I still haven’t gotten over the incident of last month when the Police force in Ogun State arrested four teenagers for killing the girlfriend of one of them for money-making ritual. I was choked when i heard that the suspects were gang of restive teeenagers, of Wariz Oladehinde, aged 17, Abdul Gafar Lukman aged 19, and Mustakeem Balogun, aged 20, who were arrested by detectives, following a tip-off from the head of the community’s security guards. It was learnt that the suspects were sighted burning something suspected to be human head in a local pot, and the strange smell from the pot gave them away to the community’s security guards.
Let’s trace it back to last year when Iniobong Umoren, a young woman in her early 20s who lived in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital was raped and killed for rituals by Uduak Akpan who disguised to offering her job. It was all the same story last year and year before of ritual stories anchored by youths in the desire for wealth. In 2019, Port Harcourt made international headlines in ritual killings with the case of Gracious David-West, Nigeria’s most celebrated ritual killer in recent times. It’s sad to note that the official statistics indicate that there has been an increase in the number of missing persons all over the country in recent times. Some are found, while others are not. There is speculation that majority of those who disappear perpetually without a trace are often victims of ritual killings.
Outside the hunt for money caused by youths restiveness in Nigeria, there has also been a prominent issue in recent times.There has been an increase in the occurrence of acts of violence and lawlessness, including things like hostage-taking of prominent citizens and the average ones as well as, arms insurgence, cultism, etc. All orchestrated most especially by restive Nigerian youths. Nevertheless, youth restiveness is not a recent phenomenon. Various forms of youth restiveness that are economically, politically, or religiously motivated have existed for a long time, and now it’s restiveness motivated by poverty.
Youths in Nigeria no longer want to build wealth from the scratch like their fathers did. They want to be like ‘Isbae U’ who just got a house at lekki? Like ‘Portable’ with his Toyota Camry car and G-wagon? Like Davido who buys a new vehicle on a monthly basis or probably the mentor, Huspuppi? The minds of many youth in the country today is therefore preoccupied with so many ideas as to how to make lots and lots of money to enable them wear the best of designers, eat the bests of foods, ride the best of cars and probably move with the best babes in town. To others, it’s about attaining fame and turning up like a celebrity at every society event. Youngsters who engaged in cyber fraud, most of them care less, even if it requires them doing the unimaginable to fund their lust for luxury and extra comfortable life. Some in their chase for the fulfillment of this desire have done unthinkable things just to belong. Increase in devilish rituals explored by these youths to fund their lust have been brought to national attention.
Maybe some might want to ask the question of, does anyone really get rich from ritual killings? Some believe that there is no empirical correlation between ritual killings and wealth and those videos of a particular spirit bringing money in the night to people remains figment of imagination, is it?. And some who are first hand witness or victims believes it emphatically exist. Either way, why would a sane human being want to kill his fellow breathing being in the dirty demand for money or for myth? Howbeit, maybe if the youths are employed they will not be stuck on this wild goose chase. We know unemployment is a hydra-headed monster which exists among the youth in all developing countries. Experts believe that the number of jobless youth is twice as high as official estimate.
Backed by unemployment, there’s the state of poverty in town. A blatant percent of people in Nigeria are living below poverty line; in which one third survive on less than US$1 a day, you know how much a dollar is in Nigeria? The talk of poverty is not today anyway. Sad enough again, many people criticise the Nigeria movie industry as a cause for youth urge for money or the influence on youth for rituals. Nollywood movies are today being condemned for the promotion of money rituals among youths, which of course is inconsequential and unreasonable. Sure, as ‘unimaginable’ as some Nollywood movies can be, they will never forget to show how any evil-doer or ritualists finally regrets their action at the end. What else do you want? It’s not a fact to be looked that, at least Nollywood is a venture to make a legitimate money.
Let’s also talk about greed, dead conscience, unnecessary pressures from their peers, and also personal life choices. Let’s talk about the parents, as some parents are far from reasonable, how can your child you send to school bring home a car and keep sending you money and feel okay about it? It’s even more pathetic that some parents are the ones taking their children to the compromising herbalist’s abode to quench their uneasy thirst for wealth. What an height is this?
There’s also this individual pressure, throughout youths high school years, youths often view themselves as kids who are still dependent on their parents. Then when they graduate to university, that’s when things start to change. There’s this subconscious feeling of adulthood that creeps its way into the brain. They start to have anxieties over how life will be after they graduate. As for parents, they too view their child, who’s now at the university, as an adult. As such, they expect their role to change from a dependent child to a self-sustaining one a feat that isn’t always easy to achieve, or one that can be achieved overnight. Tell me, why won’t the youths be vulnerable? Tell me why they won’t be pressured to make money?
Again, soon after completing courses from higher institutions, the pressure to get a job and make money is often high among graduates. The need and desire to improve upon their life is always at a peak. Things like buying a car, renting your own house and at the same time supporting your family are all part of worries that linger once you graduate. Those who’ve managed to secure jobs find themselves in a quest for ways through which they can make extra money through the channels that they have, a situation that often times leads to bad results.
Ostentatively, there’s no justification for evil. The causal factors of this restive hunt for money can be phrased as the youths incapacity to handle pressure in life. Yes, the pressure can be high, but nothing comes easy in life, we have to learn the right principles of how to be successful. It’s like building a house, we start with the foundation. Unfortunately most people, especially the youth fail to reach their goals because they want to do everything at once. Like the rich people will say, “the secret is to stay in focus, work smart and hard.” If there is hope and vision for a better future then, the deplorable ‘unhealthy quest for riches’ must be eliminated. However, it is pertinent to bring to consciousness that, the measure of a person is not by the amount of riches the person possesses, but by the quality and positive impact of the person’s social relationship or interactions with society, so the elders says. Youths can look at the footsteps of Iyinoluwa Abodeji’s of Flutterwave, Adebola williams and Chude Jideonwo of Red media Africa, we all know how they got their money. Why not you?
Ogungbile Emmanuel Oludotun
