be lucky if they pass you on the road or in your street and greet you. They may not even notice you as they usually wear earphones and walking as if they are the only ones in the whole wide world. Many of them have been knocked down by vehicles on the road because their earphones did not allow them to hear the approaching vehicles.
They just walk and shake their heads like moronic fellows. To them, everything they do is right and no one has any right to challenge them. They will quickly claim being right in any situation and that was what our girl at UNIZIK initially tried to do until the hammer fell and brought her to her knees.
This girl represents all those of her ilk and generation who do not respect their elders and constituted authorities. Because they don’t listen to advice by those who have seen and known better, they usually enter into avoidable trouble and it is only when that happens that they will remember to beg and shed crocodile tears.
It is because they like short cuts without commensurate hard work that those we today know as emergency pastors and native doctors are thriving; enter the Akwa Okuko Tiwara Aki and Onyeze Jesus of this world. The gospel of quick, easy wealth without hard work which they are preaching is resonating well with our Gen Z who can sell their mothers and siblings to make money. They never look at the other side of things and they never appreciate the fact that actions have consequences. By the time they know this, it is usually too late.
Our UNIZIK girl realised too late that actions have consequences. If she didn’t, she would have known that the first thing to have done after attacking the lecturer was to go on her knees and ask for forgiveness. Although she may later be forgiven, now she has begged, I’m happy that a lesson has been taught her and her generation that they cannot always have it their way; that a time comes when they pay for their stupid actions.
When Crime Becomes Fashionable
If there is one thing I like about what Gov Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State is doing at the moment, it is his all-out war against criminals and their sponsors/abettors. Today, instead of hiding their heads in shame, some criminals flaunt their criminality in public, mostly as Yahoo Boys which has become a euphemism for all manner of crimes.
Somebody who steals money to buy a car tells you that he is a Yahoo Boy. One who kills to make wealth passes himself off as a Yahoo Boy. Another who kidnaps for ransom uses the money to buy flashy cars and he tells you he is a Yahoo Boy. Worse still, our society accepts their story and they are eulogized as smart guys, while those doing honest living are looked upon as dullards.
This is why you see young boys of below 24 driving expensive vehicles comfortably and cruising around town. You see people who call themselves native doctors or priests advertise their business on social media and telling how they make people rich overnight.
The result is that many young men have lost the appetite for hard work. They don’t go on apprenticeship anymore or waste time going to school. Why should they, when all they can do is visit any of the chief priests to pay for okeite (magic pot) and make money?
When I was growing up there were some so-called big men who were rumoured to belong to the occult. Those men, even if they did belong, never flaunted it. They seemed ashamed to let people know because of the stigma that came with it. Thus, even those accusing them of belonging to the occult were never so sure.
But today, it is not so anymore. People who have such leanings no more hide it. They are worshipped by society in many ways and the young ones who watch, believe it is the best way to live life. Thus their burning ambition becomes to be like those big men.
Today we have junior and senior Yahoo Boys. The junior ones are starters who drive a particular brand of motorcycle, while the seniors drive G-Wagons and the like. Once you see them drive past you know it is them as they also wear their trade mark oversized top and shorts/trousers. They don’t fear anyone again and they are not ashamed of their trade.
But now, the Anambra State Government is declaring war on such people: bad native doctors/priests, Yahoo Boys, etc. I even hear that young men have been warned against visiting and hanging around pubs in the morning.
Those who wear dreadlocks and dress in certain ways are now questioned by concerned authorities. I now hear that some young men with dreadlocks are now shaving them off for fear of being arrested.
This is a good development as many young men are now into traditional medicine. All those who refused to be useful to themselves now claim to be native doctors and priestesses (Ezenwanyi). They can perform any ritual for people as long as they get good money. Our youths are now fully into neo-paganism.
Note that it is not the type of paganism our forefathers practiced before the coming of Christianity. The one they practice today is full of evil; that’s why they prepare charms for criminals (even though their efficacy is in doubt).
Truly, what we have today is a lost generation. This is why I am happy with what the Anambra State Government is doing. This war should be prosecuted non-stop with the help of everybody in order to rid our society of this madness.
