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Davido’s N45m Porsche gift and his ‘life is all about the money’ mentality

By Gbenga Adebambo
12 May 2018   |   4:26 am
As I settled down in the lecture hall to take my first lecture of the day with my students, I realised that a major discussion and trending news had taken away a chunk of their attention.

As I settled down in the lecture hall to take my first lecture of the day with my students, I realised that a major discussion and trending news had taken away a chunk of their attention. Trying to bring them back to class to even notice my presence became a Herculean task.

My years of experience with youths have taught me well that the easiest way to catch their attention is simply by including them or participating in their discussion. It yielded fruit, as one of the overzealous students wanted to know whether I will do the same thing for my girlfriend if I were in Davido’s shoes.

Knowing full well the subject of their discussion, as I have earlier seen the headline on some of the tabloids, I only just responded by telling my female students why they should not keep designing their future around freebies and gifts from their boyfriends.

I subtly shifted our discussion to a more fulfilling aspect of asking them how they want to positively affect their generation with their dreams and aspirations.

Why do we keep striking the wrong conversation among the youth? I have observed that the entertainment industry seldom spike up intelligent and cerebral discussions among the youth. I weep for this present generation of youths, because most times, we are always in the news for the wrong reasons. Sometimes, I keep questioning myself as a youth on where, how and when we lost it.

I have often said that the easiest way to destroy a generation of youths is to lower their role models and references. When the standards that youths and children look up to are lowered, they would undoubtedly grow up to live inferior lives. When youths are so preoccupied with the pursuit of money, they mostly tend to miss the pursuit of purpose.

Is life really all about making money? I can bet that most Nigerian youths will answer this question in the affirmative. We are living in a sympathetic time when youths sit down to plan how to make money without earning it. When youths live only for money, it shows a deep loss of value and purpose.

According to Patrick Meagher: “Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” One of the most damaging mentalities that the present crop of artistes in Nigeria has infested the youth with is making them believe that money should be the object of their pursuit.

As a youth coach and specialist, I have observed that youths seldom learn in schools again and most of what they imitate are normally from the artistes and from the entertainment industry.

John Wooden said: “Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating.” There has been a great indictment of the present crop of artistes in the entertainment industry, as their songs are adversely affecting the priorities of Nigerian youths.

The Nigerian artistes must begin to communicate to the youth with clarity and intellectual depth. They must wake up to the present reality that they have become a form of institution to educate the Nigerian youths. They must see themselves first as role models before even seeing themselves as entertainers. They should stop rending the atmosphere with songs that celebrate drugs, obscenity, nakedness and ostentatious display of wealth.

These supposedly mentors of the Nigerian youth have tinkered with our values and are feeding youths with trash. It is high time we studied the effect of the entertainment industry on the escalation of crime rate among the youth.

It was a sad day some few weeks ago in Offa, Kwara State, when about 50 armed robbers visited five commercial banks, breaking their doors with grenades and killing police and security men in sight.

According to some eyewitnesses, over 40 persons were killed and lots more injured, leaving a trail of blood and tears, as they unleash hell on law-abiding citizens. In the process of forcefully carting away bails of money that they didn’t work for, they wasted lives and properties.

Youths like this don’t listen to Onyeka Onwenu’s One Love or Sonny Okosun’s Which Way Nigeria? I can assure you that their favourite artistes would be Davido, Olamide, Whiz Kid or Lil Kesh.

How can we ever raise a sane and value-focused youth generation when the entertainment industry keep ringing it in their ears that life is all about ‘the money.’ The youths of nowadays value money than morals; they maintain a bogus lifestyle at the detriment of other people’s life.

I can easily evaluate a man or a woman by simply looking at the object of his/her pursuit or what excites him/her. Consider the euphoria, hullabaloo and trending excitement generated some few weeks ago because of a Nigerian artiste and supposedly model of Nigerian youths, Davido, about his purchase of a Porsche worth N45million for his girlfriend (Chioma) on her birthday. The omo baba olowo crooner has just shown us that ‘Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again’ (apologies to the late Ola Rotimi).

The 25-year-old award-winning singer also released a song, Assurance, which he dedicated to Chioma.

When youths all around the world are developing Apps to solve problems, forming non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to affect their communities, it is appalling to see the obscene rate at which some Nigerian youths are celebrating idiosyncrasy. It is obviously in Nigeria that we celebrate things that are meant to be object of derision.

Davido has the penchant for being in the news for the wrong reasons. From an overzealous partying that got one of his friends drunk to the point of no return to the sobering news of two of his friends found dead along a major highway in Lagos with hard drugs, it is obvious that the young man infamously referred to as ‘baddest’ is living up to his name, as his values has actually gone from bad to worse.

Lady Gaga said: “Some women choose to follow men and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which way to go, remember that your dream will never wake up and tell you that it doesn’t love you anymore.”

By building a life and lifestyle around our values, goals, dreams and vision, we create a life that is more sustainable, satisfying, meaningful and fulfilling.

I would also like to encourage parents to instill confidence into their girl-child, because the way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice. We must help them to develop their self-esteem. Teach them never to walk in any man’s shadow, because once they know their worth, nobody can make them feel worthless.

We should stop buying into the myth that only a life built around a man means a better life. It is a blatant lie! Your self-worth, personal development, personal goals and relationship with God should be the object of your pursuit.

To all the young ladies out there, don’t build your life around any man; build your life around your growth and your goals. Instead of being a gold digger around a man, be a goal digger. You have a goldmine when you have a goal mind. Instead of sitting down and thinking about the next gift from your boyfriends, think about an idea that can help you impact your generation, because your idea is your wealth.

Don’t go around in a way that men will see you as a liability. You are an asset. As a lady, you must be able to earn your own living and pay your own way.

Leo Tolstoy said: “Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.” It is a man’s job to respect a woman, but it is a woman’s job to give him something to respect.

In her best-selling book, Rich Woman, which I recommend for all young ladies and women out there, Kim Kiyosaki said: “A man is not a financial plan.” There are no freebies in life. Ladies, never make a man your financial plan.

Note
In my last publication captioned “Codeine syrup: A syrup wiping out a generation of youths,” there was a statement that read thus: The abuse of cough syrup that contains codeine (also known as promethazine hydrochloride). I will like to correct this line with the fact that both codeine and promethazine hydrochloride are different active ingredients in cough syrup and shouldn’t be interchangeably used.

The mixed-up is my own error. Thank you.

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