Moses Homtapwa
Founder, Chairman and CEO Youth and Dreams Initiatives, he is also the
Cofounder Eagles Wing Youth Development Initiatives
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, formerly the President of Nigeria from 1999 until 2007, believes that identifying and addressing issues that would enhance the lives of the youth would improve overall national development. He has stated that, "Youth constitute Nigeria's only hope for a real future". The Nigerian government characterizes youth as ambitious, enthusiastic, energetic and promising. They are considered vulnerable in society because of the rapid pace of change they experience at this time in their lives.[1] A National Youth Development Policy was created and designed to advocate for youth and youth development. The policy views youth welfare as vital to the Nigerian nation and its socioeconomic development. This policy is seen as a youth participation project, versus a project identifying problems and needs.[1]
a country teeming in youth, with 70 % of people below the age of 40 years. While 34% of India’s Gross National Income is contributed by the youth; there is a dire need to develop this percentage. In fact, youth today, is a major resource for not only development of financial prosperity but for social changes as well. Despite holding such importance, millennial often face hurdles on a daily basis, with their energy still not being channelized in the right direction. This challenge is not restricted to the Government, but also to the entire private section in the country.
The need to empower youth for a better tomorrow is connected both, to the financial elevation as well as increment of the standard of living. Awareness is a key factor for this empowerment, with guidance towards developing a wholesome outlook of life. Youth empowerment in any development is imperative not only for national development of an entire country but also for personal development of an individual. Youth empowerment is pursued by promoting youth rights, youth activism and in community decision making. Empowerment is necessarily a process of inculcating values to equip the learner lead a life that is satisfying to the individual while being in accordance with the cherished values and ideals of the society. At present it is the most effective mean that society possesses for confronting the challenges of the future.
Here are a few reasons why Youth Empowerment is essential-
• Poverty eradication: Youth empowerment can help reduce the rate of poverty to a significant level.
One of the keys to empowering the youth is with skill development. When a youth is equipped with essential skills, he can utilize them to feed, assist others, and even invest for future use, aiding the nation economically. This will in-turn contribute to the increase in employability and add to the GDP of the nation.
• Good education standard: Empowerment can help youth to understand the importance of education that leads to social improvement of the country.
When a youth is empowered, he understands the importance of education and helps uplift the sector, integral for a developing nation such as India. Such empowered youth can donate educational facilities to primary, secondary and even to tertiary institutions. Today, India lacks the proper infrastructure for education, which can easily be brought into existence only through empowerment.
• Good governance: With the inculcation of youth empowerment, the youth can reject the status quo and pave a path for a better future.
Today, the youth is claiming his right to a decent living by willing to take risks, which helps in the development of leadership skills. Starting from Martin Luther King Jr to Justin Trudeau, visionary leaders are noted to have taken risks from a tender age. In other words, to build a better tomorrow, we need to nurture the saplings of today. Hence, a radical government, which is pro-people, comes from harnessing bright minds capable of taking the nation into a brighter future.
• Crime reduction: Empowerment ensures that youth has the necessary skill to sustain a livelihood, preventing him to adopt the path of crime.
Presently, a lot has been spent in the name of fighting crime without understanding that crime affects the youth in an intrinsic level. It is easy for a young impressionable mind to get waylaid and get entrapped in anti-social activities because he was not empowered morally, academically as well as financially. There are serious social and economic consequences associated with not addressing the youth who is at the risk of negative circumstances – not only for the youth himself and his family, but also for the society at large. Empowerment enables a young mind to differentiate the wrong from the right, denouncing the path of injustice for a respectable living.
In today’s day and age, young minds should have access to resources to transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes. Then only can we believe in making our nation “shine”, even in times of adversity.
Youth is the backbone of any nation. Youth can play an important role in the development of the society. Pakistan currently is the largest generation of young people ever recorded in its history as 64pc of the total population was below the age of 30, and 29pc between the ages of 15-29 years. This is the important segment of the society and youth can play a vital role in the development of the country. But this young and able workforce is not being given their chance to shine.
Unfortunately there is lack of opportunities, professional training institutes, awareness for youth in the country. Educated youth is unemployed, they are unable to participate in the country’s development because there is no quality education, and textbooks, policies, and curriculum differ across the country. There is no proper training institute in the country where student can get professional training for their careers.
Youth is now becoming a depressed segment of society, there are degrees but no jobs, there are universities but no professional education, there are schools but different education systems between elite and poor, there is a government but not a proper policy as to how they can solve these issues. Government should realize the situation and take quick measures to save the future of the nation.
Otherwise situation may make the youth choose more destructive paths that will be detrimental to our society.
We believe in the potential in everyone.
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