Another Open Letter - "A Must-Read: Corruption, Breach Of Protocol, State-Sponsored Terrorism: An Open Letter To President Jonathan" - By Yemi Saka

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN (GCFR) ON THE STATE OF THE NATION BY ‘YEMI SAKA

December 18, 2013

His Excellency,
The President, Commander-in-Chief,
Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abuja.

RE: STATE OF THE NATION

Few days ago, the media went frenzy and our nation’s polity was heated up due to an 18 paged letter written to you by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. This was not borne out of the sheer length of the letter, but some grave allegations levelled against your person and office.

I am not unmindful of the mixed reactions that greeted the letter, it was the somewhat validation of such allegations that was kafkaesque. I will not castigate you for the improved political fortunes of some opposition parties at elections as former President Obasanjo did, as a Patriot, I consider it a good democratic value of yours which will only deepen our democracy.

You are not a People Democratic Party’s President, but the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and you swore to protect the Constitution and abide by it. Your action(s) is not only constitutional, but selfless as a true leader.

I will not also blame you for the crisis rocking the PDP, I will not add to the pressure or the call for the removal of the Chairman of your party. I am not a member of the PDP and I can not ask you to do what is fundamentally wrong. Bamanga Tukur was duly elected in compliance to party guidelines and rules, no President or Governor has such right to remove him, it will only amount to gross abuse of office.

I do not believe you influenced the release of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, or the quashing of the conviction verdict of Chief Bode George, these were pure judicial flip flops; legal milieu.

We all witnessed the era of “Garrison Politics” imposed on the PDP by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo through Sen. Ahmadu Alli, this gives credence to why many insist Chief Obasanjo lacks the moral standing to accuse you of any wrong doing.

Mr. President, before you reply the former President, I will like to state affirmatively that the former President has been vindicated. The reactions to the letter exposed how polarized we have become as a nation under your watch.

As a concerned citizen, and irrespective of my political affiliation and ideology, I must accept the fact that you can exercise your constitutional right by seeking for re-election, but I will like to highlight some issues that if are not clarified, Sir, you are undeserving to hold any public office in the land, no matter how little.

Mr. President, I will like to bring to fore three (3) issues that if not addressed and future occurrence guard against, you should not only forget about re-election, but should be ready to bear the burden of responsibility of compromising the sanctity of our nation’s sovereignty.

1. BREACH OF PROTOCOL:
Taking a cursory look at your administration, I say with utmost conviction that no one has demonstrated brazen disregard and breach of protocol like your Excellency and your wife, the First Lady.

The first of such was your kneeling down in front of Pastor E.A Adeboye of The Redeemed Christian Church of God at the Redemption Camp on December 31, 2010. Another instance is June 30 2012, you were snubbed by the Oba of Benin at his palace in what was described as a desperate move by you to improve the fortunes of your party at the gubernatorial polls of the state. It was believed that you felt the visit would signify endorsement of your party’s flag bearer by the Oba of Benin. I hope you are aware that as the Commander-in-Chief, you do not have to wait on people, people wait for you and ought to be seated before you make your entry at any event.

The last demeaning breach of protocol by you was on July 9, 2013 when on a state visit to China, you were received by Assistant Foreign Minister Le Yucheng. Mr. President, in strict compliance to protocol, as the Commander-in-Chief, you are to be received by the President of any country you visit. Concession can be given for a Vice-President to receive you if the non availibity of the President is made known to you and adequately explained, not a junior Minister.

The list of breach and brazen disregard to protocol by the First Lady were;

- On August 25, 2010, the First Lady at a state function in Rivers State charged at the Governor and grabbed the microphone from him while he was addressing a crowd.

This could be classified as an assault on Governor Rotimi Ameachi of Rivers State.

- On January 23 2012 , she was at it again as she stepped out of the plane before you did and was acknowledging protocol at the JFK airport when you went for a United Nations summit.

2. STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM:
We have had what I can classify as a “sustained state of national insecurity” but there has been an astronomical progression under you watch.

In his letter to you, former President Olusegun Obasanjo boldly asserted that you are sponsoring the training of snipers in Korea to neutralize 1000 opposition figures; a killer squad.

This only validates an unconfirmed reports that, towards the build-up to the PDP primaries of 2011, there were arms build-up and stockpiling in the South East and South-South; Abia and Akwa Ibom were the states speculated. It was further speculated that all they were waiting for was if you would not be given or won’t get the ticket, they were to strike and push for a breakaway.

It was further alleged that you were a major financier of this agenda and had the backing of two great nations..

Also as part of the agenda, militants that have not been rehabilitated were sent to training in South Korea under the guise that they will be used as ‘Coast Guards’, this was never made official because of their sinister agenda.

This claim can be said to have been validated with Tompolo being awarded the contract to secure our nation’s waterways.

I am of the opinion that the huge budgetary spending on National Security, rather than curb or drastically reduce the state of insecurity, has only fueled it.

Sir, according to unconfirmed source, an average “other rank” is paid N5,000 daily as “out station” allowance on paper, but are paid a meager N500 daily, those making the profit as windfall from such shortfall will never want the insurgency to end anytime soon.

Sir, I remember how you hastily exonerated MEND (Movement for Emancipation of Niger-Delta) over the October 1, 2010 Independence day bombing.

Henry Okah made some grievous allegations which he claimed Mr. Orubebe and Deziani Allison Maduekwe had a fore knowledge of the event.

The SSS (State Security Service) was quick to announce at a World Press Conference that Chief Raymond Dokpesi was arrested in connection to the bombing due to having connection with suspects already in SSS custody. A claim the Director of Publicity of the SSS denied at another press conference 10 days later.

As we speak, Henry Okah is serving time in a South African jail for a crime you had exonerated his group and by extension, exonerated him.

It became the modus operandi of the SSS to pick up anyone who is either critical of you, your style of governance, and the sloppiness of the SSS. Classical examples are Sen. Ali Ndume who was picked up and charged to court just few days after moving a motion for a passage of “vote of no confidence” on you on the floor of the Senate. The other is Dr. Nazeef of Kogi State University.

I will not like to go into declarations by the SSS over Boko Haram. There was a declaration that a Former Mauritanian President was the “mastermind” and financier of the sect. There was another one that it was a former Head of State, and an idiotic one that it was started by some student of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in Bauchi.

While these are going on, Asari Dokubo keeps threatening our national security and sovereignty, and at my last check, he has not been invited for questioning.

On November 25, 2012, the most important Military formation and institution in the country witnessed a serious security breach which bears it all; instrument of the state is being employed to terrorise the Nigerian state.

On December 2, 2013, a similar attack was carried out on an Airforce in Maiduguri.

Sir, it is laughable, stupid, and scandalous how the “insurgents” beat all the security checks and on gaining access to the hanger, all “they” could destroy were decommissioned crafts.

Lastly, your Excellency, during your last media chat, you were asked by a Nigeria from Social Media if Shekau was dead?

Your response was so unpresidential and depicts huge knowledge gap. In your words you said “I can’t tell you for sure if Shekau is dead. Anyone that tells you Shekau is dead doesn’t know what he is saying. I don’t know how these operations are carried out so that is why I can’t tell you if Shekau is dead or not”.

Sir, as the Commander-in-Chief, your Service Chiefs are to update you with what is called National Intelligence Daily Briefing, National Intelligence Estimates, Special National Intelligence Estimates.

Sir, I say with utmost conviction that you play politics with our national security, and any nation that plays politics with her national security could as well kiss her sovereignty ‘goodbye” it is just a function of time.

3. WHOLESOME CORRUPTION:
I must acknowledge the fact that you did not bring corruption into Nigeria, as a matter of fact, a lot of administrations have been accused or either promoting corruption to an utopic state.

Sir, I must also state here that if you leave office, that will not put an end to corruption, Corruption is endemic in Nigeria, but one achievement that can not be taken away from your administration is the making of corruption being perceived as a standpoint of your administration and it be given an official cover.

I said “wholesome corruption” because both moral corruption and graft are being shielded by your administration.

Moral corruption because I can not rationalize how you can grant pardon to Major Bulama that was sentenced to life imprisonment by the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s administration for sexually molesting boys under his watch as a Commandant of Command Secondary School Ojo. He was found wanting of forceful pederasty. Something that all religious and societal values consider as sin and immoral.

Also I found it ridiculous that you can grant the former governor of Bayelsa state Chief Deprieye Alameisgha pardon. I am fully aware that the prerogative of mercy is vested in you as the President, but on the ground that “he has suffered enough” is so insensitive, and morally bankrupt.

That you can personally intervene in the matter of Asari Dokubo to secure his release from the authorities of Benin Republic while being held on charges of gun running is appalling.

In the third quarter of 2012, Dr Olusegun Aganga, minister of trade and investment, wrote a letter to you over some missing $1.6 billion crude oil export.

The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi recently just raises an alarm that the NNPC failed to remit the sum of $49.6b, a whopping 76% of accrual oil revenue, and as we speak, no arrest has been made. No one has been sent on terminal leave. No one has lost his portfolio.

The EFCC is inactive. The EFCC is not even chasing perceived opponents. It so inactive that it merely exist on the pages of newspapers.

With the recent revelation that the agency is cash-strapped, it can be misconstrued as a deliberate effort by your administration to effect the strangulation of the agency so that corruption can go unchecked.

Mr. President, all the issues I have raised in this letter have not only unleashed untold economic hardship on Nigerians, it has rubbished our foreign policy and threatened our nation’s continuous existence as a sovereign state.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Mr. President, in a total departure from the norm whereby you are only castigated, I will be coming up with recommendations on how things can be rectified, how our nation can be repaired.

1. I recommend the immediate removal of the Chief of Army Staff, the Director-General of the SSS/DSS, and the Director Publicity of the SSS.

2. A huge cut in the budgetary allocation to national security and combating terrorism.

3. An immediate disbanding of the Joint Task Force.

4. An inquiry into the allegation of the shortchange in the welfare package of the personnel of the JTF.

5. An investigation into the possible involvement of Mr. Orubube and Mrs. Deziani Allison Maduekwe.

6. An immediate arrest for questioning of Asari Dokubo in a bid to ascertain the level of threat he is to this country.

7. A total overhauling or change of your protocol team.

8. A presidential fiat to the EFCC to probe the NNPC saga.

9. A proposed bill should be sent to the National Assembly to move the supervision and control of the SSS/DSS to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, this will guarantee independence and eliminate executive interference.

Mr. President, if and when the recommendations or a semblance of it is adopted by you, you are not only rebuilding the confidence of Nigerians in you and your administration, you will be starting the repair of our country and have secured my vote and services to get you re-elected.

Sir, I do not await a response or demand a response to this, a positive disposition, and assertive actions is all I need.

Good Bless Nigeria.

Long Live Federal of Nigeria.

Yours faithfully,
‘Yemi Saka.

Cc: Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida(Rtd)
Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo(Rtd)
Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar(Rtd).
Lt. Gen. Aliyu Gusua (Rtd)
Col. Abubakar Umar (Rtd)
Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah
Pastor ‘Tunde Bakare
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai
IG Wala
Amina Faruk
Victoria Ibezim Ohaeri
Abba Gidado
Seyi Odetola

Yemi Saka (Twitter – @patriot_yemisak), writes from Kaduna

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The Nigerian Youths

Introduction

The concept of youth was a subject of debate in Nigeria for so long. It was finally determined by age-range. Every new administration decides what age-range would be in the youth category. Age 7-30, age 12-30, age 18-20. It has been agreed as a matter of convenience that 30 which features in the National Youth Corpse Decree, is the limiting age for youth in Nigeria.

Those above the age of 30 maximum, according to the National Youth Policy for Nigeria, may be accepted to play the roles of youth leaders, youth organizers, youth animators, etc. The National Youth Council of Nigeria got this clause enshrined in the youth policy.

Factors that motivate proper youth upbringing

The individual is subjected to the control of the social system. In order words, the ideals of a group must be by the society in which we live. This goes to show that we are shaped by the society in which we live. Adults motives are derived largely from individuals’ social experience/interaction until death. This process is socialization.

Socialization

Socialization is the process whereby one internalizes the norms of his group so that a distinct ‘self’ emerges unique to this individual. Man is shaped by the society. This process of shaping begins in earliest infancy. It is life long process of internalizing the norms of one’s group. One learns the ways of life of his people or groups. So culture is transmitted to the individuals. The effect of socialization is that man imbibes or fails to imbibe the societal values, norms and value systems. Many factors of socialization include:

(a) The Family

The child’s socialization is carried out predominantly in the family by parents, brothers and sisters. But the role of the mother is more pronounced. From earliest infancy the child begins to be trained right from the first contact with the mother. The family lays the foundation for the child’s socialization. The child is taught how to talk, eat, and walk and the habits necessary for life and manners.

There are some structural attributes of the family that affect a child’s socialization. These include: size of the family, the birth order of the child, environment where the family resides, class of the family.

(b) The Church/Mosque

The church and the mosque are also other important factors in socializing a child. Children who are taken to the church/mosque early by parents tend to imbibe good morals than those who are distanced from the church/mosque and other religious activities.

(C) The Peer group

The type of group a child mingles with plays significant role in his/her upbringing. Evidence has shown that a child that mixes up with criminals is likely to be a criminal.

Juvenile Delinquency

Generally, juvenile delinquency involves young offenders in the society. These categories of offenders are youths who have not reached the age of criminal responsibility. In this sense, these offenders are not legally liable to face normal legal criminal procedure in the criminal law court unlike their adult criminal counterparts. Their exemption from criminal courts is hinged on the pre-emption that they (the young offenders) are incapable of criminal intent which is a basic ingredient of a criminal act. Alternatively, juvenile courts are established purposely for this category of offenders to help rehabilitate them rather than trying and punishing them.

In the light of the above, juvenile delinquency can be defined as the behaviour of the youth (those below the age of adult) which deviate from the societal norms and values to warrant their being perceived as menace to themselves in particular and to their society at large. In order words juvenile offender is a delinquent child who has committed any act which, if it were committed by an adult, would be a crime.

Strategies of crime and juvenile delinquency control

The threats posed by the consequences of high crime and juvenile delinquency rates to the society make the designing and implementation of their control strategy a compelling necessity.

The intervention methods to be adopted include the following:

(a) Mother-therapy: Children tend to take more to their mother, thus the mother’s advice, intervention and modelling especially at the infant stage of the child is very important to control delinquency and crime in a child.

(b) Professional and clergy men therapy: The clergy men, professional psychologists, counsellors, teachers or psychiatrists intervene.

(c) Prison, asylum and confinement: Crime and juvenile delinquency is also controlled by remanding the culprit in prison, asylum or other forms of confinement.

(d) Other control measures include:

ü  Socialization

ü   Proper socialization of the child

ü  Group pressure.

Gangs

Gangs classified into three:

ü  The social gang

ü  The delinquent gang and

ü  The violent gang

(a) The social gang: This is relatively permanent organization of youths that hang around stores, clubs, etc. The members intimately know one another with sense of we-feeling. What they engage in is directed towards their benefit and is acceptable to the society. Leadership in the gang is based on popularity and constructive leadership qualities. They don’t engage in delinquent behaviour. Typical examples are the youth gangs in some of the neighbourhood.

(b) The delinquent gang: This is a group that comes together to carry out one illegal act or the other like burglary, assault. It is made up of small number of youths. Too many of them will spoil the intimacy required for cohesion. They train themselves to act out illegal behaviour.

(c) The violent gang: These are groups organized around violent activities. They act in accordance with the emotional need of their members. The members get charged at the least provocation. They are known to be hostile and aggressive.

Deviance

Deviance is everywhere. It may be a matter of cheating, lying, and failure to take one’s turn. It may be defined as any form of behaviour that violates the norms of a social group by laws.

Deviance can be classified under two main categories:

ü  Acts such as murder, rape, suicide and robbery

ü  Deviant behaviours include such behaviour as drug addiction, alcoholism, gambling, rape, kidnapping, etc.

How to achieve sustainable child survival and development

Child survival, character moulding and development are more or less dependent on the effectiveness of women of the house. Men have little or no time to tend to their children. Children nurtured by men as a single parent often fall victims of many social vices like membership of gang, cult, alcoholism, crime etc

What should parents do to avert calamity?

(a) Parents should monitor their children’s behaviour relentlessly, any form of deviant behaviour noticed; the child should be scolded, cautioned or counselled.

(b) Parents should not do funny things with like romancing, fighting, exchange of words in the presence of their children.

(c) Children should be told the truth at all times.

(d) Parents should restrict their children from mingling with friends and companions of questionable character.

(e) Parents should not over pamper their children. It is better to ‘spare the child and spoil the rod’.

(f) Parents should take their children to mosque, Qur’anic schools from the prime of their age. It is the duty of parents to lead their children to God early enough. God will ask parents questions about their children on the ‘last day’.

(g) Women, even if your husbands are incapacitated, not economically viable or deviants who dodge responsibilities, take up the challenge and ensure that you bring your children up properly, academically and otherwise. You will certainly reap the fruit of your labour. You will soon be called ‘mama doctor’, mama lawyer’, mama engineer’. You will also be invited to spend good days in foreign and developed countries.

(h) Parents should not neglect the health of their children. They should be meticulous to know when they require medical attention.

(i) Women should show love to their children even if their father do not.

Creating an enabling environment for youth survival

For the youths to develop as responsible citizens patriotic and forward looking certain conditions or requirements must be in place. Good education is the sum total of such requirements, good or sound education is the development of the whole man or woman, body, psyche, mind and spirit. Any educational policy that neglects any one of these constituents of the human personality is doomed to failure and as such would produce human beings who would be anything but what man was meant to be:

(a) The body is developed through physical education, health-care, good food and water, cleanliness, good housing and ventilation etc.

(b) The psychic life is developed through good social interaction in the family, in the school or age-grade, in the religious gathering, in the wider society. The emotions are controlled and channelled along the avenues approved by culture and custom.

(c) The mind is trained through formal and informal education. The arts and science disputation and argumentation, more elaborate training in scientific and other research programs – all these help the mind grow and expand.

(d) Spiritual training is more complex and very often neglected. That man is a spiritual being is evident in his ability to conceive of and possess abstract ideas or concepts like beauty, infinity, patriotism, originality etc. Such ideas are in-tangible, non-material, and abstract. They are as such spiritual. They exist beyond the ability of sense perception. That faculty or power in us, which produces and harbours or keeps such abstract concepts or ideas, must have the part of that which is perceived and harboured. An adage has it that ‘the snake’s offspring cannot be short.’ A spiritual or abstract concept in man’s mind is proof that man is spiritual at the core of his being. This aspect of man’s nature is very often neglected in educational policies and the so-called educated man ends up parading himself as a glorified animal. He or she does not aspire for happiness above what the senses can enjoy. Outside eating, drinking, sleeping and mating, like any other beast or bird, there is nothing higher to aim at.

Youth Unemployment in Nigeria

There was a time in Nigeria when higher education certificates such as B.Sc, M.Sc., HND or even NCE were regarded or nick-named “meal ticket”. Then, holders of such certificates were highly honoured and respected. Reason being that they have jumped over poverty line. Their certificates give them automatic access to near riches or say wealth. Then too, only a few were holders of such degrees, yet there were many juicy jobs waiting at the door steps of a graduate. The academic world was good.

The economy was flourishing to the advantage of this class of citizens. A lot of laurels were knocking at their doors including good residential areas such as G.R.As in most of the big cities. In fact any degree holder in any discipline was regarded as a rich man or woman. Educational planners and managers had no stones to grind as to innovations and planning for future eventual changes.

Today things have changed. “Poverty” – a ‘dreaded monster’ now knocks at the door of graduates of higher institutions as well as others. Poverty may be defined as “the state of being poor or without competent subsistence, need, penury. So what has to be done is to reposition our educational system to alleviate Poverty. It then means our educational system is no longer able to assist in alleviating poverty that is, providing its graduates with the necessary tools to sustain themselves. Therefore we could make bold to say that poverty among youths is occasioned by unemployment.

There is no gainsaying that Nigerian society is facing all forms of social disorder arising from youth unemployment. Every day, there are reports of robbery burglary, car snatching, forgery, impersonation, rape, kidnapping and other vices. There is a general belief that most of the acts are carried out by unemployed youths and youths that are not stable in their employment. In most of our streets and public places, the unemployed youths wonder about. This is mostly because they find themselves without any means of livelihood. In the circumstances, the alternative is to device some means to survive.

The problem of youth unemployment in Nigeria is a herculean task. The quest for white collar jobs has also led to unemployment. Owing to societal expectations, many jobs are looked down upon. Imagine a situation where undergraduates in the various facets of education would vow never to hold a piece of chalk, or browse through files in the bureaucracy. When youths are unemployed the tendency deviant behaviours are high. Unemployed graduates sometimes indulge in drug abuse because they want to be far removed from society. They want to visit fantasy land where there is no gnashing of teeth. It could still force a graduate to contemplate suicide and actually go ahead to commit it. The basic problem is how to create or provide adequate employment opportunities that will create employment for the millions of unemployed youths, so as to fend for them-selves, and ensure that the youths accept to adjust with the available employment opportunities instead of pressing on or desiring a particular type of employment.

How to curb youth unemployment

(a) Ability of the Government to implement effective monetary and fiscal policies and at the same time formulate and execute a policy of self-employment by creating entrepreneurial friendly environment.

(b) Creating a stable political and economic system that could attract investment both domestic and foreign.

(c) The Government should provide financial assistance for self employment through a properly articulated micro-credit scheme that would enable enterprising youths obtain soft loans for establishment of micro businesses.

(d) Electricity generation should be stabilized. It follows that when formulating power/energy policies, all the stake holders ought to come together to ensure that areas of problems are addressed and those involved in the implementation need to have the technical knowhow required. The Obasanjo’s led administration invested whooping sums of money in the energy sector, and yet no improvement is recorded in the sector.

(e) Youths should pursue employment where they have the flair, skill or calling

(f) A change and a critical evaluation of our educational system are indeed needed. Education that will make its graduates not to rely on white collar jobs or on only work provided by Government of the day. Education that will be able to inculcate in its graduates the skills needed to be self reliant, Education that will instill into the minds of its graduates the ability to forecast the business world and be able to discern what the need of the society would be and work towards it, education that offers its owners self confidence, self ego and other qualities.

Youth Empowerment

Youth development argues is the process of continuous improvement of the youth development structures, institutions and programs in order to create a social condition, the rights of the youth are advanced and protected, their welfare enhanced, and their effective functioning and self actualization ensured. Youth development is a sine-quo-non for youth empowerment.

Components of Youth Development and Empowerment

(1) Youth employment –employment opportunities should be provided by the ruling elites to gainfully employ and empower the youths who incidentally are the future leaders.

Where there is insufficient paid employment, the ruling petit-bourgeoisies should create enabling environment to sustain entrepreneurship and operation of small scale ventures.

(2) Youth education and training – education is power, it is one of the major indicators of measuring development. Therefore youth training programs including vocational training through talent/skill assessment inventory.

(3) Entrepreneurship skill acquisition should be inculcated in the educational curriculum to cut across all spectre of educational system in order to position the youths in act of management, analysis and effective operation of business.

(4) Research, evaluation and publication of such researches, especially those that relate to skill acquisition would foster youth development.

(5) Liaising with state youth departments and international organizations

(6) National Youth Award scheme

(7) International youth exchange program

(8) Youth holiday program

(9) National youth camps and

(10) Coordinating activities of national voluntary youth organizations.

(11) Youth mobilization – Political and social mobilization agencies should be set up and their services should be complemented by non-governmental organizations. They will handle youth mobilization, business and political education. Funds should be made available for effective running of such outfits.

(12) Establishment of coordinating bodies to monitor and evaluate government programs and policies as they relate to the youths.

Conclusion

The challenges facing Nigerian youths are too many and inexhaustible. Nigeria is the Giant of Africa. As the Giant of Africa she has sunk so much money for the survival of African nation states. But yet the rate of unemployment, youth neglect, social vices, poverty appears to be toping that of other African states. Therefore the solution to these problems is for us to imbibe psychological re-orientation which would mean building a stable state that will be devoid of corruption and bad leadership.

The Nigerian Youths

Introduction

The concept of youth was a subject of debate in Nigeria for so long. It was finally determined by age-range. Every new administration decides what age-range would be in the youth category. Age 7-30, age 12-30, age 18-20. It has been agreed as a matter of convenience that 30 which features in the National Youth Corpse Decree, is the limiting age for youth in Nigeria.

Those above the age of 30 maximum, according to the National Youth Policy for Nigeria, may be accepted to play the roles of youth leaders, youth organizers, youth animators, etc. The National Youth Council of Nigeria got this clause enshrined in the youth policy.

Factors that motivate proper youth upbringing

The individual is subjected to the control of the social system. In order words, the ideals of a group must be by the society in which we live. This goes to show that we are shaped by the society in which we live. Adults motives are derived largely from individuals’ social experience/interaction until death. This process is socialization.

Socialization

Socialization is the process whereby one internalizes the norms of his group so that a distinct ‘self’ emerges unique to this individual. Man is shaped by the society. This process of shaping begins in earliest infancy. It is life long process of internalizing the norms of one’s group. One learns the ways of life of his people or groups. So culture is transmitted to the individuals. The effect of socialization is that man imbibes or fails to imbibe the societal values, norms and value systems. Many factors of socialization include:

(a) The Family

The child’s socialization is carried out predominantly in the family by parents, brothers and sisters. But the role of the mother is more pronounced. From earliest infancy the child begins to be trained right from the first contact with the mother. The family lays the foundation for the child’s socialization. The child is taught how to talk, eat, and walk and the habits necessary for life and manners.

There are some structural attributes of the family that affect a child’s socialization. These include: size of the family, the birth order of the child, environment where the family resides, class of the family.

(b) The Church/Mosque

The church and the mosque are also other important factors in socializing a child. Children who are taken to the church/mosque early by parents tend to imbibe good morals than those who are distanced from the church/mosque and other religious activities.

(C) The Peer group

The type of group a child mingles with plays significant role in his/her upbringing. Evidence has shown that a child that mixes up with criminals is likely to be a criminal.

Juvenile Delinquency

Generally, juvenile delinquency involves young offenders in the society. These categories of offenders are youths who have not reached the age of criminal responsibility. In this sense, these offenders are not legally liable to face normal legal criminal procedure in the criminal law court unlike their adult criminal counterparts. Their exemption from criminal courts is hinged on the pre-emption that they (the young offenders) are incapable of criminal intent which is a basic ingredient of a criminal act. Alternatively, juvenile courts are established purposely for this category of offenders to help rehabilitate them rather than trying and punishing them.

In the light of the above, juvenile delinquency can be defined as the behaviour of the youth (those below the age of adult) which deviate from the societal norms and values to warrant their being perceived as menace to themselves in particular and to their society at large. In order words juvenile offender is a delinquent child who has committed any act which, if it were committed by an adult, would be a crime.

Strategies of crime and juvenile delinquency control

The threats posed by the consequences of high crime and juvenile delinquency rates to the society make the designing and implementation of their control strategy a compelling necessity.

The intervention methods to be adopted include the following:

(a) Mother-therapy: Children tend to take more to their mother, thus the mother’s advice, intervention and modelling especially at the infant stage of the child is very important to control delinquency and crime in a child.

(b) Professional and clergy men therapy: The clergy men, professional psychologists, counsellors, teachers or psychiatrists intervene.

(c) Prison, asylum and confinement: Crime and juvenile delinquency is also controlled by remanding the culprit in prison, asylum or other forms of confinement.

(d) Other control measures include:

ü  Socialization

ü   Proper socialization of the child

ü  Group pressure.

Gangs

Gangs classified into three:

ü  The social gang

ü  The delinquent gang and

ü  The violent gang

(a) The social gang: This is relatively permanent organization of youths that hang around stores, clubs, etc. The members intimately know one another with sense of we-feeling. What they engage in is directed towards their benefit and is acceptable to the society. Leadership in the gang is based on popularity and constructive leadership qualities. They don’t engage in delinquent behaviour. Typical examples are the youth gangs in some of the neighbourhood.

(b) The delinquent gang: This is a group that comes together to carry out one illegal act or the other like burglary, assault. It is made up of small number of youths. Too many of them will spoil the intimacy required for cohesion. They train themselves to act out illegal behaviour.

(c) The violent gang: These are groups organized around violent activities. They act in accordance with the emotional need of their members. The members get charged at the least provocation. They are known to be hostile and aggressive.

Deviance

Deviance is everywhere. It may be a matter of cheating, lying, and failure to take one’s turn. It may be defined as any form of behaviour that violates the norms of a social group by laws.

Deviance can be classified under two main categories:

ü  Acts such as murder, rape, suicide and robbery

ü  Deviant behaviours include such behaviour as drug addiction, alcoholism, gambling, rape, kidnapping, etc.

How to achieve sustainable child survival and development

Child survival, character moulding and development are more or less dependent on the effectiveness of women of the house. Men have little or no time to tend to their children. Children nurtured by men as a single parent often fall victims of many social vices like membership of gang, cult, alcoholism, crime etc

What should parents do to avert calamity?

(a) Parents should monitor their children’s behaviour relentlessly, any form of deviant behaviour noticed; the child should be scolded, cautioned or counselled.

(b) Parents should not do funny things with like romancing, fighting, exchange of words in the presence of their children.

(c) Children should be told the truth at all times.

(d) Parents should restrict their children from mingling with friends and companions of questionable character.

(e) Parents should not over pamper their children. It is better to ‘spare the child and spoil the rod’.

(f) Parents should take their children to mosque, Qur’anic schools from the prime of their age. It is the duty of parents to lead their children to God early enough. God will ask parents questions about their children on the ‘last day’.

(g) Women, even if your husbands are incapacitated, not economically viable or deviants who dodge responsibilities, take up the challenge and ensure that you bring your children up properly, academically and otherwise. You will certainly reap the fruit of your labour. You will soon be called ‘mama doctor’, mama lawyer’, mama engineer’. You will also be invited to spend good days in foreign and developed countries.

(h) Parents should not neglect the health of their children. They should be meticulous to know when they require medical attention.

(i) Women should show love to their children even if their father do not.

Creating an enabling environment for youth survival

For the youths to develop as responsible citizens patriotic and forward looking certain conditions or requirements must be in place. Good education is the sum total of such requirements, good or sound education is the development of the whole man or woman, body, psyche, mind and spirit. Any educational policy that neglects any one of these constituents of the human personality is doomed to failure and as such would produce human beings who would be anything but what man was meant to be:

(a) The body is developed through physical education, health-care, good food and water, cleanliness, good housing and ventilation etc.

(b) The psychic life is developed through good social interaction in the family, in the school or age-grade, in the religious gathering, in the wider society. The emotions are controlled and channelled along the avenues approved by culture and custom.

(c) The mind is trained through formal and informal education. The arts and science disputation and argumentation, more elaborate training in scientific and other research programs – all these help the mind grow and expand.

(d) Spiritual training is more complex and very often neglected. That man is a spiritual being is evident in his ability to conceive of and possess abstract ideas or concepts like beauty, infinity, patriotism, originality etc. Such ideas are in-tangible, non-material, and abstract. They are as such spiritual. They exist beyond the ability of sense perception. That faculty or power in us, which produces and harbours or keeps such abstract concepts or ideas, must have the part of that which is perceived and harboured. An adage has it that ‘the snake’s offspring cannot be short.’ A spiritual or abstract concept in man’s mind is proof that man is spiritual at the core of his being. This aspect of man’s nature is very often neglected in educational policies and the so-called educated man ends up parading himself as a glorified animal. He or she does not aspire for happiness above what the senses can enjoy. Outside eating, drinking, sleeping and mating, like any other beast or bird, there is nothing higher to aim at.

Youth Unemployment in Nigeria

There was a time in Nigeria when higher education certificates such as B.Sc, M.Sc., HND or even NCE were regarded or nick-named “meal ticket”. Then, holders of such certificates were highly honoured and respected. Reason being that they have jumped over poverty line. Their certificates give them automatic access to near riches or say wealth. Then too, only a few were holders of such degrees, yet there were many juicy jobs waiting at the door steps of a graduate. The academic world was good.

The economy was flourishing to the advantage of this class of citizens. A lot of laurels were knocking at their doors including good residential areas such as G.R.As in most of the big cities. In fact any degree holder in any discipline was regarded as a rich man or woman. Educational planners and managers had no stones to grind as to innovations and planning for future eventual changes.

Today things have changed. “Poverty” – a ‘dreaded monster’ now knocks at the door of graduates of higher institutions as well as others. Poverty may be defined as “the state of being poor or without competent subsistence, need, penury. So what has to be done is to reposition our educational system to alleviate Poverty. It then means our educational system is no longer able to assist in alleviating poverty that is, providing its graduates with the necessary tools to sustain themselves. Therefore we could make bold to say that poverty among youths is occasioned by unemployment.

There is no gainsaying that Nigerian society is facing all forms of social disorder arising from youth unemployment. Every day, there are reports of robbery burglary, car snatching, forgery, impersonation, rape, kidnapping and other vices. There is a general belief that most of the acts are carried out by unemployed youths and youths that are not stable in their employment. In most of our streets and public places, the unemployed youths wonder about. This is mostly because they find themselves without any means of livelihood. In the circumstances, the alternative is to device some means to survive.

The problem of youth unemployment in Nigeria is a herculean task. The quest for white collar jobs has also led to unemployment. Owing to societal expectations, many jobs are looked down upon. Imagine a situation where undergraduates in the various facets of education would vow never to hold a piece of chalk, or browse through files in the bureaucracy. When youths are unemployed the tendency deviant behaviours are high. Unemployed graduates sometimes indulge in drug abuse because they want to be far removed from society. They want to visit fantasy land where there is no gnashing of teeth. It could still force a graduate to contemplate suicide and actually go ahead to commit it. The basic problem is how to create or provide adequate employment opportunities that will create employment for the millions of unemployed youths, so as to fend for them-selves, and ensure that the youths accept to adjust with the available employment opportunities instead of pressing on or desiring a particular type of employment.

How to curb youth unemployment

(a) Ability of the Government to implement effective monetary and fiscal policies and at the same time formulate and execute a policy of self-employment by creating entrepreneurial friendly environment.

(b) Creating a stable political and economic system that could attract investment both domestic and foreign.

(c) The Government should provide financial assistance for self employment through a properly articulated micro-credit scheme that would enable enterprising youths obtain soft loans for establishment of micro businesses.

(d) Electricity generation should be stabilized. It follows that when formulating power/energy policies, all the stake holders ought to come together to ensure that areas of problems are addressed and those involved in the implementation need to have the technical knowhow required. The Obasanjo’s led administration invested whooping sums of money in the energy sector, and yet no improvement is recorded in the sector.

(e) Youths should pursue employment where they have the flair, skill or calling

(f) A change and a critical evaluation of our educational system are indeed needed. Education that will make its graduates not to rely on white collar jobs or on only work provided by Government of the day. Education that will be able to inculcate in its graduates the skills needed to be self reliant, Education that will instill into the minds of its graduates the ability to forecast the business world and be able to discern what the need of the society would be and work towards it, education that offers its owners self confidence, self ego and other qualities.

Youth Empowerment

Youth development argues is the process of continuous improvement of the youth development structures, institutions and programs in order to create a social condition, the rights of the youth are advanced and protected, their welfare enhanced, and their effective functioning and self actualization ensured. Youth development is a sine-quo-non for youth empowerment.

Components of Youth Development and Empowerment

(1) Youth employment –employment opportunities should be provided by the ruling elites to gainfully employ and empower the youths who incidentally are the future leaders.

Where there is insufficient paid employment, the ruling petit-bourgeoisies should create enabling environment to sustain entrepreneurship and operation of small scale ventures.

(2) Youth education and training – education is power, it is one of the major indicators of measuring development. Therefore youth training programs including vocational training through talent/skill assessment inventory.

(3) Entrepreneurship skill acquisition should be inculcated in the educational curriculum to cut across all spectre of educational system in order to position the youths in act of management, analysis and effective operation of business.

(4) Research, evaluation and publication of such researches, especially those that relate to skill acquisition would foster youth development.

(5) Liaising with state youth departments and international organizations

(6) National Youth Award scheme

(7) International youth exchange program

(8) Youth holiday program

(9) National youth camps and

(10) Coordinating activities of national voluntary youth organizations.

(11) Youth mobilization – Political and social mobilization agencies should be set up and their services should be complemented by non-governmental organizations. They will handle youth mobilization, business and political education. Funds should be made available for effective running of such outfits.

(12) Establishment of coordinating bodies to monitor and evaluate government programs and policies as they relate to the youths.

Conclusion

The challenges facing Nigerian youths are too many and inexhaustible. Nigeria is the Giant of Africa. As the Giant of Africa she has sunk so much money for the survival of African nation states. But yet the rate of unemployment, youth neglect, social vices, poverty appears to be toping that of other African states. Therefore the solution to these problems is for us to imbibe psychological re-orientation which would mean building a stable state that will be devoid of corruption and bad leadership.