While youth all over the world are looking forward to a bright future, the Nigerian youth are faced with unemployment, ASUU strike, terrorism, police brutality, excruciating poverty, kidnapping, corruption, health crisis, and a nation rapidly degenerating into a failed state.
International Youth Day on August 12 focuses on the difficulties that some young people are experiencing throughout the world. It’s an initiative that honors the traits of young people and that acknowledges the challenges that today’s fledging youth face.
On this special day, we all at Concerned Nigerians remember the plight of the Nigerian youth with sadness in our heart, and even sadder the cold response or or sheer indifference of our leaders who should make things turn around for the good of our young people. The Nigerian youth who are students at tertiary institutions have been at home for the past 4 months due to the lingering and shameful ASUU strike. The Nigerian youth is also plagued by unemployment, terrorism, kidnapping, ritual killing, police brutality, excruciating poverty, and other national issues that continue to threaten the future and wellbeing of young people in Nigeria. Out of school children, childhood poverty, child marriage, female genital mutilation, rape, child abuse of all sorts, teenage pregnancy and violence against young people particularly women and girls is still a prevalent problem in Nigeria today.
International Youth Day was created by the UN to help draw awareness to these issues as we strive to find solutions. It’s a day for reflection but also a day for taking action so get involved. We recognize the input that young people make in education, community development, environmental groups, volunteering for different social projects and we cannot stand by and do nothing.
To support the elimination of these issues it is important that the youth is able to reach the right resources for education, wellbeing, medicine and more. The Nigerian government should understand that investing in young people, empowering them, and enabling them to make a meaningful contribution for their countries and communities, is the foundation of a nation’s development.
Nigerian youth are talented and have the ability to contribute positively towards the development of their country. We have to give them all the support they need to be the best they can be. Today is a clarion call for all Nigerian youth to wake up and embrace their future. We encourage all the Nigerian youth to vote massively and wisely this coming general elections to choose the leaders at all levels who have their interest at heart.
From all of us at Concerned Nigerians, Happy Youth Day.
