Let us first understand clearly, who are the youth, because there is a lot of misconception regarding them. A notable Nigerian political party not long ago, appointed a 60-year old person as its national youth leader! Now, that is by any definition, a mature adult, indeed virtually in the departure lounge waiting for the trip to the “far beyond”! Also, a seventy plus year old president, not long ago, defined himself as a youth, because, he said, youthfulness is in the heart! In my view, that is, to say the least, excessively patronizing. Then, if you look at all these groups, currently in the forefront of all sorts of agitations, and you examine their leaders and spoke persons who brand themselves as “youth”; technically they do not belong to that category. All these, in my view trivialize such an important matter as the youth, because, unless we properly conceptualize the youth, we would a priori weaken our capacity to understand their real concerns and address their needs and aspirations.
The United Nations Organization (UN) defines youth as young people in transition from childhood to adulthood, who fall in the age category of 15 – 24 years. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a specialized agency of the UN, has expanded this definition to cover all those who fall within the age category of 15 – 34 years. The African Youth Charter defines youth as young persons between the ages 15 and 35 years. So even if we stretch the definition, youth are primarily those in the age category of 15 – 35 years.
Young people categorized as the youth as defined above, constitute the most vibrant, active, energetic, innovative, courageous, risk-taking, problem-solving and intellectually alert grouping of people in any country in the world. They are additionally, relatively more “ambitious, enthusiastic and promising” when they define goals and pursue them. On the other hand, paradoxically, they are more vulnerable, more impressionistic and more emotionally unstable, which suggests that they have special needs and concerns worthy of serious attention, in order not to undermine their potentials. If care is not taken, and their energies are not channeled in a positive direction, and instead they are alienated, they can also be the most rambunctious, militant, murderous, anarchic, if not criminally minded group in the population.
Demographically, youth represent the majority globally. In Africa, there are presently 226 million young people out of a total population of about 1 billion, representing 20%.
A vast majority of young people lives in the developing countries, notably Africa. For example, about 85% of 15 – 25 year olds live in the so-called developing countries, and is projected to rise to 89.5% by the year 2025. Of these, the UN estimates that 200 million live in poverty, 130 million are illiterate and 10 million live with HIV/AIDs. There are more women than men in the youth category, and adolescent and young women face the most daunting of challenges than any other grouping of individuals in the world: from poverty, to illiteracy, marginalization and disempowerment, reproductive and other health challenges, to debilitating diseases, such as STDs and HIV/AIDs.
Thus, the youth have, arguably, the most basic needs, in terms of education, employment, emotional stability, social security and healthcare. Regrettably, sufficient attention is not given to these; in some contexts, such as is the case in Nigeria, the neglect is simply reckless and crude. It can be argued that the greatest challenge of development relates to how to address the challenges and adequately provide for the basic needs of the youth, and channel their boundless energies into societal progress and development, rather than conflicts and criminality.
History teaches us great lessons about the important and critical roles of youth in societal transformation, be it in politics, military service, religion, the economy, or in the building of empires and nations. Invariably, from all corners of the globe, change agents with tremendous impact spring up from this category of the population. This may be as a consequence of the inherent characteristics and attributes of this age group, or more importantly, as a consequence of societal socialization processes. Many societies in the past place great emphasis on character building, and the engraining of appropriate positive societal values in the indoctrination or socialization of this category of the population. Many traditional African societies for example, have rigorous age-grade initiation rituals and practices to instill values of truthfulness, courage, solidarity, selflessness, virtuousness, etc. among the youth. Along the line, some societies, and modern African nation-states have become lax in these matters of value-orientation and socialization, or indoctrination of the youth with constructive values.