Youth Existence and the Conditions of Exclusion and Underdevelopment in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examines the socio-economic and cultural conditions of youths in Nigeria. Even though youths are seen as `leaders of tomorrow', many factors inhibit them from achieving this dream. The paper discusses how the phenomenon of cultural disorientation, the failure of government and the vagaries of globalization have precipitated several complex obstacles in the lives of youths in the nation. A major consequence is that the youths have taken their destinies into their hands by resorting to violence. Cultural violence encapsulated in various modes of alienation from their traditional cultural roots, and state violence, in all its shades and hues, have turned them into a socially excluded people in their own homeland. They, in turn, have come to perceive of violence as a legitimate means of asserting their rights and a `normal' way of life. A critical implication of this unwholesome development is the jettisoning of the laudable values of cultural heritage for lumpish modes of living. Consequently, underdevelopment is becoming increasing entrenched in various spheres of the nation's life. Thus, the paper concludes on the note that it has become imperative for the state and all stakeholders to make huge economic investments in the Nigerian youths, and more important, to evolve strategies of integrating them into the mainstream of socio-cultural developments in the country.


(J Cultural Studies: 2002 4(1): 133-155)