By means of logical proposition with regard to the youth, the claim is that “the youth are not just the leaders of tomorrow, but also the
partners of today”. First and foremost, the youth of almost every nation including Nigeria, represents more than forty 40 percent of the total population. This means that as youth, we stand the chance to raise concern, voice out our interest and even questioned the state on matters we feel are not been properly addressed. While the population influence of youth is not the only determining factor for their strength and impact in the well-being of every society, the unique powerful agility and muscular nature of youthful exorbitance is also a sensitive factor that suggest the supremacy of impact in youth in the socio-political, economic and religious harmony or otherwise in every human society.
Ironically, every government and hegemonies of modern democracies like Nigeria seems and claim to understand the impact of its youth, but realities on the ground is a clear indication that most families, authorities and stakeholders are insensitive to the complexities, difficulties, plight and above all, the impact of the youth in the past, present and future well- being of every society today. The concentration of youth in the ongoing number of violent clashes and persisting increase in deadly ethno-religious crisis and sectarian confrontation characterized by intense bombings of innocent Nigerians in places of worships, markets and institutional structures across Nigeria is always championed by youth Hired and misused by the politicians in political violence as thugs in order to achieve selfish political goals, simply because they are idle, oppressed and depressed by the situation in which they find themselves. They also become easy recruits for sectarian extremist in northern Nigeria because they are isolated and systematically ignored in the political and socio-economic affairs by most states and local government in Nigeria, despite their population influence and natural force in the society.
In an attempt to defend their families’ interest, religious aspirations and cultural ideologies, the youth in northern Nigeria are
always at the forefront of the ugly and devastating magnitude of ethno religion and political mayhem that has been occurring simultaneously in northern Nigeria and threatening to cut across the entire nation.
Similarly, in other parts of Nigeria like the Niger Delta region, the youth are the highest victims of circumstances in which they are
always at the forefront of political and socio-economic struggle over the high level of poverty in the shadow of political uncertainties
regardless of the oil rich natural endowment in the region. Poor educational structures and space, dilapidated health care systems and poor economic standard has made of necessary for the Niger Delta youth to take arms and fight back. They feel pushed to the wall. That is why four years after the inception of the so called democratic system of government in 1999, the youth in Niger delta immediately took to the streets with anger and hunger in their various groups and Associations chaired by revolutionary minded youth leaders like Asari Dokubo.
Although, it has been a deadly struggle that consume the life of many youth both in the army and in the struggling groups, the Amnesty packaged by the late president Umaru Musa Ya’Adua (in his blessed memory) has signifies the result of a successful political struggle by the youth of Niger delta. Successfully, the realities on ground today suggest that the political influence of youth cannot be
over-emphasized, especially in Niger delta.
Under the present Circumstances, northern Nigeria appears to be the center of the nation’s security and other critical national challenges that posed great threat to the development of our aging democracy and peaceful coexistence. Massive poverty, illiteracy and sentiment of religious and ethno cultural diversity in the north has been a yardstick for the perpetrators of ethno-religious, sectarian and political clashes in the region over a considerable period of time.
Thousands of lives are lost in addition to properties in an unprecedented scale in the name of ethno-religious, sectarian and
political violence in most part of the region. As a result, the peaceful co-existence which is a fundamental prerequisite for the
development of every human society has been significantly destroyed.
The Socio-political and economic activities of the region has been demoralized and devastated by violence of different dimension.
In an attempt to stem the situation and find a reasonable working solution to the problems, the federal and state governments seems to claim that they are putting the best of interest and applying the best possible method in dealing with the issue of peace. One of such is the recently commissioned forty man committee by the governor of Niger State and chairman of the Northern governors’ forum, to come up with a comprehensive solution towards several problems and violence that has been affecting the region on almost daily bases and systematically crippling the political and socio-economic affairs of the whole region.
However, this is not the first or only effort by the government whether states or federal, as well as traditional and religious authorities to stem the crisis and ensure peace and prosperity in the region in particular and Nigeria in general. Despite these motives, they prove abortive, in active and incentive. I think a time has come for people to question the credibility and effectiveness of such efforts for instance; to what extend has the youth been involved?
– Mark Okpanachi Ogah
