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- There is a huge population of young people on earth today
- This number of youth is a huge opportunity for many African nations especially Nigeria
- In spite this opportunity, young are neglected because they are thought to be too young
- There are many ways this opportunity can be maximized
- Failure to harness this opportunity will be a grave mistake
- The time for action is Now
‘Right now, there are more young people on
earth than ever before in human history’. (Case for space project 2015).
‘The world now has the largest
generation aged 15 – 24 in history, making up a quarter of the world
population’ (Partners for Change report 2014).
This means approximately 1.9
billion young people are currently living on earth. This is a startling
statistics! The report further states that almost 90% of this number live in
developing countries.
Nigeria has 19.5% of her
population to be within this age group. This means that over thirty million (35,000,000)
Nigerians are young people within the ages of 15 – 24. This large number of
young people holds an incredible opportunity for Nigeria as a nation.
The UN secretary general’s
synthesis report, December 2014 highlighted and referred to these young people
as the touch bearers of the next sustainable development agenda.
Painfully, however, young people
are constantly ignored, neglected marginalized and seen as inconsequential to
contribute in to matters of poverty eradication and the fight against corruption.
They are thought to be too young and immature to have a say in policy making
and decisions regarding even their own development and future. They are
considered risky, aggressive, volatile and without ability to understand or
contribute to policy formulation evaluation and implementation.
This is a huge mistake and the
time for change is now. The guide to the implementation of World Programme of
Action for Youth (WPAY) part V highlights that young people are indispensable
contributors to policy formulation evaluation and implementation. That the
involvement of youth does not only benefit their socioeconomic environment but
also their own capacity and personal development, stating that without the
voices of youth, the WPAY cannot be achieved.
Young people have a voice, and
they should be heard. They can play a role, they can champion solution pathways
to major systemic and microeconomics problems.
For instance, putting young
people in the fore front in the fight against corruption which has become a systemic
adaptive problem in Nigeria can become a strong sinew for winning the fight
against corruption. By involving young people, their understanding of the
problem is deepened and they will discover the role they have to play in the
solution process.
What happens if this huge
resource is left un-mined? But no, we must take a stand today to inform,
educate, motivate and empower our youth to take on positions of responsibility
for their lives and communities. We must teach them to be solution givers and
not part of the problem.
And the time is NOW.
Daniel O. Akibor
