The impact of bad leadership in Nigeria since the end of the civil war is everywhere, but the segment of the population that has been victimised the most is the youth. They are the ones spending the most active years of their lives in poverty. They are either engaged in ungainful, menial employment, or are unemployed outright.
It is estimated that out of about 170 million Nigerians, the youth constitute about 64 per cent or 109 million. 60 per cent of them (about 63 million) are in the job market. This much was admitted by the Presidency after the Alumni Association of the Indian Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) recently paid a courtesy visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
The Presidency later issued a statement vowing to frontally tackle youth unemployment after putting the 2016 Federal Appropriation Bill to bed.
Youth unemployment in Nigeria does not just exist at the bottom echelon where school leavers are looking for work.
It occurs at the three levels – the top (where the oldies who have been occupying governmental offices since their youth have refused to give way); the middle, where opportunities for the youth to contribute their quota to national development are shrinking; and the entry points where there are few vacancies for the teeming army of school leavers.
An idle hand is the devil’s workshop, as the old adage says. It is, therefore, not surprising that there is an upsurge of violent crimes in the country. The youth find themselves trapped in poverty and even destitution, and can no longer do what people in their prime are supposed to do because of lack of opportunity to even start.
That is why some of them have taken their destinies in their hands, and lent their enormous energies to crimes and violent enterprises, such as robberies, kidnapping, cultism, pimping, prostitution, advance fee fraud, terrorism, militancy and separatist agitations.
Yet others who insist on honourable survival are forced to hawk all manners of cheap, imported goods in the traffic snarls of urban cities. Young men can no longer marry in their youth and settle down, while young women wait for suitors until they are past their prime. This is a country full of idle, unhappy and frustrated youth!
It will take nothing less than a major national policy shift for this complex issue to be addressed. The solution goes beyond paying out a monthly stipend of N5,000 to a few “lucky” ones as is being contemplated by government. This is a national emergency, and the Federal Government must close ranks with all Nigerians to find lasting solutions.
Otherwise, the social bombs which are already exploding could get out of control as we face even bleaker economic prospects in 2016.
