Nigerian Youths in Contemporary Society
AWorld Youth Report recently affirmed that young people under the age of 30 constitute over a third of the world's population. The youths are an indispensable part of society. The cliché, "the youth are the leaders of tomorrow" is not only factual but inherently a truth which its denial logically entails a contradiction.

Any society or organization with a vision is constantly interested in the future of their youth in whose hands the future and increasingly today of the society lies. If the society must survive, the present adults and leaders must have behind them the youth that will take over from them, a youth that is trusted to deliver.

A society that cannot look to a virile youth is simply been threatened with extinction. The youth are an unbroken thread of life that links one generation to another. Man, it is said, is the crown of creation but youth is the crest of humanity. Such is the relevance of the Nigerian youths to society. Nigeria has what it takes to bring up great youths: youths in industry, youths in politics, development, and youths in economics, technologies and other facets of society.

The next Okonjo Iweala, Wole Soyinka, Philip Emeagwali, Chinua Achebe lies in wait among the youths, to be discovered, an uncharted reservoir waiting to be tapped and exploited. But at present in our society, instead of seeing the next catalysts of change and development emerging, we are faced with a young people that are disillusioned with a government that places the interest of a selfish few over millions of her youthful citizens. Despite the creation in 2007 of a Ministry of Youth Affairs mandated with the task of addressing the plights and challenges of youths and proffering ways of solving and addressing them, nothing or little has been done to salvage the current situation.

The bureaucrats and egg-heads in the ministry are more concerned about how to share the spoils of money earmarked by the Federal Government for the improvement of the living conditions of the youths. They regard their positions as compensation by the government of the day for their contribution towards the success of their political benefactors and pay in or little attention to uplifting the living standards of the youths.

They organize symposiums, seminars, workshops and other money-guzzling events in a bid to mask their ineptitude and inability at addressing the core problem of poverty that the youths are currently facing. Where pitiable efforts are made to ameliorate the hardships and suffering of the youths, only few young people have access to these "seed" grant and monetary aids, and they are usually selected based on favouritism and nepotism.

In a country which prides itself as the giant of Africa and the fifth largest producer of crude oil in the world, the state of its youth leaves much to be desired. The streets are littered with the young who suffer the indignity of begging for crusts of bread in order to stay alive. There is a rise in the phenomenon of street children who are reared on freerange system, child prostitution and mass destitution of the young.

There is also a high rate of school drop-out amongst our young people from different institutions of learning on pecuniary grounds. Most of these drop -outs often end up in urban centers in search of menial job. Some others end up on the streets, highway junctions and traffic lights hawking different items as "mobile super markets" Worst still, those who succeed in going through their schooling have very slim prospects of a job not to mention of good paying jobs. Many of our teeming graduates given the nature of our decaying educational system can best be termed para-literate" or "half baked graduates" and as such, can hardly compete with their counterparts around the world.

These youths, in order to cope with the demands of a fast moving society, tend to incline towards social vices, brought about by the financial pressure placed on them to take care of their families and dependents and the need to make ends meet. Since the advent of Y2K, there is an upsurge in the number of Nigerians who engage in internet fraud, duping unsuspecting victims of their money. It is disheartening to see young men and women who, armed with internet knowledge and a laptop or PC connected to the internet, contrive to fraudulently trick their online victims of their hard-earned cash, employing various gimmicks and methods.

These activities have seriously dented the image of Nigerians both online and the outside world as the outside world are now wary of conducting businesses with Nigerians. The worsening economic situation coupled with political, religious, ethnic, academic or economic controversies have also given rise to youth violence. In major Nigerian cities and towns, crimes, cult clashes and armed robbers are unleashing terrors on the hapless victims and citizens.

The media houses are awash with images and stories of ethnic clashes, rapes, kidnappings and other violent acts. More recently, the Niger Delta is becoming a hotbed of some sorts as militants, mainly young men and women using arms to spearhead the crusade for the development of the Niger Delta. In this changing clime where economic recession and global insecurity are rampaging around the world, the youths should rise up to the challenges of our time and cease to be a pawn in the hands of the elites. They should strive to be change agents in society and act as catalyst for peace and development in their environment.

The youths are regarded as the pillar on which society stands and therefore, they should seek out ways to uphold the ideals and tenets of our founding fathers and contribute their quota towards the attainment of a better society. Nigeria has the human resources and talent pool to produce the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry King, Zidane and other achievers of this world. The desire to succeed and stand out in this generation will propel the youths toward achieving their goals and dreams. To restore and garner the respect Nigeria once commanded in the comity of nations, there is the need for a re-orientation, a renaissance that would see the Nigerian youths strive for standards and excellence in their fields.

The young people should put pressure on themselves to act and contribute to processes that improve the country as young citizens. They should work with the government to initiate and implement policies for the growth of the country. They should realize that they are part of the process and should examine government polices and push for either review or full implementation of laudable and people -oriented programmes.

In Nigeria where there are little or no structures that represent youth democratically in a sustainable way, the onus falls on the Nigerian youth to lobby and advocate creativity to have credible structures. In our society where the voice of the young people are still being suppressed, it is time for the young people to add volume to their voices on issues that they feel require change and demonstrate their ability to participate fully in the democratic process.

Edoja Edafe


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