Being a Nigerian Gen Zer

I watched my father, a typical Nigerian dad, spend most of the time when he was jobless reading newspapers or watching the news. I watched him debate politics with his friends and anyone else who joined in the discussion. I watched him always change the TV channel whenever we were watching Nickelodeon or Telemundo, while giving us the side-eye. I didn't understand why he hated to see us have fun, or so I thought.

When my father got a Job, he watched the news and read the newspaper only when he returned from work. He argued less about politics, unless you go to him with a question about politics. Just like that, he participated less and less, until he completely stopped. He started allowing us watch whatever we wanted, and even joined us sometimes. I didn't understand why, but I was happy. I watched my father go from being political to being religious. I didn't know which was worse. As long as it didn't come between us and our favorite TV shows, I was happy.

As I grew older, I picked up African literature. I became interested in feminism, racism, colonialism, and black history. I read books on them. I got intrigued, and started talking about them on my Facebook page. I loved influencers who talked about them. I wanted to be like them. I wasn't just happy talking about them. I was troubled. I was angry. I was confused. I occasionally disregarded reason and let my feelings to rule my decisions. I wasn't particularly happy with people who were indifferent about these topics. I expected everyone to understand as much as I did. My approach to these issues, were sometimes toxic.

Now, I have learned, unlearned and am still learning. I've become quite interested in politics, and history. I'm able to see through the pretense that most of these political figures present. I do not just understand why my father was always glued to the News, I also understand why he stopped watching. He saw that it was all a lie. He saw that the circle doesn't end. He saw how the system traps you in it and leave you helpless. He saw that his mental health was at stake. He gave up on Nigeria, and decided to turn to God, while he helped himself. A typical Nigerian dad.

Fortunately, my generation is not the type to give up and leave everything to God. Misunderstood. Misjudged, yet we stay thriving. We are not one to blame the government for our inability to thrive. We ignore the government. We do not care about what they can do for us. We use our skills to generate income. We don't always watch the news, waiting on the government to save us.

We just want a better life for ourselves and maybe our generation unborn. It has become even more clear with the emergence of social media influencers, tech savvy individuals, investors, and young business owners. We put an end to the mindset of struggle and worked wisely in its place. My generation talks about wanting a life of luxury without feeling guilty about it. We talk about chilling by the beach side, sipping cocktail, while working on a Monday morning. What people call unrealistic, we make our reality. We understand the amount of power we possess, and that there is no limit to what we can achieve.

Unfortunately, the system doesn't care about your indifference, or interest in politics. It pokes you repeatedly until you can no longer stand it. If you're a Nigerian, it pokes you even harder. The government has repeatedly shown that they are not competent in the eyes of a generation that wants nothing more than to feel safe in their nation. From dealing with instability to police brutality, which was the last straw. I watched my generation go from being indifferent to getting involved. Using their placards, matching down the streets, making their voices heard. The difference between them and the older generation was that, they weren't asking for jobs which the government failed to provide, neither were they asking to end the ASUU strike that kept them stagnant at home for months. They were asking to go about their lives without any form of oppression from the police. They were asking to live. And what did the government do? They killed them instead.

You are aware of how horrible it is when a generation decides to speak up after long enough of being silent about their government. Now, they wouldn't stop. They've discovered how powerful their voices are. They realized that regardless of whether they speak up or not, they will still be killed. They've realized that humans will kill you, and blame you for not speaking up. They've realized that they deserve better, and can get better. They've been called rude and disrespectful for simply demanding for what they deserve. For speaking up in the face of oppression. They've been called a "social media generation" by people who did not understand the power of social media. By people who have finally understood the power of social media.

I love my generation. I love our resilience and persistence. I love how we challenge the status quo. I love our courage. How we demand accountability from our leaders, knowing that no one is above accountability. And above all, I love our interest and participation. I love that we are no longer asking for the bare minimum. We are now asking for it all. The Jobs we didn't care about. The infrastructures. The security. The comfortability. The more you try to silence us, the more we speak up. We now understand that we can choose our leaders ourselves, and we can take them out when they're no longer serving.