Youth day and ordeal of Nigerian youth | The Guardian Nigeria Information

Sir: Friday, August 12, 2022 is a vital date within the international calendar.  It’s a day that the worldwide neighborhood units apart to rejoice this 12 months’s Worldwide Youth Day. The vital goal of this yearly celebration going by info from the United Nations (UN) is to amongst different issues increase voices towards any injustice or discrimination occurring on this planet with the youth.

Basically, hundreds of thousands of youth on this planet are fighting points associated to bodily or psychological well being, training and employment and thus all these points have to be addressed. When the federal government or society doesn’t give attention to correct improvement of the youth, they have an inclination to change into rebellious and plenty of occasions they will go for the alternatives that are neither good for his or her improvement nor for his or her nation.

Nonetheless, in Nigeria, youths are being annoyed by the nation’s socioeconomic challenges fueled by unfulfilled authorities guarantees and dangerous management marked by absence of transparency and accountability. And as a consequence, this ‘stifles improvement, siphons all scarce assets that might enhance infrastructure, bolster training programs and strengthen public well being and stack the deck towards the poor  plenty.

To elucidate this place, a latest report from the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS), reveals that in second-quarter Q2:2020 unemployment fee amongst younger individuals (15-34 years previous) was 34.9 per cent, up from 29.7 per cent, whereas the speed of underemployment for a similar age group rose to twenty-eight.2 per cent from 25.7 per cent in Q3, 2018. These charges have been the very best when in comparison with different age groupings.  Nigeria’s youth inhabitants eligible to work is about 40 million out of which solely 14.7 million are absolutely employed and one other 11.2 million are unemployed.

Youth unemployment is probably harmful because it sends a sign to all segments of the Nigerian Society. Right here in Nigeria, the speed of youth unemployment is excessive, even on the interval of financial normalcy i.e. the oil growth of the Seventies (6.2 per cent); Nineteen Eighties (9.8 per cent) and the Nineties (11.5 per cent). Youth unemployment subsequently just isn’t a latest phenomenon. But when what occurred within the Nineteen Eighties/90s have been a problem of types, what is going on presently, going by the most recent report by the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS), is a problem.

It is necessary that Nigerian youths proceed to talk up towards violation of human rights, suppression of free speech and freedom of the press. They have to converse up with info towards any wrongdoing or oppression by the federal government or fellow residents able to endangering sustainable democracy and the efficient supply of fine governance.

Any authorities with goodwill and sincerity should develop inventive and channels to selling sustained and inclusive financial development, social improvement, environmental safety and job creation. Youths should know that as residents, they’re constitutionally eligible to vote and be voted for.
Utomi Jerome-Mario is the programme coordinator (Media and Public Coverage), Social and Financial Justice Advocacy (SEJA), a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation.