THE CAUSES OF YOUTH RESTIVESS AND ITS PANACEA, A CASE STUDY OF OMUMA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, RIVERS STATE, A PAPER PRESENTED BY NWEKE, EMMANUEL ONYEKACHI ON THE OCASSION OF END OF YEAR MEETING ORGANIZED BY OMUMA ONLINE FORUM ON THE 30TH OF DECEMBER, 2014 AT UMUEBIE EBERI TOWN HALL, OMUMA L.G.A. RIVERS STATE. INTRODUCTION The words ‘youth’ and ‘restiveness’ have become so commonly used together in the last couple of years that it seems to have taken on a life of its own. In the last decade and more there has been a proliferation of cases all over the country including Omuma and indeed the world at large, of youth agitations which have tons of people dead and valuable infrastructure as well as personal properties lost and destroyed. A sustained protestation embarked upon to enforce a desired outcome from a constituted authority by an organised body of youths, fits the label of youth restiveness. It is also a combination of any action or conduct that constitutes unwholesome, socially unacceptable activities engaged in by the youths in any community. It is a phenomenon which in practice has led to a near breakdown of law and order, low productivity due to disruption of production activities, increasing crime rate, intra-ethnic hostilities, and harassment of prospective developers and other criminal tendencies. This scourge has been around for a long time and it looks as though it is defying solutions. Maybe the question that needs to be asked is what is truly responsible for this expression of dissatisfaction by the youth? Have their complaints over the years not been heard or attended to? Is there more to the killings and destruction than just drawing attention to the needs they want met? Are the youths trying to draw society’s attention to themselves more than the issues they appear to be fronting? These and more are the questions we would try to tackle head on today. In Nigeria for instance, the Niger Delta region which is unarguably the bedrock of the oil industry in Nigeria permeated the news for a lengthy period of time as the youths of the region tried various means of getting government and oil companies to pay attention to their dire conditions of living and alleviate their sufferings since according to them, the resources which is building the nation is flowing from their land so by virtue of that they should also be partakers of its benefits. This strife led to a rise in kidnapping and vandalization of oil pipelines as well as other vices that were being perpetrated. After a period of years, the Nigerian government intervened and the Amnesty program was created to help deliver some of the promises which government had made to the youths in those areas. The baton was soon handed over to the Eastern Nigeria. Increase in the rate of armed robbery attacks, kidnappings as well as unbridled thuggery became the order of the day. Omuma had its turn of wanton brigandary kidnapping in 2010 to 2011 in which the agitation of the involved youths were not known as the near-human criminals kidnapped virtually every member of the community that owned a bicycle. Today the Northern part of Nigeria has literally erupted with unrivalled violence. Bomb blasts, kidnaps and killings of Nigerians and others have become the prevailing trend. Despite beefing up of security in these areas, the problems still looms. This situation begs the questions, ‘’what is the government/citizens/communities/chiefs/youths of the day willing to do to put a permanent end to these problems. CAUSES OF YOUTH RESTIVENESS IN OMUMA (NIGERIA) A number of studies have identified factors responsible for youth restiveness. Elegbeleye (2005) identifies three major factors: the peer motivated excitement of being a student, the jingoistic pursuit of patriotic ideas, and perceived victimization arising from economic exploitation. Another study carried out in Niger Delta region by Ofem and Ajayi (2008) identified lack of humanitarian and social welfare, lack of good governance, corrupt practices of government officials, inadequate training programmes, unemployment, inadequate recreational facilities, lack of quality education, and so on, as the reasons for incessant youth restiveness. This implies that catalogues of closely-related factors are responsible for youth restiveness. 1. Failed Parental/Congenial Influence: The minutest micro unit of every society is the family and it is the springboard to every other units of the community or society (Emma Nweke 2014). To say the least, there is failed fatherhood in our society today. Most parents have become like the youths or worse than the youths leading riots in their various homes -and not exercising the divine order of responsibility of care for the procreated. Parents should reconsider their strategies in bringing up their children in expected moral standards. There is no plausible excuse for abandoning children in the name of modern economic pressure to nannies and house keepers, who also are in need of ‘keeping’ themselves (Amaele 2013). Ninety eight per cent of the youth issues we have today are caused by the negligence of children by their parents, even the Holy Bible records ‘train up a child in the way he should go, so that when he is old, he will not depart from it’. 2. The Youths-self Negligence: He that is forsaken must not also forsake himself (Omuma proverb). If our parents have failed us, we the youths must not also fail ourselves. We are the architect of own fortune, we design our own stars, we call up our own sun, we build and read our own tracks (Emma Nweke 2014). In essence, the youths should understand that the times are changing and cannot afford not to trail the blaze. Youths must take the lead and begin to plan for their lives early enough by working hard. The youths are also human beings, you are not an idiot, you are not a biological fantasy, you are not an accident, you are a hero and not a zero! ‘There is none born idiot’ (Esther Nweke, 2013). 3. Bad Governance: Good governance is required for the growth and development of any nation. Unfortunately, in Nigeria bad governance is more common than good, resulting in disjointed development. The World Bank (1992) identifies the main characteristics of bad governance to include: • failure to properly distinguish between what is public and what is private, leading to private appropriation of otherwise public resources; • inability to establish a predictable frame work for law and government behaviour in a manner conducive to development, or arbitrariness in the application of laws and rules; • excessive rules, regulations, licensing requirement and so forth which impede the functioning of markets and encourage rent-seeking; • priorities that are inconsistent with development, thereby resulting in misallocation of national resources; and • exceedingly narrow base for, or non-transparent, decision making. These and more are the features of most administration in Nigeria. For instance, Onyekpe (2007) observes that successive administrations in Nigeria have not allocated much to the needs of the youth, and, worse still, the meager allocation are often diverted by government officials to their private accounts and projects. Thus, youths are restive and agitated when they perceive that resources meant for them are being wasted by those in authority. This paper advocates that any individual without a prior working experience, should not be allowed to hold any political office, except a conglomerate public and corporate decorum training be carried out by electoral regulatory bodies for all contestants prior election. Though this may not turn them into saints but will provide background knowledge of resource management and corporate governance. 4. Unemployment: Unemployment is a hydra-headed monster which exists among the youth in all developing countries. Experts believe that the number of jobless youth is twice as high as official estimate. Ozohu-Suleiman (2006) notes Nigerian youths are trapped by unemployment. Zakaria (2006) believes that “the rising tide of unemployment and the fear of a bleak future among the youth in African countries have made them vulnerable to the manipulations of agents’ provocateurs”. These include aggrieved politicians, religious demagogues, and greedy multinationals that employ these youths to achieve their selfish ambitions. Zakaria (2006) strongly believes that the absence of job opportunities in developing countries is responsible for youth restiveness with disastrous consequences. My dear youths these quotes are not intended to provide you alibi for not being employed. There will soon be a debate ‘unemployment is self-inflicted – discuss’. This is because the world has changed in all ramifications, sellable skills are what is in vogue. So how are you brazing up with the challenge of skilling up yourself? How employable are you? 5. Poverty: Poverty connotes inequality and social injustice and this traumatizes the poor. More than 70 percent of people in Nigeria are in abject poverty, living below the poverty line, and one- third survive on less than US $1 dollar a day (Zakaria, 2006). This figure includes an army of youth in urban centres in Nigeria who struggle to eke out a living by hawking chewing sticks, bottled water, handkerchiefs, belts, etc. The sales-per-day and the profit margin on such goods are so small that they can hardly live above the poverty line. Disillusioned, frustrated, and dejected, they seek an opportunity to express their anger against the state. Aworawo (2000) and Zakaria (2006) agreed that there is a link among poverty, loss of livelihood, inequality, and youth restiveness as evidenced by the numerous violent protests against the wielders of power in Nigeria. Youths should note that poverty infliction is an employ of Machiavellian Political rulers. Politicians ensure that there is continued poverty in the land, especially among the youths so that they will continue to retain their pool of violent recruits for electoral thuggery and mayhem (Emma Nweke, 2014). 6. Inadequate Educational Opportunities and Resources: Quality education has a direct bearing on national prestige, greatness, and cohesion. The knowledge and skill that young people acquire help determine their degree of patriotism and contribution to national integration and progress. Between 2000 and 2004, about 30 percent of Nigerian youth between 10 and 24 were not enrolled in secondary school (Population Reference Bureau, 2006). Perhaps the prohibitive cost of acquiring education is responsible. The aftereffect of this situation is that thousands of young people roam the streets in cities in Nigeria. Those who manage to complete secondary school have no opportunities for tertiary education. Having being denied the chance to reach their potential, they are disorientated and readily available for antisocial actions (Onyekpe, 2007). Worse still, some who struggle to enroll in various educational institutions drop out due to lack of basic learning facilities. This situation is attributable to the dwindling resources of government at both federal and state levels as a result of an economic meltdown or some time moral melt-down resulting from high profile corruption. 7. Lack of Basic Infrastructure: Most rural communities and urban slums in Nigeria have no access to potable water, health facilities, electricity, communication facilities, industries and commercial facilities, etc. Behind social unrest and youth restiveness in the country is the agitation for equitable distribution of resources. 8. Inadequate Communication and Information flow: Communication creates room for sharing information. It helps people express their thoughts and feelings, clarify problems, and consider alternative ways of coping or adapting to their situation. Such sharing promotes social cohesion. People must have access to communication facilities, to communicate with the people making the decisions that affect them. Sadly, rarely do people in Nigeria participate in decision-making processes on issues that affect their lives. Ifidon and Ahiauzu (2005), in their study of Niger Delta, revealed that inadequate communication and information flow is one factor responsible for youth restiveness in the area. PANACEA: Panacea here will refer to solutions and recommendations for a curtailed or totally eradicated youth restiveness in Omuma in particular and Rivers State (Nigeria) at large: 1. Integration of Chiefs/Royal Majesties in Security network and systems: It is recommended that the security architecture/formations should include the data base of all the chiefs and Royal Highnesses in their diary of security detailing. This will extend to other community members who should have first hand information of who lives in their village and report any suspected miscreant to appropriate authorities for questioning. ‘Restiveness’ or any other form of violence should be nipped in the bud. There should be a monthly or better still quarterly security reports from every domain to the security chiefs and rewards accorded where appropriate. 2. Active and Viable Local Government Council and Councilors: Omuma Councilors should domesticate or enact by-laws that have unique bearing in the lives of the Omuma youths. Laws that should promote growth among the youths should be looked into. For instance, there should be a bye-law that can make bride price uniform and reduced in a way any youth who finds a bride in the land would have to pay a little to own a wife. This is important because when a hitherto restive youth marries, his restiveness will definitely reduce, except for very rare psychiatric cases, in which case appropriate institutions may also be involved. Family heads with high record of criminal children should be made to answer for their irresponsibleness. The council should explore and exploit latent natural resources in Omuma and reasonably engage the youths. Such natural resources like cassava, palm fruits, mud, water, sand, timber, should be harnessed to the advantage of the youths. 3. Pro-activeness among the Youths: The youths should be tutored by owning agencies such as National Orientation Agency (NOA) on how to grow responsibly. Etiquettes and moral education should be more advertized than political bill boards. 4. Fear of God and Recognition of Almightiness: The Holy Bible instructs, “Remember the Lord your creator in the days of your youth”. The Bible writers are aware of the tendency and propensity of youths to forget God because of the various excitements associated with their age. No God fearing youth would involve in violent crime or unprovoked restiveness. Such a one will be conscious of the unfailing universal law of cause and consequence. Such a youth will seek to be humble, hardworking, not lazy and not given to procrastination. The devil finds a job for any one who assumes he has excess time. CONCLUSION It is not a good diminutive to be restive. Youths should understand that they can pursue and achieve their own happiness. Abraham Lincoln asserts “it is difficult to make a man miserable who thinks worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him”. And in the words of Alan Shaw we should admit that: “If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill, Be a scrub in the valley but be the best little scrub by the side of the hill, Be a bush, if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a bush, be a bit of the grass And some highway happier make; If you can’t be a Muskie, then just be a bass But the liveliest bass in the lake We can’t all be captains, we have got to be crew, There’s something for all us here There’s big work to do and there’ lesser to do And the task we must do is near If you can’t be a highway, Then just be a trail, If you can’t be the sun, be a star It isn’t size that you win or you fail Be the best of whatever you are” Finally, if you are the best you are, you will find no space for the emptiness called restiveness. God bless you all and thank you for your attention. REFERENCES Amaele, S. (2012) ‘The Cardinal Enemies of Man”, Harey Publications Coy, Port Harcourt Ajegbomogun, F.O. (2008). Information availability and the extent of use in public library, Abeokuta. Borno Library, Archival, and Information Science Journal 7 (1): 65-74. Amorawo, D. (2000). Mal-distribution and poverty as factors in the crisis of the Nigeria state. The Constitution: A Journal of Constitutional Development 1 (2): 1-13. Curras, E. (1987). Information as a fifth vital element and its influence on the culture of the Elegbeleye, O.S. (2005). Recreational facilities in schools: A panacea for youths’ restiveness. Journal of Human Ecology 18 (2): 93-98. Federal Government of Nigeria (2001). National Youth Policy. Available: thepresidency.gov.za/docs/policy /national _ youth _ policy.pdf Ifidon, S.E., & Ahiauzu, B. (2005). Information and conflict prevention in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. African Journal of Libraries, Archives, and Information Science 15 (2): 125-132. Ndagana, B.L., & Ogunrombi, S.A. (2006). Blazing the trial in poverty alleviation among students in Nigeria: The Federal University of Technology, Yola. Library Philosophy and Practice 9 (1). Available: unllib.unl.edu/LPP/ndagana.htm Ofem, N.I., & Ajayi A.R. (2008). Effects of youth empowerment strategies on conflict resolutions in the Niger Delta of Nigeria: Evidence from Cross River State. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development 6 (1,2): 139-146.
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