Nigerian youth

By Sirajaddeen Mohammed Bello

In Nigeria’s many socioeconomic challenges, one issue stands out as the biggest threat, casting a gloomy shadow over the present and the nation’s future. Youth unemployment is a subject that elicits head shakes, furrowed brows, and a sense of impending doom. But beyond the sombre tone, let me unravel the implications of this predicament and infuse a touch of hope— and a pinch of ‘humour’ into this all-too-serious subject.

Youth unemployment in Nigeria isn’t just a problem; it’s an iceberg of colossal proportions. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated that Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 33.3% as it stood at the rate of 4.1% in the first quarter of2023, which translates to about 23.2 million people— youths, in particular. Let’s face it: numbers don’t always tell the whole story. Picture this: some hundreds of thousands, nay, millions of mostly educated, bright young minds stuck in a seemingly endless and almost fruitless game of job hunting— a game with fewer opportunities and a mammoth crowd of players. 

It’s a perplexing paradox, navigating through such a complicated realm that occasionally resembles a labyrinth of bureaucracy and nepotism. These players could either be overqualified or, in many cases, underqualified, creating a complex, ‘funny’ puzzle that baffles many— in a head-scratching manner.

Now, one might wonder why we care about this particular problem: youth unemployment. And even go on to declare it a “time bomb”? Too strict a term? Well, let me draw you a vivid picture. A sizeable chunk of our youths are left idle, grappling with feelings of inadequacy, financial crisis and frustration. Do you think all will end well? No! If not given the needed attention and channelled constructively, this sluggish energy can surely fester and lead to various social ills in unimaginably ugly ways. So, you see? It’s not just a ticking time Bomb: it’s an evil fuse that could ignite a powder keg of problems for this country.

It’s still not too late for the authorities to right this wrong. We’ve analysed the problem to an extent. Let’s talk solutions because dwelling on problems only, without drawing out remedies, is almost like writing a story with no plot. Nigeria’s youth is its greatest asset, with creativity and untapped potential. A serious country can’t afford to let this resource go to waste. More than ever. Now is the time to bridge the gap between the skills our youths (are assumed to) possess and the skills demanded by the labour market. 

Various vocational trainings (not the usual ‘crash’ workshops that hardly change a thing!) and education systems tailored to market needs can play a vital role. The government and the stakeholders in the private sector need to collaborate and determine what knowledge and skills young people should be taught to have rewarding jobs, considering how businesses are suffering from skills mismatch. Government should play a more active role in promoting appropriate education and Capacity-building for the youth.

Another equally important area to work on is entrepreneurship. Why not encourage more young entrepreneurs in a country where the labour market is fiercely competitive? Our youths are teeming with brilliant ideas waiting to be hatched. Government support, access to funds and mentorship programmes can nurture these promising— budding business moguls.

Technology and Innovation. Nigeria’s burgeoning tech ecosystem offers great hope. The digital world is undoubtedly a place where opportunities abound for a tech-savvy. The government should then invest in technology infrastructure and create an environment that supports innovation and startups and training and mentorship for young people. These and many other initiatives centred on progress and empowerment can go miles in addressing our plight.

The evil of unemployment in Nigeria is undoubtedly a ticking time Bomb, but it doesn’t have to detonate. By investing in skills development, nurturing entrepreneurship, promoting innovative empowerments and retaining our trademark diligence, we can defuse this albatross and unleash the incredible potential of our youths.

Sirajaddeen Mohammed Bello wrote from Yola, Adamawa State, via sirajaddeenm2019@gmail.com.

By Kamal Alkasim

In these tough economic times in Nigeria, young people, your ideas are more valuable than you think. They can be your ticket to success if you present them well. You can start small or go big, online or offline. Don’t start a business without knowing the ropes. Here’s some straightforward advice: Begin a small business, regardless of your education. Education helps but doesn’t limit you.

If you want to make it, learn from the experts in your field. Avoid diving into something you don’t understand. Ignorance won’t get you far. Remember, being a job creator is better than being a job seeker.

Procrastination is your enemy. Act on your ideas quickly. As Pastor Reno Omokri wisely said, “Your mind is your supercomputer.” Believe in the power of positive thinking, as Islamic Scholar Malam Ibrahim Khalil noted: “A rich person grows through investments, and a poor person through positive thoughts.”

Don’t believe opportunities are scarce. Every day is a chance to work on your ideas wisely and diligently. Even the slightest idea can lead to something great. Small steps pave the way for significant achievements.

Always remember that your ideas hold immense potential. The choice is yours: build on them or let them go to waste. Your future is in your hands. May God bless the brilliant young minds of Nigeria as they turn their ideas into reality!

Kamal Alkasim writes from Kano via Kamalalkasim17@gmail.com.

By: Muhammad Danjuma Abubakar

On the weekend, while scrolling through my phone casually, I clicked on the Google App to open the search box. I stared for a while as I had no question in mind. Although, it is advised that one should have a specific question in mind before attempting to consult the internet; to enable the user to save precious time and better organisation the resources therefrom.

As I was thinking about which question was most relevant to the search, I suddenly typed ‘best paying jobs that can earn me millions’ as my query in the search box. This took a better part of my time for hours as I kept searching through Google – the most admired search engine today, to find out the ‘best jobs’ that could earn a person millions, whether in naira or whatever currency.

The outcomes from the search engine result pages (SERP) could not cease to amaze me.  The more results I got, the greater my curiosity for further searches as I kept re-phrasing the queries.

While on this, I also remembered that our society today is such that it overrates affluence and attaches respect to any ‘rich wheat’ regardless of whether one can genuinely justify the means to its acquisition.

Because of these, most young Nigerians wish, in a resolute manner, to find a professional career in jobs that could offer them huge pay to enable them to build a big house and get a car or cars of choice, among other acquisitions in the shortest time possible. These are society’s key indicators for measuring success in life or otherwise.

Emphatically, it is because of the perceived belief that studying certain courses in the university could translate more in good paying jobs that some parents impress it upon their children to forfeit one university admission for another or go to a greater length such as using monies to get the desired choice of course(s) of study for their children.

In one of my recent articles titled ‘Our Schools, the rots and dangerous implications’, I discussed some of these unfortunate realities and how best to tackle them. That aside.

As I realised further the fact that our youths today do not choose a career or job that aligns with their interests but those ones that pay more, I took my research more seriously as I began to write down the results from my search queries. And at the end, I got massive results from my google searches.

Good-paying jobs could fetch you millions are many. Yet, I was shocked to see that most jobs I had expected to find, considering the perceived potential of the courses leading to those jobs, did not make a list, and those least expected were on the list. How ironic!

Some list of the careers/jobs I expected to find are: Politics, Aeronautical engineering, Pilot, Photography, Data visualisation, Water resources engineering, web development and Planning Officer. Others are shipping and logistics, music, and filmmaking, among others. I did not find any of these.

For clarity, my expectations were well placed. Because for example, politics is one of the most desirous ambitions, particularly in Nigeria, where even a ward councillor easily amasses wealth within his shortest period in office. Most Nigerians, especially those who wish to feel they belong, desire to win an elective office.

 Another notable example is photography. It is estimated that over 20,000 events take place in Lagos State every day, according to the vanguard newspapers report.

Photography has become a speciality that has stood the taste of all times and has proven to be a money-spinning venture. If you must know, politicians of class, businessmen, top government functionaries and blue-chip organisations now have trained photographers in addition to their spokespersons and media teams. This is why even some universities, particularly overseas, now run degree and even higher degree programs in modern Photography. 

Similarly, the job of being an aeronautical engineer or pilot could also be very rewarding. According to statistics from Statista, the number of current active commercial aircraft is more than 25,000 globally, with Africa accounting for 888 of this number, with an annual growth rate of no less than 3.8%.

But, the only very financially fulfilling jobs, according to Google, despite repeated searches, were a Sales manager, Chief executive officer, Financial manager, Software developer, Lawyer, Investment Banker, Negotiations expert, Neurosurgeon, Psychiatrist, Human Resources Manager, Risks Analysts among others.

The best cure for ignorance is a constant search for knowledge. So, I took my research further this time by picking each of these jobs one at a time to ask google again ‘why they were the best-paying job. I wondered, this time, why I kept receiving tips on ‘how to be successful and earn better pay’ instead. 

Put differently. My search results indicated that there are key conditions for you to excel and eventually earn more in these jobs earlier regarded as the ‘most financially’ rewarding. Google listed the conditions to include; passion, staying evergreen through the search for new ideas, and competence, among others.

At this point, it is reasonable to believe that any legitimate job and vocation is a best-paying job and could make you a millionaire when you imbibe certain principles.

Therefore, instead of seeking the best-paying jobs, the youths must rather seek a job that aligns with their purpose and personality in life, seek to become like a ‘bunch of keys’ with broad ideas and creativity in their chosen career and seek to work to learn more, not to earn more; because it is said that, when you work more than you earn; you will later earn more than you work.

Muhammad Danjuma Abubakar lives in Minna, Niger State. He can be contacted via muhammadcares4u@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Abubakar

As the 2023 election comes closer, these politicians will begin to follow you for them to carry out their political ambitions and later run away from you. This happens after they have used you in a way that you will completely lose your dignity in the eyes of the world. And in the end, you will regret it. The biggest loss in your life is that: you are now valuable to them, right? They can give you whatever you request from them but don’t think that after the election they would again do something useful for you or your family.

For that, youth should wake up from this slumber. Something happened in my presence during the 2019 presidential election, which ultimately weakened my opinion about political involvement. There were two guys I had seen fighting with lethal weapons in their hands, and I was sure nothing could stop one of them from dying if stabbed with the weapons. The saddening thing is that none of them passes twenty-two years of age.

It’s time to know where it pains in your body and who pains you in your societal endeavour. Even if you have never attended primary school in your entire life, you will not want something bad to happen to you. For the sake of the almighty God. What sort of life are you (the youth) living?

If you look at the current situation of this country, you will understand that those politicians you are gambling with your life on do not care about your existence. Had it been they cared, they would not have held their arms watching you and your nation’s economy going to the dogs.

Although there are reasonable and competent among them, eighty per cent of them out of a hundred are unarguably incompetent. Therefore, a thoughtful and caring leader will never give his people illegal drugs or any accidental subject during the campaign to achieve his goal.

Another awful thing is that; the deterioration of the academic sector in this country is beyond human imagination. But yet, no good action has been taken upon that. Frankly speaking—I don’t know the specific role those politicians (who have been elected as the leaders of our dear country) play in their offices. However, it’s clear now that everyone understands the government’s negligence and I-don’t-care attitude towards the education sector.

Without a doubt, if their children were studying here in Nigeria, they wouldn’t have allowed this lingering ASUU strike to last this long. Let me repeat; youth should wake up from their slumber. Youth should know who is their foe and who likes them.

I now advise the youth to make sure that they sustain their voter‘s card (PVC) to vote for the right leader in the upcoming election.

Muhammad Abubakar is an essayist and port. He wrote from Jos, Plateau State, via muhammadabubakar01002@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has promised to resolve the lingering strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Atiku spoke at the youths programme on “Intergenerational Synergy on Government”, organized by PDP to mark the 2022 International Youth Day celebration in Abuja on Friday, August 12, 2022. 

The former vice president argued that education is a fundamental right which every youth needs for their growth, and he would do the needful when elected president 

“This is because education is fundamental to your growth. It doesn’t matter whether you are in politics, business or any sector. The fundamental right of every youth or every citizen is to be educated.” He said

Atiku criticized the government and boasted that he had invested in education for three decades. He then pledged to work with university authorities to end the strike. 

“I take very strong exception to the strike by ASUU and the government’s inability to resolve the crisis. I have been investing in education for the past thirty years. I pledge I will work with university authorities to end these incessant strikes that are causing unacceptable harm to the ability of our children to get an education.”

ASUU has been on strike since February 14, consequent of which most public universities have been shut down.

By Usman Muhammad Salihu

The menace of drug abuse, spreading like a wildfire in our contemporary society, is gradually or has already become rampant among many members of our society, ranging from old, young and adult and at the same time men and women, rich and the poor.

Drug abuse is in essence, the misuse of drugs or taking them without doctor’s, physician’s or pharmacy’s directives for the purpose of pleasurable effects on the brain, especially by the youths.

The problem keeps on escalating to the extent that you hardly see a group of ten to fifteen youths without finding a member or two that engage themselves in drug abuse.

Nowadays, many people tend to misunderstand why or how some people become drug abusers to the extent that some people look at those addicts as people who lack proper upbringing and thereby ridiculing them instead of counselling them.

According to the National Institute of Health Espanol, as a person continues to use drugs, the brain adapts by reducing the ability of cells in the reward circuit to respond to it. This reduces the high nature which the person feels compared to the high mood they felt when first taking the drug — an effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug to try and achieve the same high mood. These brain adaptations often lead to the person becoming less and less able to derive pleasure from other things they once enjoyed, like food, sex or other social activities. These changes are what lead to drug addiction.

As an addict continues taking drugs improperly, the brain adapts by reducing the number of ability cells in the brain circuit that responds. This reduces the high one enjoys when taking the drugs for the first time and thereby increases the dosage for the enjoyment of the first high. Long-term drug usage causes changes in the brain circuit as well as affects its functions.

Despite that, no one may be able to predict the exact causes of drug abuse and addiction in our society, especially among the youth but rather common factors such as the environment, which includes friends, family, peer pressure, and economic status among others.

Other contributing factors are parental guidance, early exposure to drugs, physical abuse, stress, age, gender inequality, ethnicity, genes and mental disorder, all of these contribute immensely to the phenomenon.

The consequences of drug abuse on Nigerian youth, if not properly curtailed, may result in so many social vices as we witness today. These include; poor academic performance, mental disorder,  increasing number of out of school, financial instability, sexual abuse, diseases, difficulties in decision making, depression, anxiety and rampant deaths. Others are troubled relationships, increased crime rate in society, hopeless feelings, etc.

Despite the above-mentioned effects, many youths continue engaging themselves in drug abuse how would one measure the future of our youths in Nigeria? Doom indeed!

Drug abuse is a disease whose quitting takes more than good intentions. It changes the thinking capacity of humans and as such makes quitting it very hard even for those intending to.

But the good news is that drug abuse can be prevented and the best way of resisting and preventing the drug abuse phenomenon in our society is through the creation of awareness of the dangers of the menace. By informing the public about the effects of drug abuse, especially among our youths who are the leaders of tomorrow, the problem will be drastically reduced if not eradicated entirely when teachers, parents, health care providers, media personnel and community leaders join hands together in educating the populace.

Making goodwill intention of resisting drug abuse by an addict, and also seeking God’s intervention is indeed a greater move of bringing an end to the problem.

Usman Muhammad Salihu is an HND 1 student of Mass Communication, Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic Bauchi State. He can be reached via muhammadu5363@gmail.com.