The Pain In The Heart Of Our Nigerian Youth -By Zachariah Tozabeyi

Lately, I’ve noticed that everybody looks OK not until you eventually have a deep conversation with them. And then, you realize that, this is a sad generation of people struggling to survive through smiling faces and pretty pictures.

• I am writing this with a heavy heart, being a young Nigerian who fully knows what Nigerians are passing through in this era. The statistics show that over sixty percent of Nigeria’s population are youth. This gives one an insight into the terrible circumstances in which young Nigerians have found themselves.

The dreams of our Nigeria youths are dying and our young Nigerians are among frustrated groups on earth. Most of these young Nigerians, except those from rich homes, cannot acquire quality tertiary education as Nigerian universities are suffering from a reversal of fortunes. Public secondary and primary schools cannot deliver quality education, the purpose for which they have been established. Students are discouraged from reading during examinations because of question-paper leaks.

They pass through Nigerian universities, which are plagued with terrible facilities as a result of infrastructural rascality. Today, there are little or no scholarships anywhere for those that cannot afford to pave their way through schools unlike in the past when there were series of scholarships.

Upon graduation, the reality of Nigeria’s situation hits young Nigerians in the face. They have to rely on senators, political appointees and politicians to write recommendation letters for them before they can get jobs in federal establishments. We’ve to pay hundreds of thousands of Naira to get jobs in public and Private organisations. Merit no longer holds a place in the system.

Unemployment has reduced young Nigerians to guinea pigs in the labour market. While some top government officials are making up a list of prospective employees full of relations and children of friends. Young Nigerians are compelled by the hostile economic reality to stay for years at home for lack of jobs. They are left with decayed social services and have no choice but to pay for whatever they want.

This is Nigeria at its worst of times. The story is not different for those who find themselves lucky to get a job; for with the job comes the realisation that the Naira has been devalued by Dollar, and the cost of living has gone high, that the average young Nigerian finds it difficult to fee not to talk of raising a family. Most disheartening is the fact that the young people are confronted with the Nigerian private sector crisis.

Today, the Nigerian youth is advised to embrace entrepreneurship, yet, the government would not create the enabling environment for such enterprise to thrive. Because nothing is done on merit, the average young person comes with the impression that hard work and intelligence do not pay.

The pain felt by Nigerian youths can stem from various issues, such as unemployment, political instability, and socio-economic challenges and the government should tackle the problem of promise and fall to youths by opening an established body that caters to youth problems and this body should comprise of youths. It’s crucial to address these issues through inclusive policies, education, job creation, and empowering young people to contribute positively in building their communities and the nation at large.

Zachariah Tozabeyi from Mass communication department of Abubakar Tatari Ali polytechnic Bauchi and can be reached via email tozabehizachariah@gmail.com