Youths As Future Of The Society 

The celebration of this year’s International Youth Day on 12th August 2021, once more drew attention to the place of youths in nation building. The youths occupy a central position in the development of any nation  or state and hence must be given the necessary attention and focus to enable them regenerate and that is why the role of the youth is “Simply to renew, refresh and maintain”. Youths have a role to renew and refresh the current status of our society including leadership,innovations, skills etc. Youth are expected to advance the current  technology, education, politics, peace of the country.
 Our young people or youth are the ones that can achieve these because they are out future,our tomorrow. They are the backbone, infact,the ‘cornerstone’ of any society . Once,the  backbone is distorted, there is a problem.  Why are these people important in our society. They are filled with fresh ideas. At this age (10 – 30) their thinking capacity is overwheling which expands their knowledge and brings about a lot of opportunities  for fresh ideas. 
They are resourceful, positive thinkers and innovative  in nature. God has invested in them the ‘will power’ and strength.  They also have the power to change.  This is because young people can question everything by reflecting on what is presented, whether   or not it matters to their well being or the society. They have the ability for critical and creative thinking and can generate precise solutions to problems and make right decisions according to experts. It is believed that these thinking skills would not only facilitate life long learning and comprehensive development among youngsters, but also prepare them to be the future masters of the society, who are able to solve problems and contribute to global  development.  The World Health Organization (WHO) categorises young people as adolescents from 10 through 24 years of age . There is no consensus regarding specific age for young adults in international or national demographic data collection  systems or policies. 
However,the United Nations, for statistical purpose, defined those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 as youth, without prejudice to other defintions by member States. ‘ Youth ‘ could also refer to persons between  the age of 15 and 30 regardless of the gender or between the ages of leaving compulsory education and finding their first job. In Nigeria,youths include citizens aged 18 – 29 years according to the New Youth Policy in 2019. Meanwhile,the African youth charter recognises youth as people between   15 – 35.
According to United Nations  report,there are 1.2 billon young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting  for 16 percent of the global population.  By 2030,the number of youth is projected to have grown by seven percent to nearly 1.3 billon globally.
Recently, the world celebrated the international  Youth Day 2021 to highlight the plight of youths with the theme.”Transforming Food Systems:Your Innovation for Human and Planetary  Health,” to draw attention to the world that meaningful participation of young people is important for more equitable food systems, health and environment. 
Here in Rivers State government through  the minister of youth and development  had a week-long celebration to mark this Year’s International Youth Day where they had the Youth Leadership summit Awards to encourage the youths . One thing that is obvious is that youhs need the support of government throuh mentorship and development, provision of necessary platforms for youth capacity in order to bring out the best in them . 
It is important  for governments at all levels to have youth development programmes that will seek to improve the lives of children and adolescents by meeting their basic,physical, developmental and social needs and by helping them to build the competencies needed to become successful adults.
There are 5Cs of Youth development.  These are competenance, confidence, connection , caring and character. Various youth development programmes are channelled towards helping the youths to navigate adolescence in healthy ways and prepare them for their future by  fostering their positive development. Luckily, here  in Rivers State, the steps being taken by the Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr Ipalibo Banigo, to ensuring sustainable youth engagement are a welcome development.  Around the state, so many young people face barriers to education and livelihoods, as many live in communities that have high rate of unemployment . Many of these young people now have the opportunities to acquire tools,knowledge,skills to build better lives for themselves and their families by participating in youth development programmes  such as the skills acquisition programme being facilitated by the three Kalabari  speaking  local government areas of Asari Toru,Akuku Toru and Degema.
According to the deputy governor,she adopted the skills acquisition programme as a delineation strategy to keep the youths gainfully engaged and reduce social vices in the society. 
 It would be recalled that in January  2020,she funded a month-long special skills acquisition programme where over 3,500 youths from the Old Degema Local Government Area benefited by acquiring skills which have made some of them self-reliant and contributing meaningfully to the micro economy  of their respective local government areas.  
Recently, she set up a cottage industry in both building and shoe making with about 120 trainees. The aim of all this according to her, is to ensure that,” we lift up our  young people and young adults out of poverty, financial, physical, spritual and mental poverty.
We want to give them the mindset that “they can do it”. 
Similarly, the Acting Director,Claude Ake School of Government, Dr Sofiri Peterside, has identified the acquisition of global skills for global economy as a  major key for development for youths in the state.
Dr Peterside, who was speaking at the State Youth Leadership Quotient and Awards Summit, noted that youths needed to upgrade and government also needed to play a key role in giving young people the sustainable environment to succeed. 
 Furthermore, the plans by the siver state government  a one youth, one skill project and a Rivers youths arket  to help develop the youth in the state is also a welcome development.
What is important for  sustainable youth development is for all sectors, multinational, corporate bodies and individuals  to work towards investing in youths, to enable them achieve the 5Cs in youth development. 

By: Ibinabo Ogolo