So I just finished watching “the social network” a movie about the rise of Facebook.

So
while and after watching this movie, I let my thoughts drift to if the founder had been
Nigerian living in Nigeria. Why? Well basically this guy invented Facebook when he was
20 and by the time he was 23, he was already a billionaire.

The question I asked myself was, could this happen in the United States of Nigeria? It
could happen in some shape or form but I couldn’t help feeling that in our society he
would have finally succeeded in founding facebook probably between the ages of 30-40.

Why do I think so? I believe the way the Nigerian society is structured doesn’t encourage
creativity amongst the youth (for me, youth ends at 32 or so, sue me) and before I go on I
want to state that this is simply my opinion. One of the fundamental problems that
discourage creativity is the overbearing nature of the Nigerian family structure, which for
the most part ensures that “children” are not truly independent until they get married or
are in their mid-thirties.

You are thinking, why and how? I am making this assertion comparatively because
typically in America for instance there is a staggered approach that ensures some sort of
independence. First of all, you have a case where many children engage in summer jobs
as early as 12 and some even sell lemonade or do little cute business at younger ages.
Once they are 16 they are technically allowed to drive and this brings some more
independence. Once they turn 18 they are allowed to own their own bank accounts and
typically do. From the age of 18 the child does not have to be the financial responsibility
of the parent. He/She is allowed to take loans in their own names in terms of school and
other things. At 18, the child is allowed to move out on his/her own if they so wish.

Now let me contrast this with the Nigerian system. In Nigeria even though the law is
pretty laissez-faire and basically you can do anything as long as you look old enough.
You can drink, smoke, drive and whatnot. The typical Nigerian kid (maybe not so typical
but I m referring to the lower middle class and above who go to school and whatnot)
probably has never had a summer job, will probably not do any work to earn money after
school and even in University does not take on-campus jobs even when they are available
because his whole life is bankrolled by his parents. And even in the case where the said
child makes some money, he doesn’t tell his parents about the money and hence does not
invest it or contribute to his own education he uses it to have fun. The society basically
expects parents to bankroll their children’s lives till they get a job after university or get
married. Don’t get me wrong, occasionally there are brilliant kids who get scholarships
and lighten the load for their parents but basically the whole system doesn’t encourage a
spirit of entrepreneurship and the kids are taught this one way step-by-step process to
success. Basically go to school and by school I mean tertiary education, get qualifications
and get a good job so that you help take care of your parents who spent a lot of money on
your education. This partly the fault of a society that values qualification and paper
certificates as opposed to know-how. No matter how technically gifted you are, the
typical Nigerian will rather listen to the person with fancy degrees.
After the child’s education when he doesn’t get a job, which is typically the case because
of a high unemployment rate and not enough encouragement to go into entrepreneurship
he goes and stays with his parents. They continue to feed him/her and take care of
him/her while the child looks for a job and guess what they pressure him about getting
married and who he/she should marry because like in the business world, when your
parents make a lot of investment in you, they will definitely have a say in the running of
your affairs. You cant tell them to go to hell because you need them and to some extent
the society encourages the veneration of parents, notice I didn’t say respect I said
veneration because lets face it many Nigerian youth grew up in autocratic homes by this I
mean, many of you basically took what your parents said or you got whooped. This could
be a by-product of a society where democracy is yet to be fully entrenched.

Basically, this jobless phase is your best shot at starting a business. Why? You basically
have time on your hands, have the degree that will make people listen to you and you are
desperate to make money and leave your parents house because they might be starting to
annoy you. For many Nigerian youth, they are probably in the mid to late 20s at this stage
because until recently a lot of people take a lot of time to finish university and some who
finish early get a masters just because we like fancy degrees in Nigeria. Also the lack of a
venture capital culture in Nigeria makes it hard to start a business. They will have to still
source for funds for their idea from parents and close friends as getting loans in Nigeria is
another big problem.

Although this might have been a ramble, you see how if Zuckerberg was Nigerian he
might have started facebook at 30 something. In fact I believe our definition of youth in
this country is a bit screwed up. We consistently call people in their 40s and 50s youth. I
believe as I ve said earlier that this is partly because many people are still children under
their parents care and influence until maybe 30 or even 40 in some cases. In all honesty,
the only way I believe we as youth can move this country forward and liberate it is if we
start by liberating ourselves and letting our ideas flow.

Any thoughts?