It was a sunny afternoon on Thursday 28 December, 2017. Some group of activists, socialists, friends in Ajegunle community sat at a pedestrian in front of a shop that didn't open for the day. They were busy drinking some ice bottles of beer being it was a festive week for religious people. They sat discussing issues that revolved around politics and the three years of the Buhari administration.
One said. "the regime hasn't really done well. It has doubled the suffering of people in the last three years". The second person sipping his beer mentioned. "please, on the contrary the former regime was better than this one. Comparing it to what we have currently under this regime, life wasn't as difficult as it is. It was going well before this man came to power. Now! It is very terrible". He wanted to continue after he sipped his beer.
Immediately, the third person who was in the discussion interrupted. "abeg, no dey talk lik dis. Who tell yu say Jonathan regime beta. Shey yu don foget say na di same Jonathan regime, pak moni lik say tumoro no dey. After sipping. He continued. "guy yu don foget say na de same Jonathan regime oil sell fo more dan $100 per barrel. Yet, hunga wan finis us. O boy, abeg blow whistle".
The three other persons weren't saying anything. They were just busy pressing their phone, reading either news on politics, football or watching something else. Few minutes after the discussion on politics went down like hub of a radio. Two young boys approached them and said. "bros, good afternoon sir. Abeg, me and my broda, wan sing for ona".
One of them ask the boy. Shey yu bi muzisian wey wan sing fo us? The boys looked at him and replied, yes. Immediately, he called the attention of others who were still sipping their beer to listen to these young talents. One of the men who weren't part of the discussion on politics, grinned and said:"boys, go on with your song. We want to listen. Mek we hear wetin ona get".
The boys looked at each other and said, "DJ, sound track". The younger one I guess, started using his hand to tap his chest and whistle in the air for his elder brother to go on with the song. They sang for almost twenty minutes and attracted applause. In fact, everybody was impressed after listening to the boys. According to Ifeanyi. "boys una try. Dis ana song mek sense". Adams, who also was among them, said. "you guys are talented. Keep it up".
Chinedu initially never wanted to pick interest. After listening to the boys asked. "are you playing this every time in public places?". The boys looked at him and said. “Bros, not every time we go public. It is occasional. Unless, we want to or on request.” “Sometimes in school”, he continued, “we play for our friends. Those who liked our song, will congratulate and appreciate us with words of encouragement”. However, Chinedu's moment was stolen. This prompted him at the end to ask: "how old are you guys? Are you still attending school?".
The one who led the song said. "Yes, me and my broda still dey go school. We dey skool fo Tolu Complex (an overcrowded school in Ajegunle, Lagos). I dey fo SS One class while my younger broda dey JSS Two. My age na Thirteenth while my broda na Eleven years old. We don dey practice for some time so we go fit dey perfect to entertain people wey want us to sing". Chinedu who was highly impressed, asked. "do you do it for money? (that was after he had appreciated them with a token).
"Yes, we are. Whenever we sing for people in beer parlour, children birthday, the school we attend etc. People appreciate us by giving us something tangible. We do this to feed ourselves. We do this to cater for our immediate need while we are still going to school". Honestly, this is one exact picture one can hardly imagine exist. However, it is one out of the thousands that go through this daily in a neo-colonial backward like Nigeria where poverty is of the highest order.
Teenage boys and girls now take into the street to survive. They do this to make out something for themselves. Ordinarily, people who are far from the class perspective will shift blame to the families of these teenagers wanting to survive. Perhaps, the poor working parents would be pilloried for abandoning their children to start surviving through the street. However, on the contrary this is happening because of the breakdown of government not putting in place social welfare.
Music which is now the biggest pool in the entertainment industry. For the merchant, it is a pool of fetching money and building empire that some politicians sometimes fund to achieve their own aim in politics. Sometimes, they use State fund to finance these merchants to exploit the opportunities created while starving public amenities. In addition, it has created the impression that education might not have any direct impact in the lives of young people aspiring to be something better in life.
The collapse of public education and lack of decent job opportunities after graduation is largely responsible to the growing rate of young boys and girls of the same age with these boys, who should have been in school, perhaps, studying music (if that what they really want). They are now moving into the street to survive.
In a planned society, education should will be given priority and human and material resources will be deployed for development of communities and provision of basic needs of life including decent jobs. However, this is only achievable when there is democratic running and planning of the society such that children of the poor will have a better life and be able to aspire higher realistically.
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Copyright @Fidel Davy
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