Developing The Nigeria Youth (1)

The trajectory of Nigeria clearly shows a dire need for a leadership that must drive in a direction that is different from what we have always seen. The rate at which our economy and security is deteriorating proves that we need to move as fast as possible in the direction that will bring growth and development to every sector of the nation and especially in the matters that concerns the youth. The Nigerian youth has been neglected for too long and this has turned to a time bomb that is already exploding. The Almajiris of the North have grown up into bandits, the unemployed in the South have turned to cyber crimes and the uneducated have become thugs.

The nation has over 60% of its population in this mess and the earlier we take it serious, the better it will be for the nation. I follow the activities of the ministry of Youths and sports in some states and at the Federal level and I noticed that the ministry pay most of its attention to sports while the development of the youths take a small percentage of the attention of the ministry. This is a grave error. We are neglecting a huge harvest which already rotting. There is more to youths than sports. Most youths in this country only follow sports, but do not participate in sports.

I understand that sports management needs a lot of attention, but Nigeria needs to pay greater attention to her youths, especially at this time. The time bomb has exploded already. We must bring out creative measures if we will survive the umbrella of this bomb that is already enveloping the nation. One major measure that I recommend is to create a separate ministry for the development of youths. We cannot afford to continue to ignore the youths. The ministry of Youths and Sports should be separated into ministry of youth development and ministry of sports management. This is the first and most important step in this very long journey.

The support for multitasking against efficiency is undermining the growth of our nation. This can be blamed on the personnel that have handled the affair, but the structure on ground is no longer sufficient for the development of the youths. Generally, I have categorized the youths into four categories.

Ø The Educated and Skilled

Ø The Educated and Unskilled

Ø The Uneducated, but skilled

Ø The Uneducated and Unskilled

In this series, I will analyze the condition of each group and enumerate the measures that can be used to ensure their development.