JOB CREATION AS A PANACEA TO YOUTH RESTIVENESS (NIGERIA)

By Eric D. Nnaji

 CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The words ‘youth’ and ‘restiveness’ have become so commonly used together in the last couple of years that it seems to have taken on a life of its own. In the last decade and more there has been a proliferation of cases all over the country and indeed the world, of youth agitations which have tons of people dead and valuable infrastructure as well as personal properties lost and destroyed.

A sustained protestation embarked upon to enforce a desired outcome from a constituted authority by an organised body of youths, fits the label of youth restiveness. It is also a combination of any action or conduct that constitutes unwholesome, socially unacceptable activities engaged in by the youths in any community. It is a phenomenon which in practice has led to a near breakdown of law and order, low productivity due to disruption of production activities, increasing crime rate, intra-ethnic hostilities, and harassment of prospective developers and other criminal tendencies. This scourge has been around for a long time and it looks as though it is defying solutions. Maybe the question that needs to be asked is what is truly responsible for this expression of dissatisfaction by the youth? Have their complaints over the years not been heard or attended to? Is there more to the killings and destruction than just drawing attention to the needs they want met? Are the youths trying to draw society’s attention to themselves more than the issues they appear to be fronting? These and more are the questions we would try to tackle head on today. In Nigeria for instance, the Niger Delta region which is unarguably the bedrock of the oil industry in Nigeria permeated the news for a lengthy period of time as the youths of that region tried various means of getting government and oil companies to pay attention to their dire conditions of living and alleviate their sufferings since according to them, the resources which is building the nation is flowing from their land so by virtue of that they should also be partakers of its benefits. This strife led to a rise in kidnapping and vandalization of oil pipelines as well as other vices that were being perpetrated. After a period of years, the Nigerian government intervened and the Amnesty program was created to help deliver some of the promises which government had made to the youths in those areas. The baton was soon handed over to the Eastern Nigeria. Increase in the rate of armed robbery attacks, kidnappings as well as unbridled thuggery became the order of the day. Today the Northern part of Nigeria has literally erupted with unrivalled violence. Bomb blasts, kidnaps and killings of Nigerians and others have become the prevailing trend. Despite beefing up of security in these areas, the problems still looms. This situation begs the questions, ‘’what is the government of the day willing to do, to put a permanent end to these problems.

1.2 YOUTH RESTIVENESS: 

According to Peter Osalor in an article published in the December 24, 2012 edition of the Vanguard Newspaper, “a sustained protestation embarked upon to enforce a desired outcome from a constituted authority fits the label of youth restiveness. It could also be a combination of any action or conduct that constitutes unwholesome, unacceptable activities engaged in by the youths in any community."

1.3 STATISTIC                                                   

Statistics The National Population Commission (NPC) has said the country’s population has risen from the 140,431,790 it was five years ago when the last national headcount was taken, to 167,912,561 as at October 2011.This represents an annual population growth rate of 5.6 million people. The Ministry of Youth Development, said recently that there are 68 million unemployed youths in Nigeria. Every year about 300,000 graduates enrol in the NYSC scheme. This is definitely not the total number of graduates but it is a pointer. According to the Population reference Bureau, the population of youth in Nigeria is 43%.

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 RELEVANCE OF YOUTH

Youth occupy a prominent place in any society. Apart from being the owners and leaders of tomorrow, they outnumber the middle-aged and the aged (Onyekpe, 2007). Besides numerical superiority, youth have energy and ideas that are society's great potentials (Onyekpe, 2007). The National Youth Development Policy (2001, p.1) asserts that:

Youth are the foundation of a society. Their energies, inventiveness, character and orientation define the pace of development and security of a nation. Through their creative talents and labour power, a nation makes giant strides in economic development and socio-political attainments. In their dreams and hopes, a nation founds her motivation; on their energies, she builds her vitality and purpose. And because of their dreams and aspirations, the future of a nation is assured.

The statement above acknowledges the role of the youth in the peace and security of a nation. As the most active segment of any society, youth are the major determiners of peace and stability of a nation (Ozohu-Sulaiman, 2006). Conversely, the degree of disorderliness and instability in society is also determined in part by youth.

Peace is a precursor of development. The absence of peace means that no meaningful development can take place. The National Youth Policy (2001) affirms that the extent of the youth's “responsible conduct and roles in society is positively correlated with the development of their country”.

2.0 CAUSES OF YOUTH RESTIVENESS

A number of studies have identified factors responsible for youth restiveness. Elegbeleye (2005) identifies three major factors: the peer motivated excitement of being a student, the jingoistic pursuit of patriotic ideas, and perceived victimization arising from economic exploitation.

Another study carried out in Niger Delta region by Ofem and Ajayi (2008) identified lack of humanitarian and social welfare, lack of good governance, corrupt practices of government officials, inadequate training programmes, unemployment, inadequate recreational facilities, lack of quality education, and so on, as the reasons for incessant youth restiveness. This implies that a catalogue of closely-related factors are responsible for youth restiveness.

·         Bad Governance

Good governance is required for the growth and development of any nation. Unfortunately, in most countries bad governance is more common than good, resulting in disjointed development. The World Bank (1992) identifies the main characteristics of bad governance to include:

failure to properly distinguish between what is public and what is private, leading to private appropriation of otherwise public resources;

inability to establish a predictable frame work for law and government behaviour in a manner conducive to development, or arbitrariness in the application of laws and rules;

excessive rules, regulations, licensing requirement and so forth which impede the functioning of markets and encourage rent-seeking;

priorities that are inconsistent with development, thereby resulting in misallocation of national resources; and exceedingly narrow base for, or non-transparent, decision making.

These and more are the features of most administration for instance in Nigeria., Onyekpe (2007) observes that successive administrations in Nigeria have not allocated much to the needs of the youth, and, worse still, the meager allocation are often diverted by government officials to their private accounts and projects. Thus, youth are restive and agitated when they perceive that resources meant for them are being wasted by those in authority.

·         Unemployment

Unemployment is a hydra-headed monster which exists among the youth in all developing countries. Experts believe that the number of jobless youth is twice as high as official estimate. Ozohu-Suleiman (2006) notes for instance Nigerian youth are trapped by unemployment. Zakaria (2006) believes that “the rising tide of unemployment and the fear of a bleak future among the youth in African countries have made them vulnerable to the manipulations of agents' provocateurs”. These include aggrieved politicians, religious demagogues, and greedy multinationals that employ these youths to achieve their selfish ambitions. Zakaria (2006) strongly believes that the absence of job opportunities in developing countries is responsible for youth restiveness with disastrous consequences.

·         Poverty

Poverty connotes inequality and social injustice and this traumatizes the poor. For example, More than 70 percent of people in Nigeria are in abject poverty, living below the poverty line, and one- third survive on less than US $1 dollar a day (Zakaria, 2006). This figure includes an army of youth in urban centres in Nigeria who struggle to eke out a living by hawking chewing sticks, bottled water, handkerchiefs, belts, etc. The sales-per-day and the profit margin on such goods are so small that they can hardly live above the poverty line. Disillusioned, frustrated, and dejected, they seek an opportunity to express their anger against the state. Aworawo (2000) and Zakaria (2006) agreed that there is a link among poverty, loss of livelihood, inequality, and youth restiveness as evidenced by the numerous violent protests against the wielders of power in Nigeria.

·         Inadequate Educational Opportunities and Resources

Quality education has a direct bearing on national prestige, greatness, and cohesion. The knowledge and skill that young people acquire help determine their degree of patriotism and contribution to national integration and progress. Between 2000 and 2004, about 30 percent of Nigerian youth between 10 and 24 were not enrolled in secondary school (Population Reference Bureau, 2006). Perhaps the prohibitive cost of acquiring education is responsible.

The aftereffect of this situation is that thousands of young people roam the streets in cities in Nigeria. Those who manage to complete secondary school have no opportunities for tertiary education. Having being denied the chance to reach their potential, they are disorientated and readily available for antisocial actions (Onyekpe, 2007).

Worse still, some who struggle to enroll in various educational institutions drop out due to lack of basic learning facilities. This situation is attributable to the dwindling resources of government at both federal and state levels as a result of an economic meltdown.

·         Lack of Basic Infrastructure

Most rural communities and urban slums in Nigeria have no access to potable water, health facilities, electricity, communication facilities, industries and commercial facilities, etc. Behind social unrest and youth restiveness in the country is the agitation for equitable distribution of resources.

·         Inadequate Communication and Information flow

Communication creates room for sharing information. It helps people express their thoughts and feelings, clarify problems, and consider alternative ways of coping or adapting to their situation. Such sharing promotes social cohesion.

People must have access to communication facilities, to communicate with the people making the decisions that affect them. Sadly, rarely do people in Nigeria participate in decision-making processes on issues that affect their lives. Ifidon and Ahiauzu (2005), in their study of Niger Delta, revealed that inadequate communication and information flow is one factor responsible for youth restiveness in the area.

2.2 BARRIERS OF JOB CREATION TO THE YOUTH

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is a critical constraint - particularly power in lower income countries. Many people focus only on direct job creation from infrastructure, but we learned in the case of India that having access to power can multiply job creation – in this case by almost 40:1. The World Bank is now focusing much more on transformational projects, and many of them are in the power sector.

Access to finance

Supporting SMEs – which provide about two-thirds of the formal jobs in developing countries and the majority of jobs overall – can significantly add to job growth. Larger companies are important too as they tend to be more productive, offer higher wages, more training and better working conditions. Through their value chains, they typically multiply the jobs they provide directly, reaching many SMEs and poorer citizens. For example, through a mining company in Ghana, we learned that by combining our investment with advice to strengthen local businesses, a firm can achieve much higher job multipliers than usual in the industry.

Skills mismatch

Often workers don't have the skills companies are looking for. Engaging the private sector is critical for addressing this skills mismatch. Combining formal training with on-the-job training significantly increases the chances of finding a job, and the private sector needs to be more systematically involved in curriculum design and training provision.

Gender

Women face specific obstacles in many of these areas. For example, many legal differences still disadvantage women – in terms of owning property or even bank accounts. Women are less likely to get a loan – and pay more if they do. All these obstacles result in fewer women working and running companies; removing these obstacles is not only good for women, but also their families, companies and societies. For example, increasing female participation in the labour force in Turkey just marginally (from 23% to 29%) could help reduce poverty by 15%.

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 JOB CREATION AS A PANACEA TO YOUTH RESTIVENESS (NIGERIA)

These are not simply abstract number projections, they have important consequences for property rights, food security, social amenities, infrastructural development, and probably most importantly, political unity. That the country has so far refused to address the current baby boom in a holistic manner is a serious indictment of our political leadership.

Which brings us back to the pressing issue of jobs. A proper understanding of the changes in a country’s employment cycle is important to crafting a well-oiled society that strives to provide for all. Any country that must compete in the 21st century needs well-educated, and well-trained human capital. Human capital is what sparks the innovation, industry and creativity that are needed to run a dynamic economy.

The world’s largest black country has not managed to take the steps needed to create economic opportunity for a majority of its citizens. This is evidently at the heart of all of our national problems. We are a country where hundreds of thousands of people, including IPOB supporters, have the time and energy to devote them to a romantic, if elusive separatist cause. We are a country where a reactionary movement to rally against state corruption and the impunity of security forces spawned a seven-year security nightmare, called Boko Haram.

Young people bereft of a decent education, good housing, and jobs have turned to drugs, criminality and peddlers of ethnic jingoism. As a result, we have created a society that is falling at the seams, looking more like an untidily arranged pack of dominoes than a breathing, functioning community.

How do we fix Nigeria? It starts with correctly identifying some of the enablers of the unworkable system that we are currently operating. It starts with ending the unconscionable acts of stifling the limited channels of life advancement, such as disappearing scholarship monies, through graft, corruption and greed. It starts with expanding the political space, encouraging participation in our democratic process – witness the apathy that characterised the recent Lagos council vote, welcoming and tolerating dissenting voices and addressing marginalised sections of the electorate. It starts with dealing with the plethora of security concerns blaring across critical parts of the country. It starts with protecting the sanctity of our national institutions and revamping the vitality of the civil service; and adequately implementing such sensible policies as cutting red tape, ending over-regulation and ending indefensible tax breaks; simple and do-able acts of governance that will unshackle capital and assure entrepreneurs and investors of the attractiveness and stability of the Nigerian market, enabling them to focus on investing in the economy.

It starts with creating economic opportunity, or in simple terms, jobs for everyone.

3.1 STRATAGIES FOR JOB CREATION

The following strategies according to Ayodele (2006) will help to solve the problem lack of job

1. There should be some form of genuine school- work based learning incorporated in some studies as part of the national economic development strategies. This implies enriching the curriculum to incorporate more vocational and technical training. The development of apprenticeship scheme would give new graduates some work skills and experiences.

2. There should be School-based enterprises where students identify potential business, plan, create and operate small business by using the school as mini incubators.

3. Government should establish small business schools where interested students and community members can participate. This will make students to be self reliant.

 4. Government should develop entrepreneur internship programme by matching students with locally successful entrepreneurs with clearly established education programmes.

 5. The Government should establish an enterprise college aimed at fostering the specific skills required for entrepreneurship. This will serve as skill acquisition centre for the youths.

6. Government should create an economic friendly environment. This centres on reduction of taxes on small scale businesses.

 7. There should be enough incentives for students of vocational and technical schools. This will motivate them to establish their businesses after school.

  CONCLUSION

Youth restiveness manifests in the form of students unrest, ethnic nationalism. And religious fundamentalism and quite often provokes lots of violence. Some acknowledged that there is a link between insecurity, poverty, unemployment and restiveness. The paper has shown that the cause of the youth’s retrogressive actions is traced to the government's neglect and lack of concern of the government in looking into the affairs of the youth, when it comes to job creation and employment.