From Umar Egbunu Muhammed, Lafia
The National Orientation Agency has raised the alarm over the growing “get-rich-quick” mentality among Nigerian youths, blaming the craze for instant wealth for the rising cases of banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, internet fraud and ritual killings across the country.
The agency warned that the desperation to acquire wealth without legitimate means was not only fuelling criminality but also driving young Nigerians away from education, skills acquisition and productive livelihoods.
The Director-General of NOA, Mr Augustine Akwe-doma, stated this at the graduation and prize-giving ceremony of You-Nik Academy, Lafia, Nasarawa State.
Akwe-doma, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Civil Values and Democracy Education, Mr Yamusa Luka, said the erosion of the dignity of labour had become a major concern, particularly among young people increasingly pressured to achieve material success at all costs.
According to him, the get-rich-quick syndrome encourages young people to abandon legitimate paths to success and embrace criminal activities.
He said, “Get-rich-quick syndrome is the way people want to get rich or wealthy without hard work or a legitimate source of income. What it leads to is social vices like armed robbery, banditry, kidnapping, internet scams and ritual killings.”
Luka said the situation was particularly worrying in Lafia, where he observed that some young people were increasingly unwilling to learn skills or pursue education because of the desire to make money immediately.
He added that the consequences were often devastating, warning that the pursuit of quick wealth could expose youths to criminality, dangerous lifestyles and avoidable accidents.
Parents fuelling pressure for wealth
The NOA official also shifted part of the blame to parents, accusing some of putting undue pressure on their children by comparing them with their peers and demanding material possessions they could not legitimately afford.
He said some parents had gone as far as providing their children with phones and laptops without considering how the devices might be used.
“Without any fear of contradiction, parents are also encouraging this. You will see parents telling their children that they want them to build or buy houses and cars for them. They even assist in buying phones and laptop computers for them to go and learn yahoo yahoo,” he said.
He urged youths, particularly school leavers, to reject internet fraud, cultism, kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminal activities, stressing that hard work, entrepreneurship and legitimate means of livelihood remained sustainable routes to success.
Luka commended the management of You-Nik Academy for promoting values such as honesty, hard work, discipline, value orientation and rejection of examination malpractice.
He urged other schools, both public and private, to adopt similar value-based approaches to education.
Nasarawa seeks stronger monitoring of teachers
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Nasarawa State Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Hajiya Hadiza Dahiru, said the state government under Governor Abdullahi Sule had prioritised education, citing the recent recruitment of teachers based on merit.
Dahiru, however, called for stronger monitoring of teachers and public schools to improve service delivery.
She said some teachers were still guilty of truancy and neglect of their responsibilities, urging the Ministry of Education to intensify supervision.
“Let’s come back to the issue of monitoring. There should be strict supervision of all the public schools because sometimes we find out that the teachers are sitting under the trees doing nothing. If they know that they are monitored, at least they will sit up to do their task,” she said.
She commended the State Universal Basic Education Board for improving monitoring of primary schools and urged the government to consider free education for girls as a strategy for increasing enrolment and reducing the number of out-of-school children.
According to her, educating girls would have a multiplier effect because educated girls would eventually become educated mothers.
You-Nik puts 50 students on scholarship
The Proprietress of You-Nik Academy, Mrs Ima-Abasi Brown, said the school, which has operated for 16 years, was established to raise children who are confident, disciplined, innovative and compassionate, with the skills to compete globally.
Brown disclosed that about 50 pupils and students were currently receiving full scholarships at the school based on various considerations, including orphanhood and exceptional academic performance.
She singled out Dominion Lazarus, who has reportedly been on scholarship for about 10 years and emerged as the school’s top performer in the recent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination with a score of 325.
She also disclosed that another student, Zainap Idris, emerged overall best in the country in a recent essay competition organised by SystemSpecs, winning ₦1m and other prizes, while the school received 10 laptops.
Brown said the school had also been recognised by the Centre for Ethics and Self-Value Orientation for ethical leadership and quality educational service delivery, with You-Nik Academy ranked first among leading private schools in Nasarawa State.
Speaking on emerging trends in education, the proprietress said the school had moved beyond conventional teaching methods by introducing artificial intelligence into its curriculum.
She said AI was rapidly transforming how people worked, learned, created and solved problems, adding that students needed to be exposed to the technology early enough to prepare them for the future.
Rather than waiting until children were older before introducing them to AI, Brown said You-Nik Academy had made artificial intelligence a curriculum subject rather than limiting it to an after-school club.
The school’s valedictorian, Dominion Lazarus, who scored 325 in the UTME, urged students to take their studies seriously and develop a positive attitude towards failure.
He said failure should not be regarded as the end of a journey but as an opportunity to learn, improve and pursue greater achievements.
Lazarus also called for a rethink of Nigeria’s education curriculum, urging governments to make education more practical and responsive to the economic realities facing young Nigerians.
He said the education system should equip graduates with practical skills capable of helping them earn a living rather than leaving them with qualifications but limited opportunities for self-reliance.