Youth Development
“WHAT WOULD YOU ASK YOUR GOVERNMENT TO DO TO PROMOTE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT?”
INTRODUCTION
The pride of any government is the attainment of higher value kevel of development in such a way that its citizens would derive natural attachment to governance (Adebiyi: 2013, p.2). Youth, a mainstay for change, is perceived to dominate the nation’s population with no fewer, unemployed. A constructive look at how Empowerment can help proffer solution to the cause of debasement- poverty, insecurity, unemployment, illiteracy, restiveness- is posited in this paper.
It is appalling to say that our youth have developed positively as the country is currently harried with emerging guerrilla, massive unemployment, poverty, restiveness etc. And governments are not taking the precise measure to curb these problems. Yet it says: “Youth are one of the greatest assets that any nation can have and therefore, need to be developed and empowered. Not only are they legitimately regarded as the future leaders, they are potentially and actually the greatest investment for a country’s development” [Federal Republic of Nigeria: 1999]. Now question need to be thrown to them; what measure has been taken to quell Boko Haram insurgence? A pellucid answer would be Amnesty and probably the reinforcement of security forces- these certainly are not proactive means to curtail insecurity. Certainly, mishmash between government’s effort and youth’s thinking has been occurring, leading to a dicey fracas in the nation.
EMPOWERMENT: A PANACEA FOR PERNICIOUS DEVELOPMENT
It seems the word Empowerment has not been understood by Government. According to Bailey (1992), how we precisely define empowerment within our project and programs will depend upon the specific people and context involved. Empowerment is seen in the context of power defined as “the capacity to implement”, broad enough to allow power to mean domination, authority, influence, and shared power or “power with”. Empowerment is a process that fosters
INTRODUCTION
The pride of any government is the attainment of higher value kevel of development in such a way that its citizens would derive natural attachment to governance (Adebiyi: 2013, p.2). Youth, a mainstay for change, is perceived to dominate the nation’s population with no fewer, unemployed. A constructive look at how Empowerment can help proffer solution to the cause of debasement- poverty, insecurity, unemployment, illiteracy, restiveness- is posited in this paper.
It is appalling to say that our youth have developed positively as the country is currently harried with emerging guerrilla, massive unemployment, poverty, restiveness etc. And governments are not taking the precise measure to curb these problems. Yet it says: “Youth are one of the greatest assets that any nation can have and therefore, need to be developed and empowered. Not only are they legitimately regarded as the future leaders, they are potentially and actually the greatest investment for a country’s development” [Federal Republic of Nigeria: 1999]. Now question need to be thrown to them; what measure has been taken to quell Boko Haram insurgence? A pellucid answer would be Amnesty and probably the reinforcement of security forces- these certainly are not proactive means to curtail insecurity. Certainly, mishmash between government’s effort and youth’s thinking has been occurring, leading to a dicey fracas in the nation.
EMPOWERMENT: A PANACEA FOR PERNICIOUS DEVELOPMENT
It seems the word Empowerment has not been understood by Government. According to Bailey (1992), how we precisely define empowerment within our project and programs will depend upon the specific people and context involved. Empowerment is seen in the context of power defined as “the capacity to implement”, broad enough to allow power to mean domination, authority, influence, and shared power or “power with”. Empowerment is a process that fosters