‘Yahoo Boy’ or ‘Civil Servant’: The rush and the crush among the youth

By Ganiu Bamgbose, PhD There is something increasingly troubling about the relationship between young people and the idea of success in contemporary society. Beyond the legitimate desire to make it in life, there appears to be an unhealthy impatience with the process of becoming. Many young people want the rewards of success but have little tolerance for the demands of the journey.

They want the destination without the discipline of travelling, the harvest without the patience of planting, and the applause without the sacrifice that makes applause worthwhile. This tendency is becoming more visible in the choices they make, the values they celebrate and the standards by which they assess other people. Recently, I came across an online street interview in which some young ladies were asked whether they would rather date a civil servant or a Yahoo boy.

Interestingly, a good number of them opted for the latter. While street interviews are not necessarily representative of the opinions of an entire generation, the responses were nevertheless revealing. They invite us to reflect on a society where the proceeds of questionable wealth sometimes appear more attractive than the dignity of legitimate earnings.

The question, therefore, goes beyond whom someone would prefer to date. It is about what our society has come to value and what the younger generation is gradually learning to admire. Of course, there is nothing inherently glamorous about being a civil servant, just as the label of a civil servant does not automatically confer integrity on its bearer.

Civil servants, like people in other professions, have their fair share of good and bad individuals. Neither should every person who appears wealthy be automatically classified as a fraudster. However, when the choice is deliberately framed around a legitimate salary earner and someone whose wealth comes from internet fraud, the preference for the latter becomes a disturbing commentary on our collective value system.

Perhaps the problem is not entirely with the young ladies who made such choices. Perhaps it is also with the society that has made wealth more visible than the process of acquiring it. We live in an environment where expensive cars, designer clothes, exotic vacations and extravagant celebrations are increasingly used as evidence of having arrived in life.

Social media has further intensified this culture by turning private achievements into public competitions. People are no longer merely interested in making progress; they want everyone to see that they are progressing, even when the appearance of progress is all they have. This is where the rush begins and the crush follows. The rush is the impatience to become successful without allowing life to take its natural course.

The crush is the disappointment, frustration and sometimes moral compromise that follow when reality refuses to meet unrealistic expectations. When young people measure their progress against the carefully curated lifestyles of others, they begin to consider their own legitimate journeys too slow. A person earning a modest salary may begin to feel unsuccessful because someone of the same age is displaying millions of naira on social media.

A young graduate undergoing professional training may feel left behind because a peer has acquired expensive properties through questionable means. The danger is that the pressure to catch up can gradually erode the distinction between what is desirable and what is acceptable. It is important to remind ourselves that success is not a race in which everybody must arrive at the same time.

Life does not operate according to a universal timetable. People have different backgrounds, opportunities, challenges, responsibilities and seasons of growth. Some people become established in their twenties, others in their thirties, forties or even later. The fact that someone has not achieved a particular milestone at a certain age does not mean that the person has failed.

There is a difference between being delayed and being defeated. There is also a difference between making progress and merely appearing successful. More importantly, the process matters. The process of acquiring an education, learning a trade, developing professional competence, building a business, cultivating relationships and establishing a career is not a punishment.

It is part of the education that success itself requires. The experiences gathered along the way often become the very resources needed to sustain whatever is eventually achieved. A person who acquires wealth without developing the values and discipline required to manage it may find it difficult to sustain that wealth. Indeed, the ability to make money and the capacity to build a meaningful life are two different things.

This is why young people must learn to prioritise values over valuables. Honesty, diligence, patience, integrity, discipline, responsibility and respect for human dignity may not always produce immediate fina