Profitably employing Nigeria’s youth bulge

By 2030, Nigeria is estimated to be one of the few countries in the world that will likely have a bountiful supply of young workers. Out of a current projected population of 169 million Nigerians, young people account for over 43 percent of the population. What this means is that there are currently over 72 million young people in the country. Thus, youth, more than oil, could be Nigeria’s asset in the following decades, depending on how this demographic reality is managed.

We are indeed disturbed that there appears to be no strategic plan towards tapping the great potentials hidden in a growing youth population. With a current youth unemployment rate of up to 50 percent, the growing menace of kidnap cases perpetrated by disgruntled youths, massive recruitment of young people into terrorist gangs and the ever growing number of desperate young people willing to become thugs for self seeking politicians, this worry is not misplaced.

The glaring consequence of neglecting the proper development of young people through proper education, impartation of work skills and adequate investment in their welfare through robust education, health and entrepreneurial programmes is to unconsciously breed a massive, redundant, counter-productive and rebellious population. This is neither good for the general growth and development of a society nor for purposes of internal security. Experiences of youth involvement in economic sabotage in Niger Delta and the youth involvement in Boko Haram’s terrorist menace are examples of how the strength and dynamism of youth can be used for negative purposes. The frequent and widespread agitations and rebellion of Arab youths in France, especially the outburst of anger exhibited in late 2005, following alleged institutional marginalization by the French system is also a lesson for governments that toy with the future of its young population.

If Nigeria’s huge young population is truly desired to be a demographic dividend, then government at all levels should have concrete strategic implementations in the following key areas: education and skills development, workable and accessible entrepreneurship support programmes, and robust healthcare schemes.

In the area of education and skills development, we believe that the current craze over university education should be de-empasised and focus given also to vocational and functional education leading to the acquisition of specific work skills in especially in technical areas. The predominant perception of education as just university education is deceptive and counter- productive. No wonder there is a surplus of university graduates and yet an enormous skills gap exists. Employers bitterly complain that they don’t get required skills. Companies now resort to setting up their own academies or skills development centre where they groom their work force.

On entrepreneurship support, there are countless young people who have proven skills but lack basic financial support to set up a micro-enterprise. Though we acknowledge the value of the recently launched Central Bank fund for medium and small enterprises, yet we know that entrepreneurial young people would thrive if there was entrepreneurship ecosystem. On healthcare, a lot of young people still exist outside the current health pension scheme, especially those who are unemployed or operate in the informal economy. The framework should be created for this young people to access basic healthcare without much stress.

It is commonly said that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow. Shouldn’t we all focus on ensuring that these future leaders are well groomed? If not, we may be building a country which will in future be driven by people who are in-equipped, rusty and riotous, thus further deepening the leadership and underdevelopment crisis.