THE CHANGE WE NEED 2011
THE YOUTH OF THE NATION: OUR FUTURE AND OUR HOPE
By Cosmas Ilechukwu
General Overseer, CRM.

Introduction:
The future of any nation belongs to the youths of the nation. The real wealth of the nation is not in its natural resources, but in its youth resources. A nation makes no greater investment than that made toward the upbringing of its younger generation. The youth constitutes the most vibrant, energetic, and productive segment of the society, they are therefore without any equivocation, key stakeholders in any nation. The youth constitutes the embodiment of the nation’s destiny, the signpost of the nation’s hopes, and aspirations. The youth is the emblem of our future, the symbol of our continuity, and the veritable catalysts of our national growth and development. A nation has no greater way to prepare for its future than to effectively and intentionally equip the upcoming generations. The unmistakable implication of the above assertion is that a nation that neglects its youth, is neglecting its future, and the price is often monumental.

The untrained and undisciplined youth of one generation, becomes the criminals and the terrorists of the next generation. The spate of destructive militancy and brutal violence that we have been witnessing in the recent times is a painful commentary on the criminal negligence of our youth in the past by those who should care for them - the family, the religious institutions, and the government. God expects the older generation to train and equip the next generation for continuity and sustainability of national life and development. The true legacy of any generation is determined by the quality of generation that succeeds it. This truism was lost to our leaders in the decades of the eighties and the nineties and the consequences of that negligence has become our national embarrassment today.

The Second National Youth Policy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2009 clearly acknowledges the extremely important place the youth occupy in any society. This vital document opens with the following significant statements, “Youth are one of the greatest assets that any nation can have. Not only are they legitimately regarded as the future leaders, they are potentially the greatest investment for a country’s development…Without them, there can be no future1.” One wonders why we are not investing much as a nation with measured intentionality, towards developing the capacity of the youth as the first major step toward the country’s transformational development. The average youth of Nigeria is very disheartened and bitter because of the seeming apathy with which we have treated the issues that are important to them.

A recent Face Book survey conducted by the African Centre for Christian Leadership revealed that the youth of Nigeria is most disheartened about the apathy of the government toward their education and employment. Our national youth policy acknowledged the reality of this apathy.
Education is the single most important factor contributing to the ability of the young people to live a productive and responsible life. It is a major priority in the development of young men and women because it is through education and training that they can be better prepared for life. The personal development of young men and women, along with the development of immediate local communities and country as a whole is inextricably linked with the quality of education that the young people have. Unfortunately, the Nigerian nation has not been able to successfully provide quality education for all her young people. The provision of education is a fundamental prerequisite for building a strong, just, equitable, viable and vibrant nation2. (NYP -page 30)

We need to change our attitude towards the youth of this nation. The restiveness, which seems to characterize them is nothing but a wakeup call to the nation to give due attention to the younger generation of Nigerians whose future depend on what we do or fail to do today. My purpose in this brief moment of reflection is to call our collective attention as a nation to the great need of unleashing the potentials of our youth towards building a great and a prosperous nation, “bound in freedom, peace, and unity.”


The Rationale for the Choice of my Text
The book of Proverbs is one book of the Scripture that is specifically addressed to the youth and, education or more accurately, training is its central theme. The preface to the books reads,
These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair. These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young. Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles. Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:1-7 NLT)

The overarching didactic purpose of Proverbs is to help young people develop life skills, which will enable them to engage the process of living with hope and commitment and therefore live productively. The book teaches that character education is the fulcrum around which effective transformational education must be built. It therefore enjoins the youth:
My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them! They may say, “Come and join us. Let’s hide and kill someone! Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent! Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave; let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death. Think of the great things we’ll get! We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take. Come, throw in your lot with us; we’ll all share the loot.” My child, don’t go along with them! Stay far away from their paths. (Proverbs 1:10-15 NLT)

Character education helps the youth to imbibe the morals essentials to function responsibly in a free society. We must educate our youth for good character and decency, and not merely for the intellect and literacy. From God’s point of view, character is of highest premium in youth education. Therefore, the book of Proverbs being a medley of intellectual and character education becomes the best place to focus my search for a text, which I found in Proverbs 22:6.


The Mind of God on the Training of the Youth of the Nation
Let me give three different readings of the text from three different translations of the Bible:
• “Train up a CHILD in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” (NKJV)
• “Train a BOY in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not swerve from it.” (New American Bible, NAB)
• “Teach a YOUTH about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Holman Christian Standard Bible, HCSB)

Looking at the rendering of our text in the three, different translations provides us a hint to the interpretational meaning of the word child. It is variously rendered the child, the boy and the youth. Hence, while the passage is applicable to the parental roles in early childhood of children (child and boy), it most appropriately applies to children within the age bracket we traditionally call youths. Thus, Dr Garry M. Gulan3 observed that the word for “child” could refer “to an unborn, just born, unweaned, three months old, 17 years old and 30 year old.” Perhaps this free usage of the term “child” is best explained by the way Jesus used it to address the apostles during one of His post resurrection appearances.

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. (John 21:3-6 NKJV)

The Phrase, children have any food, was translated “lad” in Young’s Literal Translation, “Friends” in NIV, “boys” in the Living Bible, and “fellows” in NLT.
This understanding of the term “child,” gives me the freedom to adopt the Holman Christian Standard Bible’s translation as the official text for our discussion namely, “Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

It is obvious from this verse that God considers teaching and training (Education) as the most fundamental need of the youth of any nation. Any nation that fails to teach and train its youths is going contrary to God’s demand and is inadvertently jeopardizing its future.

The didactic formula of God requires that our young ones be trained in the way they should go and when they grow up, they will not depart from it. But what in particular does the Scripture mean when it says, “train up the child”? According to Dr. Gary M. Gulan4, “train up,” have been interpreted in three ways by Old Testament scholars:
a. “To stimulate desire” – “The image is of a mother preparing date jam which she gently rubbed on the roof of the mouth of a newborn baby, thereby enhancing the infant’s appetite for other foods.” This implies making learning attractive to children.

b. “To train with purpose” –The image relates to the careful nurturing, instructing, and discipling of the child with a view of developing wise moral character. This implies well structured didactic process patiently administered by a concerned adult.

c. “To dedicate or initiate” – “The image relates to the inauguration process with the bestowal of status and responsibility as the result of completing an initiation process.” This implies that in educating our youths, we must insist on the development of relevant competences and skills. There must be a healthy blend between theory and practice; information acquisition, synthesis, and application.
Thus, to educate in God’s term must involve, programs that will stimulate the desire of the children to learn, moral/character education, and competency/skill acquisition.

We will now consider what the Bible means when it demands that we “train the youth in the way he should go” Again, we draw from the insight provided by Dr Gulan5. The words, “in the way he should go” have been interpreted in five ways by Old Testament scholars:
a. “The moral view” –The proponents of this view that “there is only one right way in which a young man is directed to go.”

b. “The vocational view” –this view is based on the cultural practice in ancient times where “a son was often trained in the same craft as his father.”

c. “The personal aptitude view” –this view requires that parents and educators be “keenly aware of the child’s developing capacities, interests and inclinations and must tailor the training process to enhance his unique abilities.”

d. “The personal demands view” –this implies that parents and educators should simply acquiesce the child’s desires and demands, and just allow him to follow his natural propensities. The danger here, and a real one at that, is that a child of evil inclinations will most likely continue in his evil way throughout life.

e. “The status view” –this view demands that the child should be trained in view of the role he is expected to play or the office he is going to occupy in future. His training should reflect an awareness of his developmental limitations and his need for instruction with reference to the goal.
The preceding analysis of God’s educational model, as held forth in proverbs 22:6, shows clearly that training our younger generation in the words of Charles Bridges (1794-1869)6 “is indeed a work of watchful anxiety, attended with painful, and often long-protracted, exercise of faith and patience” demanding all of God’s grace. It is only through the sustaining grace of God and the joyful expectation of the promise, “when he is old, he shall not depart from it” that one can effectively engage in the process.

But can there ever be a price too big to pay to see the youth of our nation emerge among the best in the world in knowledge and skill? Which worthy parent is there who does not deny himself of the luxuries of life to ensure that his children receive quality education? If we parents do this as individuals, why should we not do it as a nation? Should not our president step out in bold faith to assume the role of the father of the youths of this nation and realize that whatever is good for his biological children is also good for all his national children –the children of Nigeria?

If as a nation we fail to help our youth through the discipline that good education provides to control the influence of caprice in their lives, how can they not be overcome by the mightier influence of passion? The Word of God warns us, “Discipline your children while there is hope, otherwise you will ruin their lives” (Proverbs 19:18 NLT). Only eternity can witness how many of our youth have been ruined because we failed to discipline them when they are amenable to learning because of epileptic educational system in Nigeria.

Who are the youth of Nigeria?
Youth is a term loosely used to describe the phase of life between childhood and adulthood. The Second National Youth Policy Document of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2009, defined the youth as “young males and females aged 18 and 35 years who are citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria7.” According to 2006 National Population Census, 80 million of the 140 million Nigerians are youths. This means that slightly over 57% percent of the Nigerian population is youth. Thus, the interest of the youth must constitute the majority interest in the national affairs. Whatever affects more than half the population of the nation must be given priority attention by the government of the day. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case with respect to the youth of this nation.

Writing on the topic, Nigerian Youth: A Sleeping Giant, on the 19th June 2010 Edition of Saturday Tribune, Owolabi Abudullahi, observed: “Nigeria remains a sleeping giant due to its failure to properly harness and develop its abundance human resources as a result of which the Nigerian youth remain incapacitated, indolent, underdeveloped and potentially depressed.”

My experience from the several years of investment of spiritual, intellectual and emotional energy toward the development of younger leaders seems to confirm the assessment of Mr Abudullahi, that the average Nigerian youth is incapacitated, indolent, underdeveloped and chronically depressed. I will give some of the reasons they identified that confirms this.

Major Challenges Facing the Nigeria Youth
Lack of Education.
First, the average Nigerian youth is incapacitated and underdeveloped because he is basically uneducated, undereducated, or outright illiterate. The Editorial of The Guardian of Monday, 17th of January 2011 lamented on the appalling condition of education in Nigeria. Quoting the then, [who is still the incumbent] minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa'i, the publication declared: “15 million Nigerian children of school age are not in school. Only about five hundred of 3.5 million nomadic children are in school. Our adult literacy program did not fare better. Out of about 40 million adults who should benefit in the program, only about five hundred were enrolled in it.”
According to a survey by the British Council, Nigeria was expected to have 16 million students in secondary schools by 2008, but only 5.8 million were enrolled, suggesting that only 36% of children of secondary school age were in school. Where are the 64%?(ThisDay, Monday July 29, 2011).

If our children who are old enough to be in school are not there, where are they? They are probably on the streets as apprentices to criminal barons and emperors of terror that would either put Nigeria in their pockets or destroy it. This paints a dull picture of God’s purpose for the youth of any nation, “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style” (Psalm 144:12 NKJV). This scripture presents the picture of well groomed and well grown youths who are living life in full.
Our government should make primary and secondary education compulsory and prosecute any parent whose children are not in school for whatever reason. The government and parents should take this very serious because as Aristotle observed, "The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead7." Education helps a nation to develop and unleash her human capital for national development. A country’s literacy level is a good measure of the country’s level of development. John Dewey, underscoring the connection between education and societal progress observed:

I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. All reforms which rest simply upon the law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements, are transitory and futile, But through education, society can formulate its own purposes, can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape itself with definiteness and economy in the direction in which it wishes to move, Education thus conceived marks the most perfect and intimate union of science and art conceivable in human experience.”9

An untrained and unskilled youth is a victim of the most debilitating disability imaginable. The real poverty of a nation is the intellectual poverty of her people. And there is no greater way for a nation to deal with poverty than to develop the intellectual capital of the populace. Bill Clinton, 42nd President of USA, reminds us, "The greatest investment we have made, the greatest investment we can make, is in the human mind." This explains why the Proverbs enjoins the youth, “Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.” (Proverbs 8:10-11 NLT).

Uneducated and unskilled youth is the most potent destructive force any nation can habour, especially when this couched in religious paraphernalia. According to Ray Ekpu: “Religious bigotry plus illiteracy or half literacy is a very inflammable cocktail. Many of the religious eruptions in the north can be traced to the lack of the liberating influence of higher education. Which is why, in spite of its large Moslem community, the south west does not erupt in rampant spasms of religious conflagration.” (Ray Ekpu, Newswatch, Sunday, 16 August 2009).
Humanity has not invented anything more liberating than good education. As Robert Maynard Hutchins rightly observed: "A liberal education, frees a person from the prison-house of his class, race, time, place, background, family, and even his nation.10" Nigeria cannot afford to continue in sloppy indifference while our younger generation rots away. What the federal government is doing now for the ex-uneducated Niger Delta militant gangs should be proactively packaged and intentionally delivered to every Nigerian youth. Education and skill acquisition for our youths should be our nation’s first line of action in empowering our youths for productive living and not be used as a mere palliative measure to appease the violently vocal ones. A globally renowned educator, Maria Montessori, reminds us that “establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.”11
The key to the national transformation we are crying for in Nigeria waits on the wings of qualitative education. Effective youth empowerment begins with the provision of quality education. Tiya Sharma’s essay on youth power in India emphasised that the quality of education the youth needs must be scientific, logical, open-minded, self-respecting, responsible, honest and patriotic12.” Our youth do not feel they owe our nation anything, because the nation has not cared for them, as it should have. Therefore, when you demand patriotism from them, it sounds hollow like an empty vessel.

Poor Funding For Education
The National Youth Policy outlined ten obligations of government to the youth, one of which is to “provide adequate funding for education and create equal opportunity to be educated13.” The youth of Nigeria would want the governments at all levels to walk their talk in this regard. Every person who understands education knows that it needs good money. This brings up the vexing issue of government funding of education. One would normally invest in businesses that are secure and promises greater dividend overtime. One secure investment we must make as a nation is in the education of our youth in obviously convincing manner. The Bible provides us with this general principle on investment: “Invest what you have, because after a while you will get a return. Invest what you have in several different businesses, because you don’t know what disasters might happen” (Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 NCV)
Benjamin Franklin offers this wise counsel, "If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.14” The state of our nation today demands that Nigeria should empty its purse on its head. There is an urgent need to develop our intellectual capital as the basis for the economic revolution that will make us one of the twenty biggest economies in the world in AD 2020. Intentional investment in the development of our intellectual capital will transition us from “exporting natural resources to exporting knowledge and ideas; and from being a consumer of technology to becoming a producer of technology.”

Philip Emeagwali proposed the following questions, “If ideas are capital, why is Africa investing more on things than on information, and more on the military than on education? Suddenly, I realized what this idea could mean for Africa. If the pen is mightier than the sword, why does a general earn more than the work of a hundred writers combined? If ideas are indeed capital, then Africa should stem its brain drain and promote the African Renaissance, which will lead to the rebirth of the continent. After all, a renaissance is a rebirth of ideas. And knowledge and ideas are the engines that drive economic growth.”15

We have been told severally in the news media that only about 3% of our national budget is allotted to education as against the 26% recommended by the United Nations for developing countries. I understand that at Independence, Nigeria allotted 40% of her annual budget to education. What went wrong? We would want our education experts and policy makers to tell us.

Poor funding has ripple effect in our educational system, which zeros down to poor payment of teachers and staff, poor facilities for learning, no scholarship for students, no bursary and loan facilities for those whose parents cannot afford to train them. We need a rethink on funding of education in Nigeria. A Bible principle enjoins us to place our heart where our treasure is. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21 NKJV). The treasure of the nation is the youth of Nigeria. They constitute our greatest resource and educating them will be our highest achievement.

Mass Failure in External Examinations
A combination of unconducive learning environment due to poor academic infrastructure, demoralised teachers and staff, due to poor emolument regime, and disillusionment on the part of students who no longer find learning an exciting engagement, gives us the poor result we have witnessed over the years. Our students cannot pass exams without cheating unless they become enthusiastic and active learners. For the youth to become active learners in this time, technology must play a key role in the teaching process. Nigeria as its stands today and in the foreseeable future, does not have the technological infrastructure to making learning fun for our students. The following details will drive the point home. Nigeria is placed 128th (WDI – 2009), 91st in Internet Access in Schools, 97th in Quality of Mathematics and Science Education,115th in overall Quality of Scientific research institutions, 90th in Networked Readiness Index, 102nd in percentage of Internet users, 117th in Broadband internet subscribers. (ITU – WTI, 2008-2009)16. To stem the tide of mass exam failure in Nigeria, we find ways to use technology to stimulate the interest of the youth to learn.

Failure in Exams is a problem that spans through all the levels of education in Nigeria. “In a study by the World Bank in which attainment of education milestones in 22 countries in Africa were compared, pupils in Nigerian primary schools were rated lowest with national mean scores of 30% compared with 70% in Tunisia and 51% in very poor Mali.” (ThisDay Newspaper of Monday, July 29, 2011). If we have problem at the foundation, we need not ask why the entire superstructure is unstable. The Bible raised a pertinent question, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? “ (Psalm 11:3 NKJV). We must relay the foundation for the education of our children, bearing in mind the didactic model we gleaned from Proverbs 22:6, namely, stimulate the desire of the children to learn, train them with purpose, and get them dedicated to pursuit of live with meaning.

The situation in our secondary schools is even more tearful. Dr Oby Ezekwesili, a former Minister for Education, told her audience at the 5th Annual lecture of Pat Utomi Centre for Values in Leadership that "in 2006 only 26% of the children passing out of our secondary schools nationwide were passing with five credits including in English and Mathematics, in 2010 this percentage had declined to 2%." (The Nation on Sunday, March 6, 2011, page 62).
The 2009 secondary school examinations result released by WAEC and NECO showed that almost 98% of the candidates could not make five credits, including English and Mathematics and only about 2% got five credits with English and Mathematics.
According to the registrar of JAMB, a total of 1,493,604 candidates sat for this year Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) out of which 594,602 (about 41.36%) passed, i.e. scored 200 and above, while 842, 851 (about 58.63%) failed. This level of failure should be the concern of all Nigerians.
Compare our national exam results with that of Indonesia. In its editorial of May 12, 2010 edition, Jakarta Globe bewailed the Indonesia’s version of students mass failure in national exams: “It is a sad fact that only 89.6 percent of around 1.5 million senior high school students who sat for the national exams passed this year, down from 95 percent last year. Apart from the numbers, we must seriously question just how well the education system is preparing these students to think creatively instead of just focusing on rote learning.” When Indonesia recorded 0nly 10.4% failure in the national examination, the country was in such an uproar that compelled the nation’s president to call for reform in the education in which he called the nation’s education manager to go back to “the basics by not only teaching sciences but also building character.” Our almost sixty percent failure passed almost unnoticed in Nigeria. Who says we do not need an urgent change?
Difficulty In Gaining Admission Into Tertiary Institutions
Gaining admission into tertiary institutions is becoming increasingly more nightmarish for the Nigerian youth. Oby Ezekwesili lamented, "Consider that some I million youths annually seek to acquire university education but only some 250,000 will ultimately get a placement. Just imagine what that means in terms of the army of poorly educated, unskilled, disenchanted frustrated and dangerous young people that constitute a huge productivity loss for our country.

One of the ways to help our youth who fail to get admitted into universities is to create vocational centre across the cities of Nigeria where they can be trained in some skills that we need in the nation. Does it not surprise you that our different government offices are furnished with furniture imported from Europe and China? Why do we not have state funded furniture manufacturing company to train our youth in that vocation? Toshitsuju Uesawa, a former Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, once advised us, “Education, including vocational training that can produce an inventive and creative workforce is the foundation for nation-building.”

With the position of 47th out of 133, the World Economic Forum has acknowledged Nigerians’ capacity for innovation, what is remaining is for our leaders to invest resources in harnessing and developing this capacity through structured vocational training or retraining of people already engaged in different vocations. Our mechanics and other technicians ought to be certified by relevant government agencies before they can legally function in Nigeria. This will entail some form of training that will not only update their technical knowhow, but also build confidence in them; apart from the psychological satisfaction, such certification will give them.





Unemployment/Underemployment
While education does not always guarantee employment in Nigeria, lack of it makes employment even more improbable. A well administered survey to track a sample of Nigeria university graduates over the last decade with respect to their employment reveal that over 82% of them had over the decade been without jobs with just about 12% of this being underemployed -that is, having a job that is really not at par with their training. (The Nation on Sunday, March 6, 2011, page 62).

The vast majority of the unemployed Nigerian youths are uneducated and unskilled. Let’s look at some statistics. The Daily Trust Newspaper of Tuesday, January 18, 2011, quoting the National Bureau of Statistics declared that 49.9% of youths within the ages of 15 and 24 years residing in urban areas are unemployed; while 39.6% of their counterparts in rural areas are also not employed.

Saturday Tribune Newspaper of 19th June, 2010 informs us that about 12 million Nigerian youths under the age of 30years are jobless, while the nation’s unemployment rate is at about 15%. The federal office of statistics report indicated that school-leavers accounted for about 60% of all unemployed persons in the country. Less than 10% of the three million people turned out yearly from our higher institutions into the labour market, are absorbed, due to low capacity utilization that is the hallmark of our public and business institutions.

If the youth constitute the most productive segment of any society, and about 70% of the unemployed persons in Nigeria are below 40 years of age, one cannot imagine what unemployment is costing us in terms of our gross domestic product. Our nation harbours this vast unemployed young people, yet we were recently told during the celebration of the world food day that Nigeria spent N98 trillion ($628 billion) between 2007 and 2010 on importation of food into the country. Why should not our government channel our resources to develop the agricultural sector and create jobs for our youth? We have vast hectres of fertile land that can be cultivated for food production. Modernizing our agriculture and implementing honest reforms of land use laws of the nation for easy access to land will open up employment opportunities in this nation more than any other sector.

Agriculture is the oldest human occupation and remains one of the most important. A nation who depends on importation of food to feed its citizens is exposing its population to avoidable health hazards. Let us train our youths in food production and they will not only be employed but also feed the nation. The former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in a speech at the European Policy Summit in Belgium was reported to have told his audience, “One of the reasons why youths rise up and overthrow their rulers is lack of meaningful employment opportunity and lack of fulfillment in their lives. Growth without job creation can only lead to frustration, bitterness, anger, particularly of the youth, who in restiveness can make social tsunami to happen." Must we wait for this tsunami to occur before we act?

Unemployment is inconsistent with God’s will for human beings. It contradicts the basic design of God for humankind whom He created, not only to work but also to enjoy his work. “So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is why we are here, ” (Ecclesiastes 3:22 NLT). No effort should be spared to create jobs for our youth and to make work enjoyable for them. In this way, we will effectively harness the potential of our youths. Unless we educate our youth and keep the productively employed, all the talk of greatness will mean no more than pipe dream. We will realise when it has become too late that we have played politics with our destiny as a nation.

Why Should Nigeria Invest in The Education Of The Youth?
First, it is good for peace and harmony of our nation. Aristotle underscored the importance of this saying, “All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of the youth.” The majority of the violent youth restiveness we have witnessed so far were orchestrated largely by uneducated or poorly educated youths, who have no idea what their mission on earth is.

Shakespeare said in Macbeth, “The two most important days of your life are: The day you were born, and the day you realize why you were born.” Education is one of those means that helps people to know why they were born. Nothing is as liberating as self-awareness. Most miscreants that endanger life in the society do so because they lack a deep sense of self worth which education helps to provide. Rt Rev Cyril Okorocha, Ph.D., the Anglican bishop of Owerri observed, “To educate is much more than giving instructions to pliable zombies. It is the total formation of a person, body, soul and spirit, Thus, holistic educational process aims to educate in such a way that a person will not only be described as learned, but much more as godly, cultured and fully integrated17.” What our society needs to live in peace and harmony is to populate it with godly, cultured and integrated people who acknowledges the otherness of others and respects their right to live.
Secondly, education makes people governable. According to Henry Peter, Lord Brougham, "Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave18." Education enables people to know their right and demand it, as well as acknowledge and honour the rules that enable people to live in community. True democracy need education to be functional.
Thirdly, good education empowers people to contribute effectively in the development of human society. We must however emphasize that variety of education that inculcates a sense of independence that leads to greater self-reliance and less dependence on government handouts. Paulo Freire identified two possible uses of education19. First, eeducation can function as an instrument, which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity. Second, education can become “the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” The second, which underscores the essence of transformational education, is what Nigeria need now. This is an approach to education that challenges the student to task his or her creative faculties and bring about solutions to problems. It is education that focuses on imagination rather on memory that has been the case hitherto. Our youth are dripping with creativity waiting to be harvested for our nation building.

Fourthly, education develops people making them civilised and responsible. John Locke does not hesitate to affirm, “that of all the men we meet with, nine parts out of ten are what they are, good or bad, useful or not, according to their education.”20 Nigeria cannot become a prosperous nation unless it develops her people in a holistic way. India did this and today she is in the league of major exporter of human capital. China did this and is now the hub of global manufacturing industry. South Korea did this and today she is a global leader in technology. Nigeria can do it. Yes we can.

We have to train and retrain our youth not has the would be or as we are but as they should be and when they grow up, they will not depart from it. It must no longer be business as usually, things must be done differently if we must harvest our youth for good.

The respected Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the former Secretary of the Commonwealth, offered the following advice: "In our youths, we can best ensure that the affairs of this nation would no longer be conducted on the basis of business as usual which has led us to the current state we find ourselves today. I would also add that the curricular in our schools and higher educational institutions are balanced in the teaching of ethics and morals while the policies and programmer of the government should be tailored towards addressing the enormous problem we are having on youth employment.” (The Guardian, Friday, August 12, 2011; page .
Conclusion
I have all the while been arguing for an urgent attitudinal change towards the education of our youth. I decided to focus on education because so much of what are and will become as a nation depend on it. I have emphasized the absolute necessity for Nigeria as a nation to harness the potentials of her teaming youth population through transformational education and proactive engagement in productive labour. The government has no greater job than to care for your youth. As Governor Peter Obi very succinctly and accurately observed, “The youths are the people government is meant for. The society we abuse today will take revenge on our children tomorrow. This generation (the youth) must be given the best."
(The Guardian of 17th June, 2011)

Yes, let us give our youth the best of attention we can afford as a nation in terms of education and training for useful living. Let nothing deter us in our determination to achieve this noble objective. This is the only way Nigeria can experience the transformation we have desired.

The Transformational Charter of President Jonathan’s Transformational Agenda defines its overarching purpose as “To explore fresh ideas and new ways of carrying out a transformational mandate so as to be able to anticipate and accommodate the profound changes that the nation is experiencing in view of the socio-economic conditions both locally and globally.” The goal is to transform Nigeria into “a peaceful, harmonious and stable democracy that is globally competitive, a great country with a great future we all will be proud of.” (The Guardian, 20th July 2011).
This cannot have without massive education, which not only enlightens the mind, but also frees it to think creatively to generate the fresh ideas needed for progress in a global economy that is idea-driven.

Our national anthem underscored in very clear terms our collective aspiration and desire for the youth of Nigeria. The second stanza represents our heart cry to God as a nation on behalf of our youth.
O God of creation,
Direct our noble cause,
Guide our leaders right:
Help our youth the truth to know,
In love and honest to grow,
And live in just and truth,
Great lofty heights attain,
To build a nation where peace and justice reigns.

When we pray, “O Lord of creation, help our youth the truth to know,” we are praying for an educational system that is couched in God-centred worldview, an educational system that is based on merit, where the fear of God becomes the governing mentality of the educators and where in the honour of the creator, cultism is outlawed and every form of intellectual dishonest is discountenanced. We must help them not only to know the truth but to make the truth the cornerstone of their lives so that they may grow in love and honesty. This will enable us to set them on the path of true greatness as they attain lofty heights in life following the way they should go. In that way, we will be building a nation where peace and justice will reign.

As we bring this time of reflection to a close, let me leave with this provoking thought on education from James Addision.21
"Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend, abroad an introduction. In solitude, a solace, and in society, an ornament. It hastens vice, it guides virtue; it gives, at once, grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage."


*WDI = Word Development Indicator, ITU = International Telecommunication Union, WTI = World Telecommunication Indicator.



References
1. 2nd National Youth Policy Document of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
2. Ibid, pg 30.
3. Garry M. Gulan, Problems Passages of the Bible Series, 1992 (Rev. 08).
4. Ibid
5. Ibid
6. Charles Bridges, “Charles Bridges on the Education of the Children;” Commentary on the Book of Proverbs.
7. 2nd National Youth Policy Document of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
8. John Dewey, www.wisdomqoutes.com/001896.htlm.
9. Robert Maynard Hutchins, Power of Education, www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/education/education.html.
10. Maria Montessori, www.wisdonqoutes.com/001896.htlm
11. Tiya Sharma,
12. 2nd National Youth Policy Document of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
13. Benjamin Franklin, www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/education/education.htlm
14. Philip Emeagwali, Africa: Out-of-the-Box Thinking in an In-the-Box-World; www.emeagwali.com
15. Ahmed Isah Chafe, Nigerian Universities ICT Solution Project. www.forum.org.ng/
16. Cyril Okorocha, The Mission of the Church in the 21st Century –A Holistic Approach; Owerri, Transfiguration Press & Publishing House, 2008, page 256.
17. Henry Peter (Lord Brough), www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/education/education.htlm
18. Paulo Freire, www.wisdonqoutes.com/001896.htlm
19. John Locke,
20. James Addision, www.wisdomcommons.org/