I was at a birthday party yesterday; the celebrant had just turned 24 and she invited her friends to rejoice with her. I happened to be an invitee to this party and let’s just say, I was the oldest person there. As the party got started, we were asked to introduce ourselves and share our various occupations.

It was revealing learning about the new occupations these young people had chosen for themselves. While I was expecting to hear professions like lawyer, accountant, teacher or civil servant, I was hearing professions that ranged from music producer, drone operator/ photographer, bass guitar player, musician, interior decorator, digital marketer, live streamer, entrepreneur and much more. This was interesting to hear, and I started to analyze what could have caused the shift in ideology.

The Gen Zs were raised with access to more information that I could not have dreamed of in my teenage years. The access to the internet, satellite tv, smartphones has opened a whole new world for these youngsters. There is more flexibility today and abundant encouragement to follow their passion. The other reason for the shift in occupational ideology may not be a pleasant one. With about 53% youth unemployment in Nigeria due to very clueless leaders, some of these young people have no alternative but to pick careers where they can eke out a living in the gig economy, hence you see them gravitating towards the creatives. The gig jobs that can be promoted on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

It was a bittersweet feeling for me at the end of the evening. What I saw was intelligent and creative persons that can change the course of this nation but are being held back by clueless and selfish political leaders that are only concerned with how to hold on to power.