YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: STEP TO SECURE NATIONS PROSPERITY

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: STEP TO SECURE NATIONS PROSPERITY

How Youths Can promote a Country

Youth empowerment, how youth empowerment can be used to secure prosperity of nations

Source: Francis Jackson

Introduction

Youth empowerment and development is very helpful not only to the youth of a particular country but to the entire nation in totality. Youth empowerment is the means through which the young people are encouraged by the individuals or government using any good means. The “good means” here can be financially, skilfully, morally or any other ways. The Nigerian National Youth policy (2001:2), defines youth as comprising all young persons between the ages 18 and 35 years who are citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. According to the world English dictionary, development is the act or the process of growing, progressing, or developing. Youth empowerment is important.

Many countries like United States of America, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, India, Togo, Zambia, just to mention but a few have been battling with unemployment without the governments knowing that one of the solutions to this challenge in youth development using the available arsenals and resources they have. Doing this will sustain the feature prosperity of nations. Also, there are challenges in United States as well as challenges in Nigeria, development of the youths is one of the ways to reduce these challenges.

Many have succeeded in life because of youth empowerment and development. Honestly, youth empowerment and development drive is the suitable solution that nations need to secure the future success of their countries. ''Nations" are not the empty land people live; it is the people that live inside the countries. The possible question that may come in is: how can youth empowerment and development secure the future prosperity of nations? Just follow me as the points will soon be unfolded.

Many nations are able to manage their countries affairs today because the youths were not empowered. The youth you see today are the elders or adults of tomorrow. Mexico is not doing badly. In fact, with war over drug war-lords almost won, the country can turn the attention of its youth population to education, entrepreneurship and intention, as is obtainable in neighboring U.S. The attentions of this country to empower her youths, which they have already start doing is to be emulated.

How Can Nations Future prosperity be Secured through Youth Empowerment?

There must be existence of peace for any country to flourish. There are many crises in some countries today because the youths were not empowered. A notable example is an African country called Nigeria. Many Nigerian youths are not empowered through employment. This is the major cause of insecurity in Nigeria. When jobs are created for them, there will be peace and the life of the citizens spared. The former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, identified insecurity in the country, high unemployment rate as well as improper orientation of the youth as major threats to development in the country.

Some lives are no longer protected in many countries because the youths lack moral empowerment. When a youth is empowered morally, I do not think he will have the time to carry bombs from place to place searching for any group to damage. With moral youth empowerment, the lives of the citizens will prosper. Again, many lives that would bring change to nations were removed because the youths lack morals empowerment. The removed unborn babies who would have bring positive changes in medical, technological, and even educations sector were terminated, because the lady carrying the baby was not empowered morally on the danger of “rough play”, which can result to stomach enlargement. If the culture of unborn termination continues, who will form the next generation?

Through financial youth empowerment, the economy of nations will prosper. The youths can go into massive production. The country will realize good amount of money per year. This will make the government to make a better budget. From this, the masses will enjoy a better life because there will be more cash flow. The youth will buy and sell to the costumers. More jobs will be created for the citizens. Youth empowerment means a lot more than two words, and is a core requirement for the sustainability of any level of economic development reached.

Power supply is a big challenge to many nations, especially in Africa. These countries are still under ‘coma’ because of this challenge. Speaking in Abuja, President of Trade Union of Nigeria (TUC), Comrade Peter Esele, said “The power sector has continued to be a source of worry to all of us despite reforms, yet the importance of electricity to employment and development cannot be over-emphasized”. The problem of power supply (generation of electrical power) is the reason many Africa nations still answer “developing nations” every year, because power is needed in education, industrial, banking, agricultural and in many other departments of every nation.

The youth has answer to this if they are well empowered. The question is how? Well trained youth on skills acquisition concerning power generation can have positive answer on how to address it. Again, those who feel like a million dollars (comfortable) due to financial support issued to them when they were youths can change the face of power sector. They can sponsor and resolve this situation through their financial assistance. When this is put in place, the industrial development and any aspect that makes use of power will be promoted.

There are many possible solutions which some creative youths can proffer in the power sector. Some have ideas on how to use solar energy or biogas to generate power supply. The setback is that they lack empowerment from individuals and governments. Through the power generated, there will be many improvements in many areas of the citizens’ lives. Take for example, this essay will be successfully written because there is power to keep my computer on. Many have in mind to be article writers, but due to power failure, they are unable to make it. Some youth doctors play with the lives of their patients because they lack moral youth empowerment before they became doctors. They were not well empowered during their studies with proper facilities. This results to mishandling of lives of many citizens. If they were empowered, they will be very careful in handling lives of patients, thereby prospering their lives from death.

Competent leaders can be obtained in this country through youth empowerment. It is often said that youths are the leaders of tomorrow, but even leadership in itself is an art to be learned, a skill to be acquired, for effective leadership does not come by saying it, but by applying tested, laid-down principles. The leader will be able to transform the country through his leadership. The people will succeed with their leadership because the environment is made conducive. People mess up in leadership positions because they were not empowered when they were young.

Poverty is the bane of many people's life in this country. The UN human Poverty Index in 1999 which credited Nigeria with 41.6 percent captured the phenomenon more succinctly as the figure placed the nation as among the 25 poorest nations in the world. Through youth empowerment and development, poverty will be eradicated. For the poverty in the rural area, youths when empowered agriculturally can employ the poor in their farms. The socks of many poor ones can be pulled up through this means. Again, through their works, the nation will have more to feed her citizens.

Child abuse is rampant in some countries because of lack of youth empowerment. This has been discussed in conferences, seminars and senate meetings on how to combat this challenge. Notwithstanding that the senators pretend to be working on how to put a stop to this, they are the promoters of child abuse. I typical example is that senator Yerima of Nigeria who wants to take underage Egyptian girl into marriage. Nigerian civil society and gender rights activists petitioned to the Senate calling for action against Yerima over his marriage to the 13 year old Egyptian girl.

The youth when empowered on the negative effects of this shameful act can protest against it. When given appropriate support, they can form a group that will seriously say no to child abuse. They will resist to this act because they were once of that age. You can trust what the youths can do, they like taking the bull by its horns. When this is settled, the future of the young will be assured.

Environmental is what many nations are facing. Hardly can you enter any state in some nations and do not see heaps of waste materials. An Environmental Right Organization based in Aba, Nigeria, Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy & Development (FENRAD) has described Aba, the commercial nerve city of Abia State as the dirtiest city across the country. This eyesore has negative effects on the health of the citizens. But, through youth empowerment and development drive, the health standard of nations and good environmental status is attainable. Some youths when empowered on waste recycling process can help put the environment in a good position. When the recycling effort is sustained in nations with untidy environment, health and the environment will improve.

Many pipelines of crude oil companies have been vandalized in many crude oil producing nations. Some of the vandals engage in this act because the government and capable hands do not assist them to succeed in life. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has provided graphic details of how the activities of pipeline vandals have complicated the free flow of petroleum products and crude supply in its pipeline system leading to a colossal cost of over ₦174.57 billion (approximately $27756.63 billion) in product losses and repairs of products pipelines within the last 10 years. Many youths are among these vandals. When youth empowerment programs and development are embraced in this nation, these acts of pipeline vandalism will become a history. The country will then be protected and will as well prosper because the government will make more money which they will use in the development of the country.

Moral youth empowerment, which is among the types of youth empowerment, and development can help nations succeed by reducing cyber crime among the youths. The youths of many nations are now gaining ground on cyber threats. They hack into the computers of many and steal vital information to enrich themselves. These victims now become poor overnight. Some of these hackers go to the extent of emptying the bank accounts of the victims. What do you think is the cause of this bad act? The answer is lack of moral and financial youth empowerment. Beyond that, it cannot be denied that our youths have taken undue advantage of the Internet to get involved in cyber crime, using it to commit fraud and threaten public security. There is high level of prostitution in many countries in the world and the youths are the highest number in the business. There is high moral decline in United States of America today which includes youth prostitution. It is one of the challenges in United States and this propels the spread of certain diseases that can be contracted through such act. It is true that the government of the country makes effort to empower the youths skillfully and academically, but moral empowerment is not properly activated. If it continues in this trend, the future prosperity of United States is in danger because the absence of moral youth empowerment is detrimental.

Many lives have been lost because the youth earned their money through cut corners by selling fake drugs to the masses. If they were given appropriate moral empowerment, they would have prospered instead of putting a stop to their existence. Another thing is that they were not supported to go to school. This made them to be ignorant of what fake drugs can do in the human body. When many die daily from fake drugs, how many will be left in the future? Through youth empowerment and development, the young can protest against drug abuse. The impact of drug abuse among Nigerian youth has been a stigma of a morally bankrupt, decadent and wasted generation that must be revitalized and collectively salvaged together in order to prevent the total degeneration and loss of our societal values and ideals.

Some female youths of nations are painting the image of their countries black from their indecent dressing because they lack moral support. They go around the streets displaying the parts of their body which are not meant to be seen as if they will die if they fail to do so. Most irritating is the prevailing trend among our youths who expose themselves, clad in dresses that reveal the essentials: backs, hips and other parts as quoted by a Nigerian government officer.

Conclusion

The youths are great set of people that no country can do without. It is made up of men and women who have high strength and good potentials. In this piece of write-up, contained is essay on how youth empowerment and development can proper future prosperity of nations.

References

Supporting the Young, from United Nations Population Fund;

Punch mobile news: Unemployment fuelling insecurity in Nigeria - Sanusi 2013-04-25 00:00:03;

Youth Empowerment: Tool for Economic Development, written by Uchenna Ugo- Oleribe;

Vanguard newspaper on Epileptic power, a major challenge facing Nigeria – TUC on June 05, 2013 at 2:00 pm;

Leadership Newspapers Group on Youth Entrepreneurship and Poverty Eradication;

Daily Independent Newspaper on Thursday, November 1st, 2012 on Civil Society Protests on Child Marriage;

Nigerian Voice News, World Environmental Week: Aba the Dirty City on 8 June, 2013;

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, How Pipeline Vandals Cripple Fuel Supply-NNPC....Incurs over N174 billion in products losses, pipeline repairs;

News Agency of Nigeria on February 10, 2013, ASOPADEC Lauds Abia Govt Measures against Pipeline Vandalism;

Sun Newspaper on May 22, 2013, Nigeria’s disturbing cyber threat ranking;

The Sociological Implications of Drug Abuse among Nigerian Youth: Who is to Blame?