Crime and social security

Quote “Starting from childhood, everyone should be made to acquire a skill or two and be encouraged to do it commercially in their free times. It should be a core aspect of the educational program.”

I keep going back to our faulty educational foundations for obvious reasons. Education is the bedrock of development and growth and not the process of acquiring certificates as we seem to have understood it.  It is worrisome that we learn things in school and dump them soon after using them to pass examinations, calling them academic exercises. In real life situations, we do the exact opposite of those ideals. Our fore-fathers fared better in this regard because their education was hundred percent practical. They conceived ideas and actions that would solve specific problems, shared them among themselves, put them to practical use and also taught their children to do the same. Things were not swept under the carpet and allowed to take care of themselves.

I am focusing on the alarming rate of crimes of various kinds in this country. It is something that should bother every right-thinking fellow. In time past, the adult population served as watchdogs of the community. They raised alarm whenever they saw young men who were given to idleness and loitering. Through various social influences, they made sure that such young people got engaged in one economic activity or the other. These noble souls of the past never came across anyone called Abraham Maslow or his hierarchy of needs. However, they knew that every human being needed certain basic things to survive and will do whatever it takes to get them. They also understood the implication of having just one idle youth in the community. The system of education that prevailed then had only one goal and that is to ensure that every single child grew up to become a master of one craft, trade or skill.

Unfortunately, we the sophisticated book people who have studied all the great theories of economics and survival seem not to appreciate the real import of these theories. The rising crime wave is something that should be expected in a country that has no plan for her youths. Our economic teams over the years have not shown that they understand the basics about human survival. The physiological needs are at the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These needs include the need for food, clothes, shelter, medicine and any other bodily need. They are things that no one can do without. The importance of these things for life underscores the need for any reasonable society to think of how to make sure that everyone has access to them. The higher needs are also very vital but unfortunately, only a few persons in Nigeria can aspire to attain self actualization, which is the ultimate point on that hierarchy.

Our educational system is producing thousands of graduates annually. These are people that have to join the millions that are already roaming the streets jobless. This in itself is a mega crisis. Unfortunately, the system seems not to be aware of this huge problem as nothing serious is really being done to address this catastrophe. Nothing is as important as settling the restive youths so as to channel their bustling energy into something positive. It is only an unreasonable leadership that will pay lip service to the problem of youth unemployment.

The only answer our leaders seem to have to the escalating crime wave is police action. Unfortunately, the police is not equal to the task of keeping order. Even if we had a standard and efficient police force, they would be overwhelmed by the surge of crimes and their cells and prisons would be grossly inadequate to keep all the people who are forced to engage in crime as a means of survival.

My point is that the government at every level should rise to the challenge and squarely address the problem of unemployment. Starting from childhood, everyone should be made to acquire a skill or two and be encouraged to do it commercially in their free times. It should be a core aspect of the educational program.

The issue of social security is a very serious one. The feeling of being assured that the system you operate in will take care of your tomorrow is essential in maintaining order in the society. People become agitated when they see signs that the system will abandon them in their time of need. The civil servant who sees how shabbily his senior colleagues who have retired are treated will not want to commit his fate to such a callous system. He will do whatever it takes to amass wealth for himself so that he will not need to go through the same callous treatment. The young man who sees how jobs are given out to selected individuals based on connection may choose to chart his own course by engaging in anti-social means of making money.

It is one major role of the government to maintain peace, stability and social order. The damage done by hunger alone in this society is unquantifiable. I believe that the government of the day can solve this problem if they see it as a big issue. With all the billions we hear about, how difficult is it to build a factory in each local government or even each autonomous community in the country? If this is done, the number of young people who are prone to crime will reduce drastically.

Again, it will not be out of place to use the orientation camps of the NYSC scheme to offer entrepreneurial skills to fresh graduates after which they are given  seed monies to establish their own businesses with supervision from assigned mentors. I believe this will be more profitable to the nation and to the youths than the current practice.

After concerted efforts have been made to engage as many people as possible in meaningful jobs, the government should device a means of identifying all unemployed persons so as to pay them a sustenance allowance pending the time they get employed. It is not a waste of resources but a necessary sacrifice for peace and security. It is also a veritable means of fanning the ebbing embers of patriotism among the citizens of this great nation.

Nnenna Ihebom