Opinion
Towards Curbing Youth Restiveness
It is a general notion that positive and meaningful
development across cultural settings are 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. Therefore, any society,
whether micro or macro, that allows a good percentage of its youths to
be misdirected, risks its future.
Regrettably however, youth restiveness and social vices have
apparently become a threat to the realisation of our individual potentials in
our various communities and States in Nigeria, that we need concerted efforts
to win the battle against them.
Youth restiveness is a despicable act being perpetrated by a
significant proportion of our youths in our various communities. As the name
implies, it is a combination of actions,
conducts or acts that constitute
unwholesome socially unacceptable activities engaged in by the youths in any
community.
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.
It is often opined 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.
Some of these tendencies to crime and deviant behaviours
among youths are party due to the fact that a good number of them are being
brought up by single parents. Statistics have shown that nearly 24 million, out
of the 72 million children in America, as at 2008, under the age of 18, were
without biological fathers. It is a fact that a generation of children who grow
up without father or mother will certainly be prone to crime and deviant
behaviours.
In every good society, good governance is required for the
growth and development of the citizenry. Unfortunately, Nigeria is characterized
by bad governance, resulting in disjointed development.
The world Bank (1992) identifies the main characteristics of
bad governance to include, failure to properly distinguish what is public and
what is private, leading to private appropriation of otherwise public
resources; arbitrariness in the application of law and rules and excessive
rules, regulations, licensing requirement and so forth which impede the
functioning of markets and encourage rent-seeking.
Other forms of bad governance are priorities that are
inconsistent with development, thereby resulting in misallocation of national
resources, and exceedingly narrow base or non-transparent decision making.
Poverty is another cause of youth restiveness. There is so
much poverty, inequality and social injustice in Nigeria. Due to poverty, many
youths in urban centres in Nigeria have taken to hawking on the streets just to
eke out a living. The sales they make per-day and the profit margin on their
goods are so small that they can hardly live above the poverty line.
Disillusioned, frustrated and dejected, many of them seek an opportunity to
express their anger against the State.
Again, many of the youths lack quality education. Quality
education has a direct bearing on national prestige, greatness and cohesion.
The knowledge and skills that young people acquire help determine their degree
of patriotism and contribution to national integration and progress. But many
Nigerian youths out there do not get the opportunity to go to school, perhaps
due to the prohibitive cost of acquiring education. The effect of this
situation is that thousands of young people roam the streets of Nigeria for
lack of something reasonable to engage themselves with. Those who manage to
finish secondary school, have no opportunities to acquire tertiary education.
Having being denied the chance to reach their potentials, they are
disorientated and readily available for anti-social actions.
Meanwhile, most rural communities and urban slums in Nigeria
have no access to potable water, health facilities, electricity, communication
facilities, etc. Behind social unrest and youth restiveness in the country is
the agitation for equitable distribution of resources. And the youths are
willing tools.
The consequences of youth restiveness on our society are
better imagined. Besides the social disorderliness it tends to create, it has
grave implications on the nation’s economy.
One sure way of addressing this social vice is by giving the
youth a sense of belonging. This can be achieved through creation of more jobs
for the teeming population of youths, provision of social basic infrastructures
needed to encourage small scale businesses. There is the need for the youth to
be liberated psychologically and economically from the control of self-seeking
business and political elite who often use them to cause social disorderliness
in the society.
Above all, more awareness need to be created, for the youths
to change their orientation towards positive contribution to the development of
the society. As the future of our country, the youths should lay a good
foundation for tomorrow.
Joshua is of the Department of Mass Communication, RUST,
Port Harcourt.
Chiepaka I. Joshua
From all indications, Nigeria possesses enough human and material resources to become a true economic powerhouse in Africa. According to the National Population Commission (NPC, 2023), the country’s population has grown steadily within the last decade, presently standing at about 220 million people—mostly young, vibrant, and innovative. Nigeria also remains the sixth-largest oil producer in the world, with enormous reserves of gas, fertile agricultural land, and human capital.
Yet, despite this enormous potential, the country continues to grapple with underdevelopment, poverty, unemployment, and insecurity. Recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS, 2023) show that about 129 million Nigerians currently live below the poverty line. Most families can no longer afford basic necessities, even as the government continues to project a rosy economic picture.
The Subsidy Question
The removal of fuel subsidy in 2023 by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been one of the most controversial policy decisions in Nigeria’s recent history. According to the president, subsidy removal was designed to reduce fiscal burden, unify the foreign exchange rate, attract investment, curb inflation, and discourage excessive government borrowing.
While these objectives are theoretically sound, the reality for ordinary Nigerians has been severe hardship. Fuel prices more than tripled, transportation costs surged, and food inflation—already high—rose above 30% (NBS, 2023). The World Bank (2023) estimates that an additional 7.1 million Nigerians were pushed into poverty after subsidy removal.
A Critical Economic View
As an economist, I argue that the problem was not subsidy removal itself—which was inevitable—but the timing, sequencing, and structural gaps in Nigeria’s implementation.
- Structural Miscalculation
Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries remain nonfunctional. By removing subsidies without local refining capacity, the government exposed the economy to import-price pass-through effects—where global oil price shocks translate directly into domestic inflation. This was not just a timing issue but a fundamental policy miscalculation.
- Neglect of Social Safety Nets
Countries like Indonesia (2005) and Ghana (2005) removed subsidies successfully only after introducing cash transfers, transport vouchers, and food subsidies for the poor (World Bank, 2005). Nigeria, however, implemented removal abruptly, shifting the fiscal burden directly onto households without protection.
- Failure to Secure Food and Energy Alternatives
Fuel subsidy removal amplified existing weaknesses in agriculture and energy. Instead of sequencing reforms, government left Nigerians without refinery capacity, renewable energy alternatives, or mechanized agricultural productivity—all of which could have cushioned the shock.
Political and Public Concerns
Prominent leaders have echoed these concerns. Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, described the subsidy removal as “good but wrongly timed.” Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party also faulted the government’s hasty approach. Human rights activists like Obodoekwe Stive stressed that refineries should have been made functional first, to reduce the suffering of citizens.
This is not just political rhetoric—it reflects a widespread economic reality. When inflation climbs above 30%, when purchasing power collapses, and when households cannot meet basic needs, the promise of reform becomes overshadowed by social pain.
Broader Implications
The consequences of this policy are multidimensional:
- Inflationary Pressures – Food inflation above 30% has made nutrition unaffordable for many households.
- Rising Poverty – 7.1 million Nigerians have been newly pushed into poverty (World Bank, 2023).
- Middle-Class Erosion – Rising transport, rent, and healthcare costs are squeezing household incomes.
- Debt Concerns – Despite promises, government borrowing has continued, raising sustainability questions.
- Public Distrust – When government promises savings but citizens feel only pain, trust in leadership erodes.
In effect, subsidy removal without structural readiness has widened inequality and eroded social stability.
Missed Opportunities
Nigeria’s leaders had the chance to approach subsidy removal differently:
- Refinery Rehabilitation – Ensuring local refining to reduce exposure to global oil price shocks.
- Renewable Energy Investment – Diversifying energy through solar, hydro, and wind to reduce reliance on imported petroleum.
- Agricultural Productivity – Mechanization, irrigation, and smallholder financing could have boosted food supply and stabilized prices.
- Social Safety Nets – Conditional cash transfers, food vouchers, and transport subsidies could have protected the most vulnerable.
Instead, reform came abruptly, leaving citizens to absorb all the pain while waiting for theoretical long-term benefits.
Conclusion: Reform With a Human Face
Fuel subsidy removal was inevitable, but Nigeria’s approach has worsened hardship for millions. True reform must go beyond fiscal savings to protect citizens.
Economic policy is not judged only by its efficiency but by its humanity. A well-sequenced reform could have balanced fiscal responsibility with equity, ensuring that ordinary Nigerians were not crushed under the weight of sudden change.
Nigeria has the resources, population, and resilience to lead Africa’s economy. But leadership requires foresight. It requires policies that are inclusive, humane, and strategically sequenced.
Reform without equity is displacement of poverty, not development. If Nigeria truly seeks progress, its policies must wear a human face.
References
- National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). (2023). Poverty and Inequality Report. Abuja.
- National Population Commission (NPC). (2023). Population Estimates. Abuja.
- World Bank. (2023). Nigeria Development Update. Washington, DC.
- World Bank. (2005). Fuel Subsidy Reforms: Lessons from Indonesia and Ghana. Washington, DC.
- OPEC. (2023). Annual Statistical Bulletin. Vienna.
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