Nigeria joined the rest of the world in celebrating the International Youth Day which took place Au­gust 12. It is a day set aside by the United Nations General Assem­bly in 1999 to acknowledge the unique roles and contributions of young people to the development of communities and countries all over the world. It brings to thefore vital roles youths play in shaping societies; be it in governance, edu­cation, art, peace-making and se­curity, politics, economy, religion, advocacy and entrepreneurships. Those with proper grasp of the day looked forward to celebrating it with great enthusiasm.
The celebration guarantees the youths an annual unique platform to interface with their governments and youth- based non-governmental organisations on various and problems confronting them. The event is also celebrated to recharge the young minds, remind them of their great potentials and of who they are in order to bring out the best in them. Youths are guided towards being conscious of the leadership role which they must embrace to heal the world and make it a better place. It challenges them to shun negative vices, such as en­gaging in consumption of illicit drugs, cultism, and armed robbery to mention but a few which are the scourges of the 21st century youths.
In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Youth Development marked the day with the theme, “Youths and Mental Health: Nigerian Youths at Centenary”, in addition to other activities lined up for the occasion held at the Interna­tional Conference Centre, Abuja. The rampant cases of youths involvement in consumption of illicit drugs, indul­gence in self-destructive tendencies and other vices must have informed the choice of the theme. President Goodluck Jonathan was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo who listed with pride all the youths-friendly programmes embarked on by govern­ment to better their lot. These include: YouWin, Youth in Agriculture, SURE-P, Students Computer Ownership Scheme, Gender and ICT Programmes as well as Girls and Women in Nigeria Initiative among others. The number of the beneficiaries of these programmes cannot match the unemployment index on ground. However, they should be nurtured to outlive the initiator govern­ment.
The representative of the President further admonished the youths to con­tinue to keep faith with the country and collaborate to make it greater. Unfortu­nately, many Nigerian youths including those in the cities centres are not even aware of the celebration or its impact to youths’ development. Out of the 36 states, only the federal capital ter­ritory seems to be in the know of the celebration with a private function or­ganised by Moses Siasia, the President of Young Nigerian Professionals.
A typical Nigerian youth is bedeviled with problems of unemployment, poverty, lack of access to quality health care and education, insecurity and other social services. It is esti­mated that about 40% of Nigerian youths are unemployed and about 100,000 graduates are produced annually throughout the nation. Many graduates mostly youths have been forced to take up menial jobs in order to make both ends meet. Graduates now drive heavy duty trucks, okada and tricycles provided through govern­ment intervention programmes.
States should massively invest in job cre­ation, because without jobs, there cannot be stability in the polity. Boko Haram has become a dare-devil menace because idle mind is the breeding ground for devil’s manipulations. Job creation in itself is another way of wealth cre­ation. The alien idea that employment oppor­tunities and successful economies of the world grew by private sector participation amounts to abdication of responsibilities by the state and should be jettisoned immediately. A comprehensive yearly youths’ inter­vention programme targeted at taking idle minds away from vices should be introduced while the ongoing ones should be sustained and broadened to accommodate many more youths.
The youths themselves, as partners in progress in nation-building, have a big role to play to salvage their situ­ation. It is no longer fashionable for them to fold their arms and wait for manna to fall down from heaven as in the days of old. They should engage in meaningful entrepreneurial skills that will make them self-reliant and if pos­sible employers of labour too. Learn to become a fashion designer, soap maker, carpenter, welder, bead maker, artist etc. But government should first, provide enabling environment includ­ing primary financial support base to make this a success. Second, govern­ment should formulate favourable pol­icies aimed at strengthening the finan­cial institutions especially the banking sector which will encourage them to stand resolutely behind the govern­ment in pursuit of youth-oriented pro­grammes. If youths are actually desig­nated leaders of tomorrow, we should massively invest in them today. Any nation which sows bountifully in her youth today will reap bountifully from their endeavours with joy, tomorrow.

Youths and tomorrow’s challenges