Nwachukwu Lucky Kelechukwu: INVESTING IN YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS; A VERITABLE MEAN...

Nwachukwu Lucky Kelechukwu: INVESTING IN YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS; A VERITABLE MEAN...:                                                                                                              INVESTING IN YOUTH...

INVESTING IN YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS; A VERITABLE MEANS TOWARDS ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

                                                                                                            

INVESTING IN YOUTH  ORGANIZATIONS; A VERITABLE MEANS TOWARDS ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

A youth basically, is any member of the society who is between the ages of 15 to 35 years; hence, a youth led organisation is an aggregation of young people that are within a similar age bracket who pursue common goals for the betterment of the youths in general.

Nigeria has a population of over one hundred and forty people (NPC 2006) and one third of this population are young people between the ages of 10-24 years. In view of this, The National Youth Policy (2001) defines youths as comprising all young people between the ages of 18-35 years and who are citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (p2).

This article basically seeks to address the issues involved in investing in youth led organisations and also point out the areas of failures and credits of the organisations that are invested in by the Government.

Permit me to fully acknowledge the works of the Federal Government of Nigeria towards the emancipation of the youths and giving this set of people a collective voice, this he has done through the SURE-P, YOU WIN, and most importantly the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students and Youth matters. Suffice it to say that, establishing these important avenues for the ‘common’ youth have not fully permeated to those youths in the hills of Plateau and the creeks of the Niger Delta. It is not enough to have the National Youth Councils. We need those youth oriented councils and associations to be funded through grants and supports, not just supporting these organisations through an open grant competition but sponsoring her projects which are aimed at helping the lives of our brothers and sisters who have no access to meaningful existence. It is not enough to buy cosy and flamboyant buses and vehicles for the National Youth councils, the youths need the presence of the government and not buses that convey political sycophants , we are aware of the plethora of corruption and pitiable level of incompetence exhibited by some of these associations, who by all intents and purposes are supposed to be the voices of the Nigeria youth, but all we see are greed,

corruption, flamboyance, undue processes employed in other to attend

International conferences and summits that are supposed to better the lives of

the youths back home in Nigeria.

I think the Youth led Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria are ripe to be

invested in. Nigeria a country of more than 140 million people do not have a

youth representative to the United Nations, it could be that these government

established youth councils conduct sham appointments into such positions

without due consultation with other youths and registered youth organizations,

They just go ahead and make arbitrary decisions on behalf of the Nigerian youth

they claim to represent.

Time has come for development through investing in youth led projects and

ideas, investing in the massive humanitarian work carried out by several youth

led organizations who seek to make the lives of the rural members of the society

meaningful.

Commitment and transparency should be the watchword of the (se) government

approved Youth council(s), political thuggery and sycophancy should be

discontinued, the Nigerian youths should put an end to fanning the embers of

these unpatriotic politicians who are out there to cash in on their gullibility and

take advantage of their exalted councils to rig elections to the detriment of the

‘common’ youth.

A NEEDS assessment committee should be set up by the Federal Ministry of

Youth development to access and fully determine the basic need of the Nigerian

Youth and the number of fully approved youth led CSO’s in Nigeria who are

engaged in field work.

Youth Project grant committee should also be established to sponsor small

scale youth oriented projects for those youths who cannot afford to continue

with already established projects so as to meet the 2015 UN MDG’s deadline.

There should be a transparent selection of delegates to attend International

Conferences, Workshops and summits, and arbitrary decisions on who to attend

should be discouraged as it is an ill wind that blows nobody good.

Finally, the Nigerian Youths are fuels of the Nigerian economy; we need more

actions and less long speeches. We are not just the future; we are the hope of

this great nation. The future is now and not tomorrow, we are not finished, we

have just begun.

NWACHUKWU LUCKY KELECHUKWU

08165065880

 FACULTY OF LAW

Chairperson, International Youth Council, Abuja Chapter.