“No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline; it is condemned to bleed to death[1]. Young people should never be seen as a burden on any society, but as its most precious asset.”[2]
Abraham is still smarting from his bruises. Last night, he got waylaid in some alley by a gang of urchins, and refused to give up his wallet. The much they punched and kicked, the more he clung to his wallet that contained only enough to bring him to school today. Until the police showed up, he had continued only, to yell for help. It was his last bucks, and had to save them for school the next day. He had no option but to walk the three kilometers from the beachside to the makeshift shack he shares with his two brothers and a sister, and expect to be mobbed.
Today, he had gone to see his marketing lecturer who had agreed to censor the tourism marketing product that had taken him five months to draft, and another two, to assemble. He held the one sheet of paper containing his plan in his right hand, and looked poised as he approached the lecturer’s office. He managed to keep a straight face, as his bruises still stung. Minutes later, Abraham exits the office, looking disparaged. For the umpteenth time, he’d been told that his toils can’t get him anywhere near breaking the jinx of poverty that so looms over his family. His plan once again, is declared not good enough.
Abraham is trying to get above the poverty line in which he was born in. His eldest brother could not finish secondary education due to lack of funds, and now works with a local vehicle mechanic. Kunle his other brother had finished from the state polytechnic four years earlier through a government scholarship, but still wander the streets of Lagos, seeking for the Golden Fleece. He had once been close to landing a job, but was turned down at the last minute, for the inability of drawing up a simple cash flow plan for a startup. Abraham like Kunle, was benefitting from the ambivalence of the Local Authorities, and he had gone ahead to the state owned university.
Now wanting to break away from the clutches of poverty, he intends to start some venture on his own, control his flow of income and just be his own boss. However, he had failed again today, in setting off his aspirations in a good start. The lecturer had told him how the product has failed in basic requirements including a business plan, a financial projection, and its unique selling point. These terms seem vague and indistinct to Abraham whom like many other million youngsters in the developing world, get their bright business ideas turned into the dustbin, for lack of basic business knowledge. It is common sight in Nigeria find youngsters who have bright business ideas but can not start-off due to lack of funds, but principally due to the absence of basic entrepreneurial knowledge. These ideas most often seem to be driven by the need to escape the ever looming glare of poverty.
Unlike his peers who are doing well, living in caring and cohesive societies which provide them excellent education and an unprecedented knowledge of the world around them[3], Abraham and many others in Nigeria, are consigned to the hard facts of instability that has rocked his country for decades unending. Analogous to numerous countries in the third world, the crumble of colonialism, caused decomposed ethnic lines and City-State allegiances to bear cracks of insecurity and ill-preparedness to the glory and worship of urbanization, independence and civilization, which have resulted in weaknesses in the State-centric concept of security − regarding development, human rights, peace and good governance. Thus, whether it concerned civil wars with their dramatic consequences, natural disasters and accidents, social dissatisfaction, or yet, health crises and major pandemics, populations face life threatening dangers − paramount above others, poverty.
Ending poverty, the aspiration of the Millennium Development Goals, is the overriding developmental objective of the 21st century. Despite great progress in the past 50 years, 1.2 billion people—one-fifth of the people on Earth—live on less than US $1 a day, without access to many of the social services basic to a decent human life. Their plight requires a global response making full use of all the financial, intellectual and organizational resources that we can muster.[4] Poverty however, cannot be analyzed without taking into account the effects of the growing interconnectedness and interaction within and between countries and regions. Some have clearly benefited from the increased interdependence.
Despite great progress in some countries and regions, deep poverty remains a stubborn and intractable problem across much of the world. Substantial gains in some countries have been accompanied by deep losses in others, suffer from hunger and lack access to water, sanitation and energy. To cap it all, young people account for most persons suffering from the effects of poverty and wanton lack of opportunities. This group of people, aged between 15 and 24 total almost 1.1 billion and constitute 18 per cent of the global population. Youth and children together, including all those aged 24 years and below, account for nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population.[5] In general, therefore, the definition of youth as the period of transition from dependence to independence relates to all societies and could serve as one of the fundamental principles of the United Nations global agenda. Independence, in the sense of representing personal autonomy, is part of the Western process of individualization[6] and, as such, is an example of a culturally conditioned relationship between an individual and society.
Youth are an increasingly compelling subject for study, entering into political space in highly complex ways. To pay attention to youth is to pay close attention to the topology of the social landscape – to power and agency; public, national and domestic spaces and identities, and their articulation and disjunctures; memory, history, and sense of change; globalization and governance; gender and class. Youth as a historically constructed social category, as a relational concept, and youth as a group of actors, form an especially sharp lens through which social forces are focused. Through this lens, relations and constructions of power are refracted, recombined, and reproduced, as people make claims on each other based on age – claims that are reciprocal but asymmetrical.[7]
Young people have an ambiguous economic and cultural relationship with the globalizing world. They are relatively adaptable and therefore perhaps best able to make use of the new opportunities presented; they are the best-educated generation, particularly in areas relating to new information and communication technology (ICT); they benefit from economic growth; many travel around the globe for work, studies, exchange projects and vacations; and the telephone and Internet enable them to stay in touch with friends and relatives all over the world.[8] There are still many young people, however, especially in developing countries, who lack the economic power to benefit from the opportunities globalization offers. They have been left out of the modernization process and remain on the other side of the digital divide, but are simultaneously finding their cultural identity and local traditions threatened.
However, to succeed in today’s competitive global economy, they must be equipped with advanced skills beyond literacy; to secure employment, or some lifeline out of poverty. Young people who start new enterprises are creating jobs for themselves and reaching their personal goals. Nonetheless, lack of experience and resources mean that a high percentage of these efforts fail during the first few months of operation. Starting a business requires courage in the best of times; courage to take the risk of putting your own money into an idea; courage to take on the competition; and courage to take a leap into an unknown future. But there is much to opening a business than having the right idea and willing to take a risk.[9]
For an entrepreneur to succeed, he or she needs to have basic entrepreneurial skills, such as knowing how to communicate well, make a budget andl. The need for effective training is even more profound in countries where traditional educational systems rarely provide it even on the basic level. In such environments like the one in Nigeria, there is a need to foster an entrepreneurial culture, introducing entrepreneurial principles not only within the general population,[10] but most especially, amongst the youth who are termed “the leaders of tomorrow”. Dexterity in book keeping and accounting is necessary in drafting a business plan, making a financial projection, making a budget and the understanding of financial statements; the ability to negotiate prices and contracts; excellent external relations and brand positioning; and a skill in marketing is also important.
Conversely, as these skills are needed for entrepreneurship, there exist a few youngsters who against all odds, have tried to expand their ideas into money-making ventures that could be integrated into the private sector. But integration have not been possible, due to the lack of sufficient funds to sustain the venture in its formative years, the lack of support management expertise to advise the startup, unavailability of skilled and competent labour, and indeed, certain government policies that seem hostile to startups.
One great barrier preventing young people from setting up businesses and assuming leadership positions even as it concerns management is the systematic exclusion and marginalization of youth from decision-making and political processes at national and local levels world over, most especially in developing countries. A vivid example, is a study carried out by The Conflict, Security and Development Group (CSDG) in Nigeria which identified that, “the minimum age for becoming a lawmaker at the state level and the Lower Chamber (House of Representatives) at the national level has been raised from 21 and 25 in 1979 and 1989, to 30 years in 2005, while that of a Senator (Upper Chamber at National Law-making Chamber) has been raised from 25 to 35 years. Unsurprisingly, there is no single member of the Senate who is under 35 years of age, and the average structure of Senators (2003-2007) shows that people aged 45-55 years form the core with 44% of the 109-member Chamber, followed by those between 36 and 40 years (17.2)%. Similarly, in the National House of Representatives, of the total 360 members, only five are under 35 years of age (all male), and people aged 41 to 51 years form the core (59%), followed by those under 40 years of age – 23% (but mostly within age 35-40 years) and those aged 52 years and above (15%). The average age in the House of Representatives is 45 years. The current state of affairs reflects deterioration in youth participation over time given that in 1993, 52.4% of members were between age 30 and 40 years, and this dropped to 46% in 1999 and 23% in 2005.”[11]
The implications of the continued exclusion of youth from decision-making processes, both social and political portends ominous consequences as has been starkly displayed in countries like Cambodia, Liberia, Columbia, Angola, Nigeria, Haiti et cetera. Large groups are being excluded from the benefits of production and decision making. For example, there are very few cases in which the youth ministry and the youth budget have been administered by youth themselves. This neglect has also been translated in to a recurring cycle of unemployment, unemployability and underemployment.
To reduce the failure rate of youth enterprises and address critical issues during the start-up process, the public and private sectors need to increase their efforts to support young people by providing training, technical assistance and small credits. Government must show commitment towards catering for its youth populace through developing a national employment strategy targeting youth , and An example of the attempt at linking education and training is the Nigeria’s National Open Apprenticeship Scheme in Nigeria under the Ministry of Labor and Productivity’s National Directorate of Employment. Under the scheme vocational education and training in more than 100 occupations are provided to unemployed young people. The programme uses production facilities such as workshops and technical instructors of private industries, government institutions and, by way of a subcontracting arrangement, wayside craftspeople and tradespeople (informal sector operators). Unemployed young people and school-leavers can train for six months to three years under reputable master craftspeople. To enhance trainees’ theoretical understanding of the trade in which they are involved, theory classes are organized every Saturday to complement the practical training received. Since the scheme’s inception in 1987 nearly 600,000 unemployed young people have received training, and 400,000 of them have started their own microenterprises.[12]
Internship programmes and entry wages that are below average wages are another way to give young people a chance to work. Many employers are reluctant to employ young people without experience. Working for a period with lower wages could give young people a chance to demonstrate their competencies and acquire new skills through learning-by-doing. The introduction of apprenticeships in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa has proven successful and could be replicated in other countries. Social entrepreneurs can also be of great use, if they refuse to hoard information and experience, but are willing to share expertise and advice to young and upcoming entrepreneurs.
Young people are growing up in a world of globalization and inequality, taking part in a development process that is simultaneously bringing people closer together and widening the divisions between them. They are in the process of establishing a sense of identity in what is essentially an insecure world, and this underlying instability may serve to magnify the tensions and lack of control they experience on a daily basis. They ought to be provided with the enabling environment where their entrepreneurial abilities can be leveraged on, towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal on poverty, and provide a stream for the growth of GDPs of nations.
[1] Kofi Annan
[2] UNDESA, “World Youth Report 2003.” (New York, 2004).
[3] UN, “World Youth Report 2003”. (New York, 2004).
[5] ILO, “Youth and Global Trends.” (Geneva, 2001).
[6] Rose, N., “Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought” (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, (1999). The process of modernization involved the breakdown of some of the more important institutions of traditional society such as the larger family, the fixed clan and agrarian village life to make way for urbanization and the beginnings of the wage-based industrial labour movement.
[7] Durham, D., “Youth and the Social Imagination in Africa: Introduction to Parts 1 & 2.” Anthropological Quarterly. Volume 73 Number 3. pp113-120. (2000).
[8] Boswell, C., and J. Crisp, “Poverty, International Migration and Asylum.” Helsinki: United Nations University/World Institute for Development Economics Research. (2004).
[9] CIPE, “The Prosperity Papers #1: Entrepreneurship.” Economic Reform Issue Paper, No. 0401. (Washington, 2004).
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ismail, O. and Alao, A., “Youths in the Interface of Development and Security.” Conflict, Security and Development. Volume 7 Number 1. pp3-25. (Routledge, 2007).
[12] Kanyenze, G., Mhone, G. and Sparreboom, T., “Strategies to Combat Youth Unemployment and Marginalization in Anglophone Africa.” Discussion Paper 14. Harare: International Labour Office, Southern Africa Multidisciplinary Advisory Team. (Harare, 2000).
