By: Sulaymon Ruqoyah Abidemi
Human development is that with stages from infantry (0-6yrs) of age, to childhood (7-12yrs) of age, teenage, (13-19yrs) of age, to adulthood and then to old age, this is a phenomenon that can’t be tampered with in human growth and development.
The infantry stage, childhood, and some part of the teenage age are categorized as a vulnerable stage, which provides the platform for mentorship and infusion of knowledge in preparation for a sustainable future. Verily, young age as we categorize it is the time for building future leaders in a bid for sustainability.
“Today’s generation of young people is the largest in history. Over 3 billion people- nearly half of the world’s population are under the age of 25. Almost 90% of all young people live in developing countries. Young people are a valuable asset to their countries and investing in them brings tremendous social and economic benefits. It is crucial that we engage the young decision-makers of tomorrow in the development decisions of today”.
Those were the words, in description of today’s young population by Nemat Shafik, permanent secretary – Department for International Development.
The most commonly used definition of sustainable development was given by Lester Brown, the founder of the Worldwatch Institute. It has been quoted in the report entitled “Our common future ” and it says ” Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Young people in their diverse contexts and realities know well, the simple ways that could best help them onto the ladder of opportunity and the path to realizing their ambitions and dream. And that’s why they are often championing for organized and ethical environment for productivity, workplaces free of child labour and forced labour, equality, as well as economic and developmental activities that have the tendency of contributing to the world development for the advancement of humanity.
Nations across the world rely on its youthful population to effect positive change especially in the area of security, education, economy through industrialization among others. But, the youths have repeatedly lamented various challenges they are confronted with such as poverty, inadequate access to education, poor health facilities and lack of equal opportunities.
The role and significance of youths in our society cannot be overemphasized. We could start by saying the realization of our country’s vision lies in the hands of our youths. They are filled with tremendous and towering ambitions. It will be a wastage of human resources if these youths are not nurtured and provided with the opportunity to exercise their talent. The primary aim of young people is to get a good education in order to become better citizens of tomorrow. They need to learn the skills to do the job that the country’s economy needs. They also need to know how to read, write, think, understand, analyze, and discuss the issues their country faces. The entire success of any nation depends on the viability of youths in critical areas of governance and development.
I suppose the main advantage of youth is the energy they have and along with that, the enthusiasm for the job and the willingness to learn. It will, however, become easy to exhibit this will when the right structure and environment are provided, It is important for young people to use and expand their creativity, and it is essential to develop leadership skills. Creativity and leadership used together will create a bridge to allow young people share new ideas and participate in the discussions involving other leaders around them.
Although youth are needed to sustain the development of the nation, however, their shortcomings must not be overlooked. Due to various reasons, some youths are corrupted, dirty, and rotten by narcotic tendencies they harbor unrealistic ideas and unattainable visions, wanting to change for change’s sake, impatience, arrogance, thinking technology can solve any problem. The” leaders of tomorrow” are not interested in reading or understanding history. As long as they have social media, they believe all problems could be solved. The biggest disadvantages of youth are their lack of experience and life skills. And of course, Experience and Maturity plays a key role in nation-building. So it is important we give them the platform to learn from the system in a bid to gather experience at the right stage of their development.
Of course, change requires the blending of many elements, such as new thinking, energy, consciousness, originality, and young people believe in a new, transformative and revolutionary way beyond the old rhetoric, the youth want instant success and that mindset of as we discuss it, it must be happening. In this sense, youthfulness is both an opportunity and a challenge if it cannot be truly and effectively mobilized.
For a productive, decent social, economic and political transformation, the youth must be consciously involved, pushing for purposeful leadership, giving advice, supporting necessary policies as related to the nation’s growth and being self-active. But how can they do this without proper monitoring and nurturing? Right education and provision of conducive environment? These issues, we must start discussing if truly we love the future of our countries.
In essence, just like the youths can be utilized for good purposes, they can also serve as destructive forces for any nation. So it’s left to the leaders of today to decide what they want to make of their populace, but the development of every nation lies within the ambit of successful transgenerational change of Barton.
Shouldn’t we rather invest in the future through our major strength?
Sulaymon Ruqoyah Abidemi writes from Ilorin via +234 903 402 0188