‘‘The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.’’ James Baldwin
Nigeria has an estimated population of about 211 million people with a population growth of over 3% annually, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing countries globally. A high percentage of this population is young adults and teenagers. According to population projections by the United Nations for 2020, about 43 per cent of the Nigerian population comprised children 0-14 years, 19 per cent aged 15-24 years and about 62 per cent are below age 25 years. By contrast, less than 5 per cent are aged 60 years and above. Thus a lot has and needs to be done to ensure we don’t get it wrong with this teeming population of young people.
Much energy is coursing through our youths, and if not channeled into the right source, it will pose a significant threat to all our safety and security in the nearest future. Matt Gonzalez said, “I think that when we’re talking about youth violence, we’re talking about kids who don’t have opportunities, so they’re engaged in a certain degree of lawlessness because we as a society have failed them.”
It is why we at Edugrantng.org, are doing all we can to ensure we help as many of our youths as possible to attain tertiary education to become better citizens of this nation tomorrow. We seek to transform their future by saving their tomorrow today.
Nigerian youth population
Either we accept it or not, society plays a massive role in shaping our youth’s behavioural patterns and dispositions. And what the present-day society is shaping and influencing them to become is something distasteful.
As parents, we can do our best to influence them, but the biggest lessons that stick to them more are the ones they learn from what they see and hear in society. It’s becoming harder to deter our youths and teenagers from a life of crime and drugs when all they see daily are people who flaunt these lifestyles before them and suffer no dire consequences for their actions.
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Society includes many different aspects that include the media, law, environment and school. We will quickly go through some of these sectors to see how they impact our youth’s desire to learn.
Effect of our Judiciary on Learning
We surveyed youths and teenagers to determine their perception of the nation’s judicial system, and the answers were quite disturbing, although expected. The majority (95%) feel the law is already corrupt, and only the rich can afford to get justice. They think justice doesn’t go to the oppressed anymore; it goes to the wealthy and influential people who can bribe or know people who can. It gives them the mindset that they can commit crimes and get away with it as long as they have the money to buy their way out. If this notion isn’t quickly changed and addressed, we will have more and more youths choosing a life of crime over education daily.
Effect of our Media on Learning
Jackson Katz once said, “Media play a powerful role in establishing and perpetuating social norms.” Now, the media has expanded these days. It has gone beyond newspaper prints or radios and has now gone to films, phones, TVs, advertisements and billboards. Some of the images and messages the media propagates are vile, malicious and negatively inspiring our youths. Our media are always quick to portray a life of materialism and get rich quick syndrome rather than the easy does it, and education is the key mentality. If we continue in this direction, there’s no way it will bring positive outcomes for society. Various profane messages and images are quickly spread across media while the positive news and pictures get no push. Our young ones form their opinions based on what they see on the media, and the way they act is always shaped by what they see and read.
Effect of our Educational state on Learning
A quote once said, “How do you tell our young ones that education is the key to success when we have poor literates and rich and uneducated criminals?”
It is even harder even to convince them that education is the path to greatness with the way the government handles education in this country. One of the least financed sectors in our country is the most important—Education.
If we are not investing so much in our education and not taking it seriously, how do we expect the youths to take it seriously? Take one visit across public schools nationwide, and you will see the level government has placed our education in a shambolic state. We need to inspire our young ones to go back to School and embrace education as the way out of poverty and not committing crimes.
That’s why we at Edugrantng.org are doing all we can to ensure we help as many youths as possible to attain a good education level, but we can’t do it alone. We need as much support and a collaborative effort to curb this menace before it gets out of hand.
“Change is the end result of all true learning.” ― Leo Buscaglia
Imasekha is a Co-Founder at Edugrant, an online platform providing a range of sponsorship opportunities for students in tertiary institutions incapable of funding their education.
