Youths and Post-military Democracy in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the study
The main objective of this study is to examine the the role of youths in sustaining post-military democracy in Nigeria. Specifically, the following objectives were addressed:
- To ascertain the challenges of sustaining democracy in Nigeria.
- To determine the impact of youths on sustaining democracy in Nigeria.
- Proffer solutions to sustaining democracy in Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Concepts of Youth and Democracy
The concept of youth is being perceived by individuals and organizations differently. Youth is usually considered as life time between childhoods and adulthood. The second National Youth Policy Document of Federal Republic of Nigeria (2009) defines youth as the young male and female citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ranging from 18 to 35 years of age. The policy recognizes and anticipates the challenges that the youth may likely be confronted with and pointes out objectives and implementation plans which will be put in place so as to empower the youth to shape their destiny for them to participate actively in shaping the political and economic destiny of our nation. (Suleiman 2015: 1).
According to the United Nations definition (2010), youth are people between the age of 13 and 30 years. They are in the centre between the dependency of childhood and that of adulthood. Thus, the youth are neither as children nor adults. The Youth are very important in the society because they devote much time and energy in sustaining the economy of state in various capacities which includes Educators, artisans, farmers, doctors, scientist, etc. (Abdulkadir 2010: 124-125).
Similarly, the age bracket for the youth varies from one country to another and from one organization to others. For instance, United Nations and World Bank consider youth as 13 to 30 years. But the Nigerian National Council on youth development sees youth as young males and females aged 18 to 35 which are citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Physiologists do not use the concept of ‘youth’ as such but use ‘Puberty’ to describe physiological changes in a developing organism. The physiologist use ‘Adolescence’ to describe the mental-biological changes involved in human development. In addition, the term ‘young man’ describes transitional stage between childhood and adulthood (Kano 2010. Pp. 1-5). According to Dalhatu (2012) as cited in (Mohammed 2015), youth varies not only across countries but across agencies. The World Bank defines the term ‘youth’ as those who are between the ages of 15 to 35 (Mohammed 2015: 238).
The term ‘Democracy’ has been variously defined, it has no single meaning. The word democracy drives its meaning from two Greek words, Demos meaning ‘’the community’’, and Kratos meaning ‘’sovereign power’’. Democracy is about the sovereign power of the people in the community. It is a system where the will of the qualified citizens rule (Ishaq 2008:113). Similarly, the popular definition provided by Abraham Lincon (1863) stated that, democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people. It is a system of government where various processes such as election, participation in decision making, etc are used to derive legitimacy (Mohammed 2015: 236-237).
The term ‘’government of the people’’ it refers to a democratic government. It relates to a legitimate government put in place by the people. Also being a government by the people refers to political participation of the citizens, either directly or through representation. Therefore, democracy is about consensus via corporation and dialogue, rather than marginalization be it on the basis of gender, religion, etc. The presence of accountability and transparency of the government towards enhancing the welfare of the citizens, government is said to be democratic which is government for the people (Ishaq 2008: 113).
The Development of Democracy in Nigeria 1999-2015.
The administration of General Abdussalami Abubakar (1998-1999) came up with a new transition program which terminated on 29th May, 1999. Three Political Parties were registered namely: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Peoples Party (APP), and Alliance For Democracy (AD) by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) which was established in August, 1998. It was the end of this transition programme that brought Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and his Vice Atiku Abubakar into office in May, 1999. (Okpaga 2010: 52-54).
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The survey research design was adopted for this work. The survey research design is a technique of research that study, analyze and interpret existing prevailing condition. The research design enabled the researcher to administer the questionnaire to many respondents at the same time. This is in consonance with the opinion of Kerlinger (1973) that, survey design studies large and small population by selecting and studying samples drawn from the population to discover the relative incidence, distribution and inter-relation of sociological and psychological variables of the study. Therefore, the researcher has decided to adopt this design because of its efficiency in drawing out information about the feelings and views from large subjects.
Nworgu (1991:55) described a survey research as one in which a group of people or items are studied by collecting and analyzing data from only a few people or items considered to be representative of the entire group. Survey design was used based on its power in detecting the effect of phenomena in large population there by extracting study sample responses that will best answer the questions raised by this study.
Area of study
The study was carried out in the Niger Delta region which comprises of Abia, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Imo, Ondo and Edo states. The study purposely selected youths residing in Cross Rivers State because of its level of socio-economic development as well as the population of youths residing in this state. The study focused on youths residing in Calabar town that were from each of the 36 states in the country.
Study Population
A study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description (Prince Udoyen: 2019).
The population for the study is made up of students, corps members, workers. In order to capture every geo-political zone, two hundred participants were selected from the population.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF DATA, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The table above (Table 2) indicates the score by percentage of challenges to sustaining democracy in ranking order and establishes that illiteracy is the most common and prominent among these challenge with a percentage of 60% followed by ethnic sentiments (54%). From the table (Table 2) it can be deduced that the least identified challenge to sustaining democracy in Nigeria is Cult activities (12%).
Research Question 2: What impact do youth have on sustaining democracy in Nigeria?
The table above (Table 3) establishes that the commonest impact of youths in sustaining democracy in Nigeria is their contribution to the labour force with 62% and their ability to mobilize other citizens for the electoral process. While the least scored is their impact in escalating unemployment in the country (13%) as an impact on sustaining democracy.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS,RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Summary of the finding
The findings of this study revealed the role youths in sustaining post-military democracy in Nigeria. The study therefore made the following findings from these questions indicate that:
- Illiteracy, ethnic sentiments, unemployment, poverty, bad governance, gender bias among others challenges the sustenance democracy in Nigeria.
- Youths through their activities as labour force, mobilizers for elections, voting strength, agitations for resource control, insecurity (Kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery), electoral violence and disrupting economic activities (pipe line vandalism) amongst others impact the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria.
- Empowerment programmes, access to education, employment opportunities and religious tolerance amongst others as measures that can be employed to sustain democracy in Nigeria.
Conclusion
This study has sort to critically analyse the roles of youths on sustaining post-military democracy in Nigeria. Emphasis was placed on the youth because of the economical and electoral value youths play in the society. The study has established that youths affect the investment opportunities, security, pace of development and electoral system of any country. These political and religious leaders have sort to exploit for their benefit which has consequential implications for the sustenance of democracy. This consequently led to these questions been asked to determine the challenges faced in sustaining democracy, the impact of youths on the sustenance of democracy in the country and the solutions that can be employed to sustain democracy in the country.
The conclusions from the study indicates that:
- Illiteracy, ethnic sentiments, unemployment, poverty, bad governance, gender bias among others challenges the sustenance democracy in Nigeria.
- Youths through their activities as labour force, mobilizers for elections, voting strength, agitations for resource control, insecurity (Kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery), electoral violence and disrupting economic activities (pipe line vandalism) amongst others impact the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria.
- Empowerment programmes, access to education, employment opportunities and religious tolerance amongst others as measures that can be employed to sustain democracy in Nigeria.
Recommendations
It is significant to note that political violence associated with elections and electoral processes has gained ground in Nigeria. For democracy to be well consolidated, the youth and politicians need to be enlightened about the danger of causing conflict among the people. Government should make sure that politicians avoid inflammatory remarks during their political rallies and during elections. Government should make sure that stakeholders are independently empowered by the constitutional law to take measures against those who violated the rules and regulations. Public agencies like the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which was inaugurated on September 29, 2000 as the hub of Nigeria’s fight against corruption, should be allowed to work without fear or mercy. Whoever found guilty of igniting conflicts among the citizens should be banned from political participation. Similarly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which was the second anti-corruption agency set-up by the Olusegun Obasanjo government established by the EFCC Act 2002 and reenacted in 2004, should also be allowed to discharge its duties properly. Also, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be given the power to sanction any politician who incites the youth to cause any disturbance in whatsoever way. Also, the constitution needs to be amended for it to categorically stipulate a stiff penalty for politicians who employ the youth to wreck havoc on the people. Lastly, there is a need for the proper and fair discharge of duties by the two anti-corruption bodies to avoid abuse of power. This is to forestall the recurrence of what happened during Obasanjo Administration as some of his opponents, such as General Buba Marwa, were arrested and detained while his loyalist, like Chief Tony Anenih, Chairman of Board of Trustees of PDP, who was alleged to have embezzled billions of naira when he was a Minister of Works, escaped humiliation, thereby seen as untouchable.
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