File: People protest against hardship on the street of Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Thousands of mostly young people poured onto the streets across Nigeria on Thursday as they protested against the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse some of the protesters in the capital, Abuja. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
By Agbonkhese Oboh
International Youth Day is celebrated every year on August 12. This year’s celebration should be especially for the Nigerian youth. For this country has the largest relative youth population in the world. And, for many democratic years now, they squeeze water from rocks.
There are 232,679,478 Nigerians occupying 910,770 Km2 (351,650 sq. miles). That puts the population density at 255 people per Km2 (662 people per mi2).
Of the population, 70% are under 30 years old and 42% under 15. So we have about 151 million young people, with a median age of 18.1. They are clicking across political, tribal, and religious divides. And clicking any digital device clickable.
Guess the theme of this year’s International Youth Day. “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development”. It highlights the intersection of youth, digital innovation, and sustainable development, emphasising the crucial role young people play in using digital technologies to drive sustainable progress.
So, you see why it should be especially for the Nigerian youth. Give that boy or girl just a mobile phone and data, and they are competing with peers anywhere in the world. And this they do from a very disadvantaged position.
Furthermore, again and again, the Nigerian youth stares down the barrel of the gun to bare their minds. More poignantly is the reality that the guns are usually ‘held’ by those who mutilated a Nigeria that held so much promise. In fact, the present crop of aged thorns on the side of the Nigerian youth enjoyed a Nigeria that was soft.
International Youth Day history
In 1965, the United Nations General Assembly initiated a programme aimed at engaging young adults. They supported the Declaration on Promoting Peace, Mutual Respect, and Understanding among Youth and started allocating resources to empower young people.
This included recognizing emerging leaders and providing them with the tools needed to address global challenges. In 1999, the UNGC approved the recommendation from the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, leading to the establishment of International Youth Day. The first commemoration of this day took place on August 12, 2000.
International Youth Day is highly significant as it offers a chance to recognise and celebrate the valuable qualities of young people and their potential to shape the future of nations. It also serves as a reminder of the challenges youth face globally, such as educational barriers, limited access to healthcare, and economic instability.
The day encourages collaborative efforts to address these issues and highlights the importance of empowering young people and providing them with the necessary resources for their development.
As we all mark International Youth Day today, let’s say a word of prayer for the Nigerian youth. They just shook up the leadership of the country with a 10-day protest. They may never get what they demanded, which, by the way, were things any sane government gives primacy to. But no one will shut the mouths these young men and women. Not in Nigeria. Not anywhere in the world.
Some day they will get what they want — a government that knows how to govern beyond rhetorics and political demagoguery.
Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of Vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.