Lazy men epidemic sweeping through urban areas
It is a fact that rate of unemployment has hit an all-time high during the pandemic.
But that is no excuse for the growing number of men loitering the streets by dint of design rather than circumstance.
Most of them are smart and able bodied with average or more-than-average education.
If they are not drinking well passed curfew hours and engaging the police in cat-and-mouse games, they are hanging around dark corners robbing people.
Their view of the world and professional advancement is based on the notion that you only have one route to tread, and if that route is blocked, you stop moving or sit and wait for a miracle.
For a long time, our education system has been blamed for releasing half-baked graduates into the job market.
What has been overlooked is the willingness of these graduates or the thousands of men out there to do the jobs they trained for.
Some men are now refusing to take up jobs because of reasons that include “that job is lower than me” or “I can do better than that”.
The end result is that most of them will go into the streets to torment civilians or sit at home and let someone else worry about them.
It is no wonder the number of women supporting their spouses is rising.
Gambling has been on the rise among the young male population. They want to get rich very quickly, a common trait among lazy people.
The government has done its best to regulate gambling but it is still not enough.
The vice is just too endemic and until our young men are freed from this evil, a lot of dreams and brilliant minds will be destroyed.
The campaign for gender equality and the realisation that an equal workspace performs much better than an unequal one in terms of gender has spelt doom on the historical privileges men have enjoyed in professional spaces.
Through interactions with the unemployed, it is clear that their view of the current world is utterly detached from reality.
It is the 21st century and somehow, you will still find someone expecting to be favoured in a recruitment because the job on offer requires “masculine capabilities”.
The advancement in technology has also been to men’s disadvantage. At a mining site, for example, one excavator can replace 100 men.
Instead of embracing this and learning to compliment the machines and technology, some men are choosing to stay away, drinking because they lost a job or resorting to violence.
The snowball effect certainly drives one into depression and suicide. It is no wonder, therefore, that men are more likely to commit suicide than women.
As we fight the pandemic and look at ways to improve the economy, let us also remember to encourage our young men to man up.
Our economy can be transformed dramatically if the young men loitering about choose to contribute meaningfully.
Laziness is a disease and needs a combination of prevention and immunisation measures to keep it at bay. I am confident that we can cure this disease that ails our young men. —[email protected]
