BY ROSEMARY NWAEBUNI
The 2019 National Youth Policy defines youth in Nigeria as citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria between the ages of 18 and 29 years. However, different international bodies use varying ranges in describing a youth. For instance, the African Youth Charter defines a youth as someone who is between the ages of 15 and 35 years, while the United Nations considers a youth to be a person between 15 and 24 years old. Although the 18-29 age bracket is the normal threshold, many countries use the 15-35 range for broader inclusion.
Nigeria has a significantly youthful population, as more than 70 per cent of its people are estimated to be under the age of 30 years. Nigerian youths represent a significant portion of the country’s population. They are characterised by a variety of features that reflect their cultural, social, economic and technological contexts. These features, which highlight the complex and dynamic nature of Nigerian youths, include cultural diversity, which influences their lifestyle, worldview and interactions. Educational aspirations are common features of the average Nigerian youth. They generally view education as a pathway to better opportunities. Entrepreneurial spirit is another feature of Nigerian youths, irrespective of their academic background.
Given the high rates of unemployment in the country, many Nigerian youths are turning to entrepreneurship and innovative ventures, particularly in technology, fashion and agriculture. A sterling feature of Nigerian youths is their willingness to take advantage of the increasing availability of the internet and mobile technology, which made many of them digitally literate. They actively engage in social media, online business and digital content creation.
An increasing sense of political awareness is a significant and distinguishing feature of the average Nigerian youth. They are becoming more politically aware and active, increasingly mobilising for social change and advocating for issues such as corruption, governance and human rights through social media platforms. Beyond these, many Nigerian youths are easily influenced by global trends, foreign lifestyles and cultures through travel, education and exposure to international media. Social activism is yet another feature of Nigerian youths. There is a growing trend of activism among them involving participation in movements to address issues like social justice, police harassment and brutality as epitomised by the End SARS movement.
A distinguishing characteristic of Nigerian youths that cannot be ignored is resilience and the will to succeed. When faced with various challenges, including economic hardship and political instability, Nigerian youths often exhibit a remarkable ability to adapt and persevere in the face of adversity.
These features that define the average Nigerian youth cannot be complete without mentioning their fashion-conscious nature. Nigerian youths often take pride in their appearance and are influenced by both traditional attire and contemporary fashion trends, which, for them, is a significant aspect of self-expression.
The average Nigerian youth is instilled with survival instincts. They deploy intense, adaptive survival instincts to navigate extreme economic hardship, high unemployment and systemic failure, often turning to entrepreneurship, digital skills like phone repairs and other informal ways to survive, generally known in the streets as ‘’hustling’’.
In their survival struggle, several Nigerian youths adopt a mix of both conventional and non-conventional means. Some conventional means of survival for many Nigerian youths include engagement in entrepreneurship endeavours like Point of Sale (POS) business, artisan work, online freelancing, private lessons tutoring, affiliate marketing, digital content creation, phone repairs, small-scale catering, home cleaning services, etc. Some others survive through non-conventional methods, which are often risky, like hawking in the streets and highways, online begging, engaging in cyber fraud, including ‘’Yahoo Yahoo’’ and other forms of criminal activities such as banditry, kidnapping, ritual killings, prostitution, terrorism, child trafficking and “Yahoo Plus”.
In their struggle for survival and quest to escape poverty, some youths, especially the less privileged ones, make concerted efforts to emigrate to other countries, often through illegal and dangerous routes across the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea. A good number of them have died in this process, with many others ending up in detention camps where they are treated with unimaginable cruelty.
As part of their struggle to survive, some youths are constrained to accept jobs in unsafe working environments such as illegal mining sites and serving as local drug peddlers. These survival strategies are driven largely by a lack of formal employment opportunities, forcing youths to create their own paths, sometimes at great personal risk.
A pertinent question at this point is, why does the average Nigerian youth struggle to survive in a country like Nigeria, known to be richly blessed with abundant natural and human resources? The answers are not far-fetched.
The average Nigerian youth struggles to survive primarily due to a mix of systemic woes, including high unemployment, severe inflation, economic instability and hardship. With over 40 per cent of the population in poverty, Nigerian youths face limited opportunities, stagnant wages and a high cost of living that makes basic needs difficult to afford.
At the centre of the above factors contributing to this survival struggle are the educational system’s deficiencies. Nigeria’s current educational system frequently fails to equip students with skills relevant to the modern job market, resulting in a mismatch between supply and demand in the labour market. The matter is made worse by insecurity, corruption, poor infrastructure, nepotism and godfatherism. These challenges have led to high levels of stress, mental health issues and intense survival struggles among Nigerian youths.
Government can come to the rescue by empowering the youths through purposeful educational reforms that would engender a shift from theoretical to practical education with emphasis on vocational training, digital literacy, entrepreneurship and creativity; in addition to providing mentorship and financial aid to reduce youth unemployment.
