Sri George: Mobilising Youths to Make Nigeria Great
Sri George originally known as Babatunde George Ojo-Olubiyo, is an inspirational writer, a transformational speaker and also a businessman. Over the years he has sponsored, supported and organised motivational, inspirational and transformational programmes on the majority of the radio and TV stations in Nigeria. Most of his intellectual contributions and charitable works have positively affected millions of young Nigerians and Africans worldwide. In this interview with MARY NNAH, he shared his view on how Nigerians, especially the youth can bring about emancipation in the nation
What have you been up to lately?
The thing is that very soon I will be participating in politics full time. I am not running for office and that brings to mind the topic – Youth and politics. It has to be now because like never before, I have been in the business world for a while. In this course of this, I have come to realise that because of the kind of structure we built in our society, a lot of people don’t want to engage in politics.
They see politics as a do-or-die thing, they don’t see the essence and importance of engaging in politics. Over the years I have realised that this plays a major role in our lives – that we can do all the best we can personally but until we engage in politics, we are not going to get anywhere, we are not going to get to where we want to get to. And as one very popular philosopher has said, the danger of not participating in politics is that you are going to be ruled and governed by people who are of inferior values, people you are superior to.
Is that why you are starting a movement that is out merely for electioneering purposes?
My team and I have always been in this process. I don’t have to wait for the election time to come for me to mobilise. I have always been passionate about people’s personal growth because it is only individual’ emancipation that can lead to Nigeria’s emancipation. We all know right now that things are not well and it is not well for all of us individually and collectively.
We need something to happen and that thing does not have to happen whenever the election is coming. It has to be a process and that is why we have been doing our school programmes, radio programmes and social media campaigns. All these things are to gradually prepare people’s consciousness to be able to evolve. The kind of job I do is different from every other people’s kind of job because ours require individual efforts; it is personal development. So, personal development doesn’t work with seasons; it is part of your day-to-day life.
How can entertainment influence the minds of the youths to engage in politics?
The entertainers themselves are most of the time not aware of the kind of power and influence that they have. If you notice, entertainment has changed over time, especially in the last half a decade. They have now become so independent financially that they don’t have to campaign for any politician to become rich. They have digital platforms like Apple, Boomplay, Spotify, and so on. There are more shows and endorsements, so as an entertainer now, you don’t need a politician’s money to run your life or feel belong. And a lot of entertainers are very careful getting involved in certain things.
They don’t want to support just any candidate; just a few are doing that. But then entertainers can help encourage people to engage in politics because entertainment plays a major role and the only thing that works in Nigeria right now is our entertainment industry.
That is what has put us on the world map. That is the reason why people can still talk about Nigeria because almost every other thing that we are supposed to be proud of as Nigerians, one way or the other, our leadership has failed. So, I believe that entertainers can encourage individuals to think about the direction that which politics plays a major role in national development.
Do you think that youths should join the conventional political parties or come together to form a political party to mobilise and get young people into strategic offices?
I believe that the youths can unite themselves to create a political party. But politics as far as I know is different from activism and this is something that I have gotten to understand that in as much as we have our different professions, we must always understand that we are either playing politics for ourselves or against ourselves.
So, politics is part of our daily lives and Aristotle put it in a very wonderful way. He said that man is a political animal. So, even in your home, you must play politics but there is something about cultural values and religious beliefs that make people not understand that politics is something that they must engage in. So, I believe that the youths should engage in politics but then there are things they need to learn from the elders.
Nigeria is different from America, France and other countries. Those other countries have been around for over a hundred years of democracy like the US, we are just a few years compared to theirs. So, as a youth, if we want to start a political party, do we have the resources? The political system in Nigeria is different from that of America. In America, if you want to run for office, people contribute money for you, especially when they see that you are very efficient and capable of communicating to the public what they want. You can raise as much as a billion dollars and then contest against whichever opponent you want to.
But in Nigeria, who is ready to contribute money for you, except a few friends who believe in you or when you have a godfather. So, the godfather politics in Nigeria will be tough to crack.
However, I believe that the youths are capable of leadership but before they can be able to take over this position, they need some experience from these elderly ones.
So, I feel that it is too expensive to start a political party for the youths. I feel that they have the number to influence the currently existing political parties. What I have got to realise is that in politics you have to mobilise yourselves, come together in one voice and you would achieve your goal. For example, when we look at the End SARS event, it was just people coming together and saying they don’t want SARS anymore.
Fine, the government and politicians might not have been 100 per cent honest in terms of how they handled the End SARS thing, but do we have officers wearing any uniform claiming to be SARS again? Not at all. That is how politics work. You must come together. It is something that you must demand. It is not something you stay home and it comes to you. If one million youth mobilise themselves now, choose their candidate and tell their candidate that this is what they want, it will happen.
Politicians know the implications and that is why they always create divides. They create divides because they know that if people come together and demand something, they would get it. And then, our system now is more volatile because people can switch their minds easily in the era of the social media thing – people can just change their minds easily.
So, I believe that if the youths want Nigeria to be all great, we must engage and participate in politics and we must participate in large numbers. If one million youths stand up in Lagos and say this is what we want in Lagos, politicians will have no other choice than to just do what the youths demand. We saw it with the End SARS movement. The movement did not fail at all. It was a social experiment and Nigerians I know for one, is that if they test something and it works, until that thing expires, that is when they would stop.
Just like entertainment is working now and most people are rushing into the entertainment industry. I always used to joke that we now have more entertainers than the fans.
So, in anything we must engage, you must show up. It is not something you just sit down and think that things will work out. You must engage in politics, you must vote, you must mobilise yourselves and if you want something, go get it. Let’s say a road is not good in our area, we can mobilise and go and pressurise whoever is in charge. We would give him sleepless nights and not that some will be because they are benefiting from him, will now decide to say no.
If we realise that these things are for all of us, forgetting whichever party we belong to, when we mobilise ourselves and demand those things, they will come to play. But it is getting to an era whereby money is not enough to buy people. Nigerians, especially the youths are beginning to see beyond money politics. Do you want to give me N5, 000 to come and vote for you? For what? I can only listen to you if you have proper ideas you want to share with me. And we have to bring the consciousness of business into politics. In as much as we want to do service to humanity and do good roads, we must bring in the business consciousness. What am I getting? I often have this saying that nobody pays money to buy less. You don’t spend money to buy something that is below the value of the money.
That is one thing that the opposition parties must work on. They must realise that times have changed. There is this popular writer, Eric Hoffer, wrote, “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” That is why when you listen to the way some of our leaders, you will know that they are not living in current Nigeria.
In what ways are you using your platform to enlighten the youths as regards your concern for them to get involved in politics?
We are going to be going to secondary schools to talk to them about vision boards and organising the mind. We are going to help some people get their school fees paid. We are going to also enlighten them about legal ways of making money, which is something that I have always done. But this time we are going to be doing it in a grand style in Ibadan, Oyo State and then Lagos and Edo States.
I do the programmes to help young people believe that we live in a world of opportunities. They can become comedians, skit makers and many other things and make money through such avenues. There is this idea in Nigeria as a whole that somebody cannot legally make money. That is not true because every one of us knows that there are people who make money legally. There is this orientation that as long as you make money in Nigeria, you have put your hands in bad things. But that narrative must change and that is the narrative we are selling to the young ones.
What would you say is your overriding motivation for all you do?
I want to make sure that people are in the right state of mind in a better state of environment than they are right now and that they know more about themselves than they were before. It is all about upgrading human consciousness and awareness.
We have so many poor people in Nigeria. So, good people should win and when good people win, the world becomes a better place. We have too many people who have no values and decent character leading us and determining so many things for us. So my goal is that we should have sensible people, intellectuals and creative people be part of the decision-making sector so that it does not be as if it is always riffraff that is constantly making decisions for us.
You are also a writer; do you have plans to make books available in this regard?
I am working on one but because the reading culture is very poor in Nigeria, we are trying to work with what works best. You need to see the level at which the youths are enthusiastic to go into entertainment. That is the direction that is selling now. So, anything that is visual is what you would use to get their attention. So the book will be out at the due time because writing a book for me is not about just publishing a book. I don’t do things because I want to make money. I do things because I want to share value. Even in business, my consciousness of doing business is different from the usual business people. Yes, I want to make a profit from the business, but I also want people who patronise me to feel good.
Jumia Donates Motorcycle Helmets to Delivery Associates
Mary Nnah
Leading pan-African e-commerce platform, Jumia has announced the donation of more than 2,000 motorcycle helmets to its Delivery Associates (riders) in Nigeria as part of its Safe and Affordable Helmet Programme with FIA.
This initiative aims to provide high-quality helmets meeting United Nations Regulation ECE 22.05 in territories where accessibility and affordability can be difficult.
The helmets have been designed to meet the UN safety standards, as certified by independent experts while also ensuring they are best priced in the market.
The helmets, which are suitable for hot and humid climates, will be distributed to riders free of charge in support of Jumia’s mission to enhance the well-being of its workers and partners and to continually seek innovative ways to improve the workplace ecosystem.
CEO, Jumia Nigeria, Massimiliano Spalazzi, who said the safety of the Delivery Associates is the firm’s priority, expressed the hope that the donation will increase peace of mind both for the riders and their families.
“Wearing UN Certified safe helmets is essential in protecting our heroes from the hazards that are associated with their jobs.
“We are delighted, therefore, to provide compliant, high-quality, and safe helmets to our riders and hope that this initiative will prevent unnecessary road crash injuries and fatalities”, he added.
Speaking further on the donation, Country Manager, Jumia Services, Adetunji Lanase, said “Our Delivery Associates are important brand ambassadors as they deliver products to consumers across the country. Beyond delivering Jumia items to our consumers, we want our riders to be well-assured that they are protected.”
Delivery Associate, Jumia Nigeria, Obaji Ismail Halid, expressed joy over the donation and Jumia’s concern about the safety of their Delivery Associates, adding, “We know the nature of our job so these helmets can provide adequate protection as we go about delivering to consumers in Nigeria. The helmets are of good quality and suitable for the Nigerian climate.”
Jumia’s safe helmet programme is part of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 and is intended to help reduce the number of global motorcycle-related fatalities. Indeed, research shows that safe helmet wearing is one of the most effective road safety interventions, reducing the number of head injuries among moped riders and motorcyclists by around 44 per cent.
