I am one of those people who believe that mentoring is an important part of the development of any society, and if you are like most Nigerians you will agree that there is a dearth of valuable mentors who have the right values and virtues to guide professionals, students and entrepreneurs along the path to success. So, when people are talking about the future generation of Nigeria, I am in great despair, because I wonder what that generation will do much better than the legacy left behind by the previous, especially in the light of the dangerous lifestyles and habits that we are exposed to in our “digital world”.
As I watched with great excitement how broadcasting in Nigeria will soon be transformed by the digital switch, I started to ask myself – how much good or damage can this whole digital revolution bring for us. Here is what I mean: TV and radio today have become the very medium used to destroy a lot of our values. Those who can afford the air time, and the ones who get the most attention – flaunting in many cases their ill-gotten wealth, and values of debauchery, and causing our young and growing population to think that those people represent real “success”. Digital broadcasting may unfortunately mean that such people and their warped values may get more air time, and further pollute and weaken our failing ethical and moral framework, unless those who have better values and better stories to share also grab the opportunity that this digital switch offers. However, like a double-edged sword, it also offers a huge potential for better-thinking people to create programming and content that will help bridge the huge gaps that exist in transferring the right values and virtues to the next generation.
Beyond the traditional electronic media, even the new media can play this role too. Again, imagine the extent of abuse that this generation has suffered on account from the mis-use of social media sites and the internet to spread the wrong values in our society. The extent to which pop-culture and an insatiable craving of celebrity has been fueled by our social media/digital revolution. While this seems like all “bad”, the truth is that someone has to think about how to transform it unto good.
Recently, I had the opportunity of seeing someone’s attempt to transform it into good, and it’s a novel idea that I am really hoping that young Nigerians desperately looking for mentorship along the right path can key into. So, imagine that you wanted to learn about something from an expert in a specific field – an expert teacher, medical practitioner, consultant, architect, or even spiritual advisor. Your current options will be to try to use your existing social capital to get introduced to the person (like a friend of mine has been trying to meet Aliko Dangote for 6 years), try very hard to get a face to face meeting with the person, try to connect with the person via social media and hope that they will respond, follow the persons posts on social media and see what you can learn along the way or perhaps buy articles or books written by the person, or watch the person on TV when the rare opportunity for an interview happens, or even do what I read MKO Abiola did many years ago – register to attend a conference where the person is speaking, and be courageous enough to make the introduction. All you are looking for is the simple answer to a simple question – “How can I blablabla”? and the opportunity for a couple of more follow up questions to give you hands-on practical answers to your challenges.
Imagine if you could avoid all that wahala and all you had to do was to ask an expert – connect to an app on your phone or tablet and request for an exclusive 10-20-minute chat session with this person, and the person has the prerogative to accept or decline the conversation, choose an appropriate time or reschedule and even decide whether they want to charge for the digital mentoring or not. In 20 minutes, it’s over – you didn’t just get some generic answers from a website or blog, you got specific answers to your specific issues from an expert. You were able to ask an expert, and get the answers you need. So, here is a positive use of all this digital proliferation going on in our country. Everyone is looking for answers and needs to find experts that can help them in their family, professional, work or business. The culture of having to ask an expert is something that I am hoping will really catch on in our society so that our people especially the young people that are the future generation that are so hooked on the internet, social media and digital devices will have some apps and platforms that can help them get the mentoring and support they need to overcome their challenges and prepare them better for their future. This way, this whole digital craze can transform mentoring, our society and our world.
Omagbitse Barrow
