Having identified the domains of youth stewardship, it is important to discuss the challenges to our effectiveness in this role. And any discussion of challenges should, above all else be constructive. This is why I discuss each challenge in 3 parts: the first describing the challenge as I see it, the second highlighting some of its consequences, and the last part devoted to possible solution(s).

There are many ways of digging-up challenges to our development and progress. Youth Stewardship involves a youth-centered approach: A youth-centered approach to understanding how (why) the youth can change society, where such power to effect change is strongest, and the challenges to effectively applying this ability.

Here, I discuss 5 challenges to effective Youth Stewardship, as seen from a youth-centered perspective. They are:
1. The Identity Issue
2. The Problem of precedents
3. The Knowledge/Empowerment Gap
4. Corruption
5. Disillusionment and Apathy

1

A DYSFUNCTIONAL SENSE OF IDENTITY

What does it mean to speak of “The Nigerian Youth”? Is it just a collective term of reference for the 65 million Nigerians who qualify to be called ‘the youth’? Is the term relevant only when statistics of unemployment are being reviewed? Our Identity is who we are and how we show who we are. Our identity should have meaning beyond the statistical or accidental.

We establish, demonstrate and preserve our sense of identity by our actions and affiliations. And there is no clearer indication of the limited attention given to envisioning ‘The Nigerian Youth’ than the absence of positive ways of affiliating along the lines of shared values, etc. When being a Nigerian Youth is defined by belonging to a demographic often associated with negative statistics, it becomes obvious why many young people strive to be anything but the typical Nigerian Youth.

This means that while our shared identity should serve to unite us in a fundamental way, in reality we are pressured to establish who we are by disaffiliation, not affiliation. To be fair, disaffiliation is not in itself a negative thing. We defend our reputations as much by affiliation as by disaffiliation. The problem arises when the need to disaffiliate is not balanced by the pull to affiliate; to associate.

CONSEQUENCE: A DYSFUNCTIONAL SENSE OF SOLIDARITY

The consequence of this dysfunctional identity is that true solidarity is lacking among the youth. Solidarity is about togetherness, commitment, unity of purpose and of action. Without real solidarity, the 5 factors I highlighted in the second article of this series, will not be the sources of empowerment they can be in our cause to improve our lives and to be the best we can be.

Without real solidarity, rooted in an identity as dynamic as we are, which reflects our values and our best hopes for the future, the power of the youth will continue to be exploited for political gain.

SOLUTION

We need to attempt to provide an informal, value-based, forward-looking answer to the question: what does it mean to be a Young Nigerian? Also, we need to address the strong pressures to disaffiliate by encouraging the development of fora based on our shared values where young people can engage in informed dialogue with each other. Such institutions, formal or informal, will need to be well-managed and organized to keep participants accountable.

2

A VACUUM OF WORTHY PRECEDENTS

Simply put, this means that there are few (if any) local examples or models to emulate in rallying young people to their cause of stewardship. This is a problem of great significance because it reveals something about the depth of the issues we confront. I argue this point cautiously because I realize that the absence of celebrated precedents does not prove that such precedents do not exist. In other words, this problem can be recast as a problem of perception. It could well be that there are many success stories which have simply not been given the kind of attention they deserve. To determine the real state of affairs, we must seek answers to some serious questions.

Are we dealing with problems which other people (in our country or community) have been able to overcome? Are examples of success from other countries adaptable to our situation? What can we learn from our past as a nation about how to move forward with our goals and objectives as the youth? How did the youth of yesteryears organize to protect domains of youth stewardship like the learning domain (schools and informal educational institutions)? What have others done to protect the literal and metaphorical street through which we young people must navigate? Are our problems unique to our time?

To the extent that our problems are not entirely unique to our time, the vacuum of worthy precedents is a serious challenge to effective youth stewardship.

CONSEQUENCE: NEGLECT OF OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO THE COLLECTIVE

The lack of local examples of how to organize and mobilize young people to constructively engage in changing their collective plight has consequences already clearly visible in our country. I believe it partly explains the very strong emphasis on individual success as the best evidence of change in our society.

The progress of one individual however, does not directly translate to the progress of a collective or of a nation. Consider the paradoxical nature of our country Nigeria, with many of her citizens established as world-renowned scholars with distinguished careers while the majority of Nigerians are living evidence of many dismal statistics.

SOLUTION

I think we need to recognize that how we organize and mobilize today will have a serious impact on how well the youth of tomorrow can rally for the cause of their time, should the need arise (which it will). We may all be interested in what’s best for us (individually) but we need to understand that we are also making history and history, by definition, is about all of us. We should embrace the responsibility to build a framework of institutions; formal and informal, for ourselves and for the youth of tomorrow.

3

KNOWLEDGE AND EMPOWERMENT GAP

I use knowledge to refer loosely to information, understanding, wisdom, etc. There is a real knowledge gap both within the academic realm and in terms of practical matters like knowing the best way to go about doing things, knowing how to protect our rights and entitlements, knowing how to guard against being exploited, etc. This knowledge, which ought to be freely available to young people, is available only to a few or on conditional terms.

There is another aspect to this issue, which is that many young people are ignorant but are protected, by fair or foul means, from the negative consequences of their ignorance. This Sheltered, Cocooned Empowerment is not much of an improvement over stark ignorance. In the end, real empowerment which is self-sustaining and productive, should be rooted in the individual. Some will even argue that a more worrisome dimension is that in our time, knowledge, it seems, rarely amounts to empowerment.

CONSEQUENCE: THE HEAVY BURDEN OF EXCLUSION

The most obvious consequence of the knowledge and empowerment gap is the sense of chronic exclusion experienced by the majority of young people. A symptom of this burden is the implicit or explicit belief by young people that achieving their goals requires the sponsorship of a patron; i.e. that one cannot progress in life without the intervention of someone or some power.

To make this euphemism plain, many youth believe they need to have connections to gain access to many things to which they are entitled. Probe this thinking further, and you will find that there is also the belief that those who succeed do so not by merit but by the interventions of patronage.

While the reality of a negative culture of patronage is beyond dispute, the perceived absence of an alternative is deeply disturbing. Few young people will be willing to fully apply themselves to any venture, academic or not, if they believe the outcome lies not with their effort but with external forces often out of their control.

SOLUTION

There is no doubt that the youth need to work together to keep each other informed and therefore, empowered to take timely action in their best interest. We need to identify the kinds of knowledge and information which empower us to take action in real-time. And we need to create or nurture means of spreading the word about them. We should also embrace a culture of merit for very practical reasons: it is the fastest way to empower all of us in our diverse fields of endeavor.

4

CORRUPTION AMONG THE YOUTH

The number of young people around the world and in Nigeria who are involved in criminal activities is staggering. While exploitation is perhaps the most obvious cause of this phenomenon, there are other factors at play.

I will avoid creating a litany here of the many corrupt practices prevalent among young people. I think they can best be understood as indications of a casual attitude to criminality. And, I think the worst thing about a casual attitude to criminality is that it leaves many young people exposed to the lure of very serious and dangerous criminal activities.

CONSEQUENCE: YOUTH-DRIVEN CHANGE BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE

Exploitation and victimization result in social, political and psychological dis-empowerment, meaning that such young people are hampered (if not deprived) in their ability to exercise their responsibilities of stewardship.

Casual criminality for its part, deepens and entrenches the decay of values which many would argue is the fundamental problem with our country. The fact that certain acts are permitted to continue because they are not engaged on terms that recognize their criminality, makes changing our country an impossible task.

Casual criminality also partly explains the trend of disaffiliation among young people. Thriving communities of any kind are built on solidarity in shared values and goals, not on disaffiliation. This problem makes it difficult to envision young Nigerians working together to achieve change. It creates fractured communities.

SOLUTION

There is need for the youth to discuss and consider what it means to be exploited within the context of our society. We need to challenge our preconceptions of what does or does not constitute exploitation. I think this requires a change of perspective. Instead of deciding that certain practices are not exploitative because they are culturally accepted, we need to begin by weighting the consequences of such practices.

We should be able to rally against certain things because of our lived understanding of how damaging they are to us (the youth). We should find ways of discussing our experiences in order to better understand what really influences our lives. Without this understanding; without finding ways to discover how many young people are exploited and led into crime, we will not be able to devise protective structures, institutions or practices.

This kind of action is a first step in being able to distinguish between incidents of real and accidental criminality. Without it, even punishment and justice lose their meaning; even the law will fail to have the desired empowering and civilizing effect on society.

5

DISILLUSIONMENT AND APATHY

In my opinion, disillusionment is a good indication of right understanding. There is a problem however when informed disillusionment does not inspire young people to take positive actions to bring about change. Apathy in the face of informed disillusionment is a sign of resignation. Doing nothing will change nothing, and I believe many young people do not even realize that they are doing nothing to contribute to the change we need.

Looking for ways to take action may lead one to confront the vacuum of precedents discussed above. This presents a real opportunity to think of, talk about, and envision how we can organize to raise awareness among ourselves. We need ideas almost as much as we need concrete action. Finding ways to share our ideas and to analyze our disillusionment are the seeds of concrete action.

CONSEQUENCE: THE STATUS QUO ENDURES

Apathy is not the stuff of which change and progress are made. When our shared social experiences and strengths do not form the basis for real solidarity, nothing changes. The status quo endures, as old problems beset a new generation of young people.

SOLUTION

Disillusionment should be a starting point, leading us to develop a studied commitment to build a sound society. We should see effective stewardship within and beyond the domains I discussed (in the last article) as a start; a necessary foundation.

To begin to embrace the cause for change, we need to begin with the basics, and this means trying to change the things we confront in our daily lives. My sense of optimism comes from knowing that the simple (basic) things are often the easiest things to change.