Making Education More Affordable For National Dev

Any historical account of Nigerian’s developmental endeavour, without comment on the activities  of the youth, is bound to be faulty.  That is, in the context of Nigeria’s historical experience, youth have rendered valuable contributions to the struggle for liberation and national development.

However, the roles of youth can be ambivalent depending on their mind – set, or, orientation.  Interpretatively, youth can constitute a reservoir of energy and dynamism, when positively guided, mobilised and fully integrated into the social fabric of the nation.

For instance, the youth played a very important part in the struggle to drive the British away from Nigeria.  The youth activities led to the formation of the famous Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM), the Zikist Youth Movement, et cetera, which were prominent in the trade unions and other nationalist political parties of that period.

On the other hand, they can also constitute  a nuisance or threat to national survival and stability if they are misguided, unemployed, indisciplined, allowed to drift away and be morally bankrupt.

It should be said, at this juncture, that no nation aspiring to a major national greatness and prosperity can afford to neglect the youth, or misguide them and allow them to constitute a major social problem.  This is because youth are a vital source of power and they possess leadership potentials.  They can acquire knowledge, and are full of future promises.

When these potentials in them are fully exploited, harnessed and properly channelled; their positive and vital contributions to national development are ensured.  It is unarguable that the national population has been on the increase, with an alarming and geometrical increase in the population of youth.

By implication, therefore, the youth population in the country, is a big reservoir of labour.  With appropriate training and guidance, youth can provide the manpower need of the nation, if their talents are developed and are inculcated with a sense of belonging and responsibility. It should be borne in mind that youth are the most committed group in the organisation of voluntary social work and community development.

Contrastingly, at present, youth have fallen short of these roles, expectations and responsibilities, partly, perhaps, because of neglect and frustration, misdirection, or, misguidance.  This has led to an orgy of societal indecency engendered by Nigerian youth.

This orgy of societal indecency has become so eerily unnerving and alarming that the very future of our nation is regrettably fraught with danger.

Thus, the pristine innocence, values, respect and moral purity with which the traditional youths was known, is now a far cry from what is obtained in Nigeria.  The Nigerian society now looms large with kidnapping activities, unemployment, bare – faced banditry, corruption, blood – letting, restiveness, religious and ethnic intolerance, and other forms of unethical dispositions.

Clearly, there is a dying moral culture and an ethical failure leading to total collapse of societal values.  All these total up to high rate of moral and behavioural rottenness, in a way, harking back to Martin Luther King’s lament that:

“Moral principles have lost their distinctiveness. For modern man, absolute right and absolute wrong are a matter of what the majority is doing. Right and wrong are relative to likes and dislike.”

In view of this backdrop, however, it becomes needful, to reposition the Nigerian youth for a blissful future. This can be achieved through a combined effort of the government, human right organisations, educationists, political leaders, parents, community leaders, and religious leaders.

Many pragmatic strategies abound for the repositioning of Nigerian youth for a delightful future.  One of such strategies is the introduction of moral education. Looking back on traditional Nigerian society, it would be apparently discovered that moral education by parents and family heads, was an instrument par – excellence for training or nurturing a youth.

The recognition of the importance of youth to the society was accompanied by the moral responsibility of the elders towards their youth.  Elders made sure that youth were properly trained culturally, and in the skills and values necessary for the fulfil of their roles.  It should be said that this was effectively done, because traditional Nigerian men and women were people of good disposition.

At present, moral education should be introduced in our schools.  This will help our youth to acquire the right values and good disposition to promote peaceful co-existence necessary for future national development.

In continuation, provision of employment opportunities for youth is also a way forward.  Today, one of the most serious problems preventing Nigerian youth from contributing to the development of the nation, is unemployment.  The economic crisis which has led to youth unemployment is worsening and aggravating the condition of youth.  There is anxiety, hopelessness, and helplessness, leading to frustration of the youth.

As a result, many have resorted to the anti-social road of armed robbery, prostitution, drug pushing, alcoholism, cocaine addiction and cocaine pushing, kidnapping and other violent behaviours.  In view of this, the provision of employment opportunities will help to engage the youth positively  and bring them back on to the path of rectitude for effective contribution to nation building in future.

Increasing the employment opportunities can be achieved through the diversification of our national economy.  This is plausible since the mono-cultural nature of our economy cannot adequately address the unemployment problem. In pursuance of this principle and vision of diversification, agro-based or allied industries need to be revamped.  Revamping these industries will  undoubtedly improve our economy, provide employment opportunities for the youth and also equip them with the skills and resources to contribute effectively to nation building.

The entrenchment of an ideal, positive leadership devoid of corruption is germane to future national growth and development.  At present, most of our leaders lack the spirit of national essence which is a propelling force for good leadership.  As leaders of today, they should demonstrate good leadership traits for the youth to follow. Through their leadership styles, youth should be guided and not misguided such that their thoughts and actions will be channelled towards positive ideas and selfless service for the overall development of the nation. Through their leadership roles, the leaders of tomorrow will understand that national interest overrides individual or group interest.

In Nigeria, there is excessive or undue emphasis on politics because of the desire for amassment of wealth.  Thus, self-enrichment out of public fund is the order of the day.  This propels youth into politics, hence, they toe this negative line of action to the detriment of the nation.  De-emphasising politics will help to re-direct their mind towards other means of sustenance.

The provision of opportunities for self-fulfillment and   good opportunities for self fulfilment are lacking in Nigeria.  As a result, youth are idle, helpless, hopeless, frustrated and lack a sense of belonging and patriotic spirit.  Good opportunities  for youths self fulfilment should be explored to help them out of certain predicament.

The formation of the Youth Assembly in Nigeria, is a welcomed development. It gives youth the opportunity to be seen, heard and listened to. Through this assembly, youths can express their feelings to the government and also acquaint their local people with the decision and plans of the government.  This is a way of giving the  youth a sense of belonging, to develop in them a spirit of patriotism for effective contribution to nation building.

This is a process of preventing and managing restiveness, sentiments and anger by working together with communities in your domain. Here, government and her communities work together as a team of equals in order to achieve specific objectives. This strengthens the relationship between government and her communities, strengthening the youth’s sense of belonging for vital contribution to national development.

In addition, addressing the problem of religious sentiment is another way forward.  Religious bigotry is a centrifugal force destroying the unity of this country.  For instance, some members of the Islamic faith lack the sense of brotherhood towards the Christian adherents.  This exerts a negative influence on youth’s roles in nation building. In the light of this, religious leaders of the Islamic faith should redefine the concept of the Islamic faith for their youths and re-interpret the principles and essence of the Islamic religion as they affect the kingdom of God. This will re-direct and reposition their youths to face the true challenges of national development.  Religion should be a centripetal  or unifying force for nation building.

Furthermore, there should be correct orientation to promote and defend the interest of the nation against imperialist and neo-colonialist forces.  The nation’s leadership should give the youth the correct orientation to abhore and fight against the imperialistic and neo-colonialistic forces, economically and politically raping the nation.  With the internalisation of a new idea and understanding, the youth will be better equipped to face the realities of national development as to contribute effectively.  This is also in line with Napoleon Hill’s view that “We who are in this race for riches should be encouraged to know that this changed world in which we live, is demanding new ideas, new ways of doing things, new leaders, new invention, new method of teaching…”.

It is incontrovertibly clear that many Nigerian  youth want to be educated, but, cannot because of its cost. In order to reposition the Nigerian youth for vital contribution to national development, education should be made more affordable.  With the affordability of education in view, some hopeless and frustrated youth  will be enabled to acquire the prestigious university education for effective functionality and vital contribution to national  development.  In all, repositioning the Nigerian youth will undoubtedly have positive impacts on the overall development of the nation

Egbunefu wrote in from Egwi-Etche

Livinus Egbunefu