Youth restiveness in Nigeria

Writer: Olayinka Alaya

TOPIC: Youth restiveness in Nigeria

Youth restiveness is a phenomenon which in practice, leads to breakdown of law and order, economic misfortune due to disruption of economic activities, increasing crime rate, intra-ethnic hostilities, harassment of prospective developers and other sundry criminal tendencies.

Youth restiveness is said to be a despicable act being perpetrated by a significant proportion of youth in various communities. As the name implies, it is combination of actions, conducts or acts that constitute unwholesome socially unacceptable activities engaged in by the youth in any community.

Regrettably however, youth restiveness and social vices have apparently become a threat to the realisation of individual potentials in various communities and states. It is often said that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. True to this fact, youths who are not employed or engaged in any legal means, often resort to vices which are capable of disrupting the social order of the society.

             Recently, some youths who are said to be hoodlums took to the streets  in some areas in Ilorin metropolis, fighting, disturbing public peace and leading to the death of two people. Some youths were also allegedly said to be disturbing market men and women at some market areas in Ilorin, like, New market at Baboko, Ipata market and others. According to market women, they were exhorting money from them.

In every good society, good governance is required for the growth and development of the citizenry. Fortunately, Kwara state government  is a youth – driven government that has committed and is still committing so much resources to youth development and empowerment.

                Governor Abdulfatah  Ahmed believes that positive and meaningful development across cultural settings is usually engineered, fostered, and shaped by the generation of youths in that society. This is because the youth remain one of the greatest assets that any community or state can be proud of. Potentially, youths are the greatest investments for a society's sustainable development and future.

             It has also establish its ground that  the major ways to addressing youth restiveness, is through creation of more jobs for the teeming population of youth, provision of social basic infrastructures needed to encourage small scale business. This is with the intent to be liberated youths psychologically and economically from the control of self seeking business and political elites who often use them to cause social disorderliness in the society.

               As the 2015 general elections draw nearer, politicians are advised to emulate this good example to reform from using youth as political thugs, while the youth should also not make themselves available as agents of destruction. Above all, more awareness need to be created for the youth to change their orientation towards positive contribution to the development of the society.

             A situation whereby some youths allegedly disturb market women and men is uncalled for, therefore, government and security agents, should as a matter of urgency look into the situation and ensure that bad eegs are removed  from the society to ensure that the society is peaceful.

                As the future of our country, the youth should lay a good foundation for tomorrow.