The Nigerian youth has been celebrated the world over for creativity and sometimes even for the unsavoury. But when the country celebrated 100 years since the amalgamation of 1914 this year, the youth were at the centre of the festivities, no thanks to the industry of Angela Onuko Nmoh, who coordinated the Nigeria Centenary Social Media Platform of the celebrations.
It was also within her purview to conduct the TGIC Quiz Competition on a national level.
If anyone is in doubt about how cerebral the work she and her team did, that person only needs to look at the book, In Our Minds: Reflections of the Youth at Nigeria’s Centenary.
Billed for launch in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Tuesday, it however does not only revolve round the centenary celebrations and the work of the team Nmoh led. This book also captures the thoughts and desires of the Nigerian youth, not just for themselves but also for the country at large.
To underscore the importance of the Nigerian youth, the foreword for In Our Minds is penned by no other than the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.
“The future of the nation is being handed over to a generation of patriotic Nigerians who have the capacity and commitment to grow the Nigerian project into Africa’s dream of a working, prosperous and stable nation; a nation capable of leading in the world’s economy,” Anyim.
Indeed, the nine chapters in this well-produced book are replete with the industry of the patriotic Nigerians Anyim refers to. But before one delves into the book, the first thing the reader is confronted with about the 308-pages is the quality of the production, which invites the reader to open it and discover a treasure trove.
Special care has been taken with the graphics, text and the quality of pictures such that it is easy to read or to just leisurely peruse. Putting together a work of this magnitude no matter the amount of time available to people working on it is always a daunting challenge, but the result shows that Nmoh and her team were able to pull it off beautifully.
After the foreword, preface, prologue and introduction, which give an insight not only into the centenary celebrations but also on the book project, chapter one reflects on the life of the youth before the centenary celebration came along. It is a chapter that tells it as it is, as the youth say it on social media without caring whose ox is gored. This chapter also dwells on everything that the Nigerian youth has been involved in not just to be heard but to also chart a course of survival and concludes that only time will tell whether what is due the Nigerian youth will be delivered to it.
Chapter two dwells on the official flag-off of the centenary celebrations by President Goodluck Jonathan, while three through six is on the activities of the TGIC Quiz Competition, the winners and some of the programmes of the centenary celebrations.
Chapter seven continues to celebrate the Nigerian youth, while eight raises talking points, largely a reflection on what transpired on the Nigerian Centenary Facebook page throughout the year of celebration. Chapter nine closes the book with the polls by Nmoh and her team on social media largely to get into the mind of the youths. Anyone who reads the book will see the diverse minds of the Nigerian youth at work and doing wonders.
It is for this reason that the preamble written by the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, should be commended, because, truly, the Nigerian youth deserves to be commended and celebrated.
This book is a step in the right direction. It is a reference point for the Nigerian youth, a springboard upon which they can look back to move forward.
In Our Minds will always give the reader, whether now or in the future, the opportunity to look back and reflect on the past. Perhaps, the one fault in the book is that the pictures are not properly credited, as there is only a blanket credit of Google.com. This will be a good point to pursue in the next edition.
