: Addressing new challenges facing young people in Nigeria.

Young people in Nigeria today are growing up with ideals, expectations, ambitions and talents which are unprecedented, driven by new technology, affluence and globalisation.

 As a nation, we have an abundance of strong organisations engaged in youth leadership. In recent years, there have been extraordinarily creative experiments, many of them led by young people. However, young people face new kinds of social challenges in a more complex world – a world that is more diverse, with increased pressures on families, greater caring responsibilities (including for the young), more intense pressure from markets, and employability and skills challenges.

It is also a time when millions of young people are aware as never before of the scale of the leadership challenges we now face at a global scale from climate change to ageing to inequality. Many of these challenges and pressures are predicted to increase in scale and intensity as a consequence of the economic downturn. For our nation to succeed, we need to invest in young people’s skills and capabilities to act as powerful advocates and agents of change to help society meet these challenges.

Yet, in many communities, talent continues to go to waste: thousands of young people face acute difficulties in making the transition to adulthood, and public perceptions of young people can often be negative, reinforced by unfavourable media portrayals, with young people often being perceived as part of the problem rather than the solution and, at worst, viewed with fear and suspicion.

These negative perceptions mask the extraordinarily positive work in which young people are engaged – whether in the private or public sphere (through volunteering, caring, carrying out youth work and a host of other positive activities)

Young people are still denied adequate representation in the places where power is exercised, from Parliament and local councils to businesses and voluntary organisations. Only 0.3% of councillors are under 251. Young people from minority ethnic backgrounds face further barriers which also require closer attention (especially in the light of growing challenges around radicalisation and far-right extremism).

After the 2007 general election, the average age of an MP was 50.6 years,  In local government, the position is hardly better: the average age of councillors is 58, and less than 2% are under 30, while 29% of councillors are women, now local councils elections are no longer conducted by various state governments.

Many leadership positions – whether in politics, quangos or boards of charities, schools and hospitals have become increasingly professionalised, thereby making it increasingly difficult  for non-professionals  and young people to participate in these institutions.

Understanding what kinds of activities and programmes can inspire, motivate and mobilise a new generation of young people to engage in the democratic process and contribute to their community is vital to sustaining a healthy democracy.

one of the most crucial roles of political parties in the past was to develop successive generations of leaders, providing them with the skills and confidence to campaign and govern; many young people learned more through party activism than through formal education. This role has atrophied in recent years, in part because of increasing professionalisation in the world of work and political life.  

Educational qualifications tend now to be the most important determinant of attainment later in life, while the role of judgment and life experience are nowadays given less weight relative to paper qualifications and professionalism.

Party politics, aligned as it is to this set of values, has ceased to engage a broad range of young people in its activities, and party leadership has become increasingly less representative – particularly of low-income groups without affluent or politically engaged family and community networks, educational opportunities and political power.

The routes that once helped to find and nurture leaders from different backgrounds such as the trade unions and churches alongside mass political parties – are no longer working.

Building the skills and capacities of young people to take up leadership roles in their communities is vital for democracy.

There is also strong evidence supporting the notion of a ‘democratic deficit’ among young people:

Notably, young people display low levels of trust in politicians and political institutions and evidence little inclination to join formal political organisations or to get involved in local politics.

While young people remain attached to voting as a civic right and responsibility, voting levels among young people are low and are projected to remain so.

There is also little evidence that young people are choosing more informal or non-traditional forms of civic and civil participation in large numbers (e.g. participation in activities such as protests, and interest in community issues).

Beyond the political arena, further pressing challenges are affecting young people. Labour market statistics show that unemployment for 18- to 24-year-olds was 676,000 in the three months to December 2011, up 60,000 from the three months to 2012. Youth unemployment is rising more quickly than unemployment for any other group and is forecast to exceed 2 million during 2018. Those under 25 thus appear to be bearing significant pressures as a consequence of this process.

Sustained unemployment while young, especially of long duration, is especially damaging.

By preventing labour market entrants from gaining a foothold in employment, sustained youth unemployment may reduce their productivity. Those that suffer youth unemployment tend to have lower incomes and poorer labour market experiences in later decades.

Unemployment while young creates permanent scars rather than temporary blemishes.

Not only this, but poor employment outcomes are related to increased criminal activity, reduced health outcomes and lower educational outcomes among offspring.

Unemployment and underemployment are quickly becoming more than a temporary problem, with many young people leaving school, college and university without jobs, or being fired from jobs in the first round of cuts. Many others simply do not have the skills and qualifications that employers want.

Economic woes quickly turn into social challenges. The number of children in custody has increased by 8% between 2010 and 2012. As of April 2011, more than 3,000 children were in jail, with further increases expected. According to Children and Young People in Custody 2010, one in three young people in prison has a history of care, and 86% of young men have been excluded from schools.

This source also cites a disproportionate number of no-educated young people in custody, with 29% of young men and 23% of young women coming from these backgrounds. Additionally, a quarter of young offenders under 17 have literacy and numeracy levels equal to an average seven-year old child.

This number is higher and increasing among young BME offenders. These statistics and research from the Department for Children, Schools and Families suggest that jobs and education are a critical part of reducing reoffending and preventing anti-social behaviour.