Let's be scared for the youth, Nigeria. Let's be scared for the youth. When a social problem doesn't get
enough mentions and attention in our homes, and coverage in the press, we should all be afraid of the
impending consequences. Normally, most under-18s spend their evenings cooped up in their bedrooms
playing computer games or hanging out and sending snaps at the local shopping mall. When they start
showing up in night clubs, the venue of vices and ‘exotic services’ created for people older than 18,
Nigerians need to be very afraid. These youngsters barely know their way through life and might get
preyed upon by monsters of a different variety. What would be born would be frightening to the
society. That is the dimension they problem of under-aged clubbing is beginning to assume in our
society. Getting a cheap high is a small problem compared with the dangers of under-aged clubbing.
Under-aged clubbing might not be an issue yet but it is lurking somewhere under the surface
somewhere, waiting to announce itself in big way. Just because a big wig’s son hasn’t been apprehended
for smoking crack in a nightclub doesn’t mean it’s not happening, under-aged clubbing should be nipped
in the bud before a politically exposed individual’s daughter gets intoxicated and sexually abused on a
night out with friends. Why the concern over under-aged clubbing all of a sudden?
What's the big deal with under-aged clubbing?
Not too long ago, a certain Twitter user accused an eccentric socialite of sexually assaulting her at a
Lagos nightclub when she was 16. Maybe she ought not to be there in the first place, what’s even more
surprising allegation didn't get as much outrage as expected. You need to hear how many youngsters get
taken advantage of on weekend night outs, the stories will shock you to the marrows. How come no one
is paying attention yet? For starters, young people are easily impressionable and easier to manipulate.
When plied with drinks, they become total zombies and tools of whatever variety their manipulator
desires. You say jump, they ask how high. They malleable, mostly validation seekers who are susceptible
to peer pressure and likely to be given to unproductive habits more than most demographics. It's not
everyone's problem now but wait till it spreads around like the Ebola virus, by then moral decadence
would have taken over our dear nation.
How did we even get to the topic of under-aged clubbing?
Taking it from most Nigerian university admission statistics, more and more Jambites are matriculating
at between the ages of 16 and 17. The average secondary school leaver writes his WAEC at the age of 16
in most of Nigeria's cities, the more brilliant ones graduate secondary school at 14. The influx of these
youngsters to tertiary institution isn't without its maturity issues. These brilliant but under-exposed
youngsters are highly susceptible to peer pressure and are usually initiated into night-time culture,
especially frequenting watering holes and night clubs with their more mature course mates. They
usually don't experience the unaccustomed young adult lifestyles from 16 without getting burned.
Sometimes with damaged psyches that requires counselling to heal up.
Can your curb your enthusiasm?
Freedom is a beautiful thing when taken in moderate dosage by growing, youngsters. But like every
good thing in life when over-explored, freedom turns to a liability, bondage. Due to having a lot of time
in their hands, youngsters tend to get into more damaging habits that productive ones. Drinking way the
evening is seen as far cooler than completing your research in the university library. Have we even

thought about exposure to sex and how much chance they have to explore their bodily functions?
Youthful exuberance takes flight from the age of 16, nobody but the mature youngster can put a lid on
his enthusiasm for everything he wants to explore. How many youngsters are exposed to adequate sex
education? In a society that shies away from sex talk, how do we think these youngsters cope?
What about the dangers of unwanted pregnancy?
For a society trying to put an end to the menace of unwanted pregnancy amongst its teeming youth
population, curbing under-aged clubbing should be a top-priority. If the Federal Government is trying to
right the wrongs bedeviling the Nigerian society, under-aged clubbing should be receiving urgent
attention. By discouraging under-aged clubbing, society would have succeeded in closing the door on
the menace of unwanted pregnancies, thereby, reducing the number of babies by dumped in cartons
and nylon bags in many of Nigeria's tertiary institutions and cities dumpsites, water ways and canals.
And there are STIs to worry about too
How can we talk about public health safety and not look at STIs? Impressionable youngsters worry more
about not getting pregnant than contracting a Sexually Transmitted Infection. An untreated STI is far
more dangerous than an unwanted pregnancy. How many homes do parents teach their children about
protection from STIs and STDs? The condom/protection talk is an even bigger taboo than the sex talk.
Many see talking about condom/protection usage as indirectly encouraging indiscriminate and pre-
marital sex. The under-aged clubber is more exposed to the danger of failing to protect himself than
flunking his/her GNS 101 exam.
So what's the way Out of the under-age clubbing malaise?
Before blames of moral upbringing is laid totally on the doorsteps of parents, someone had already
detailed security agencies to handle drug addiction and other socially unacceptable vices. If government
machinery can be deployed to combat drug addiction and Shisha smoking, then there's nothing wrong
with directing it at under-aged clubbing. This is about safe-guarding the future of young Nigerians. What
anybody does with their bodies as adults is their problem but discouraging the propagation of broken
youth is as vital as turning out the right constituency project. Protection our nation's youngsters should
be everybody's business. Club owners should insist on seeing identification before opening their
establishment to clubbers. Fake Id scenario might come up but starting trumps the anticipated
speculation of how the youngsters would beat the compulsory identification problem.
If society fails to act now, the rescue of under-aged clubbers from morally damaging social vices would
escape like a bird from a cage. It’s imperative to begin the rescue mission now because a stitch in time
today would save nine tomorrow. Financial poverty is bad enough a problem for government to wrestle,
adding a social vice would leave society crippled in the morass for an even longer time to come.

Oga, na fight, can you use paragraphs for your write up? This seems so muddled up

Nice points brother!

But write up ain't organised, & hence making it difficult to read, at least for me, this afternoon.

I had to skip some places.

Really long read but a good one.

Okonsyourguy:

Let's be scared for the youth, Nigeria. Let's be scared for the youth. When a social problem doesn't get
enough mentions and attention in our homes, and coverage in the press, we should all be afraid of the
impending consequences. Normally, most under-18s spend their evenings cooped up in their bedrooms
playing computer games or hanging out and sending snaps at the local shopping mall. When they start
showing up in nightclubs, the venue of vices and ‘exotic services’ created for people older than 18,
Nigerians need to be very afraid. These youngsters barely know their way through life and might get
preyed upon by monsters of a different variety. What would be born would be frightening to the
society. That is the dimension they problem of under-aged clubbing is beginning to assume in our
society. Getting a cheap high is a small problem compared with the dangers of under-aged clubbing.
Under-aged clubbing might not be an issue yet but it is lurking somewhere under the surface
somewhere, waiting to announce itself in a big way. Just because a big wig’s son hasn’t been apprehended
for smoking crack in a nightclub doesn’t mean it’s not happening, under-aged clubbing should be nipped
in the bud before a politically exposed individual’s daughter gets intoxicated and sexually abused on a
night out with friends. Why the concern over under-aged clubbing all of a sudden?
What's the big deal with under-aged clubbing?
Not too long ago, a certain Twitter user accused an eccentric socialite of sexually assaulting her at a
Lagos nightclub when she was 16. Maybe she ought not to be there in the first place, what’s even more
surprising allegation didn't get as much outrage as expected. You need to hear how many youngsters get
taken advantage of on weekend night outs, the stories will shock you to the marrows. How come no one
is paying attention yet? For starters, young people are easily impressionable and easier to manipulate.
When plied with drinks, they become total zombies and tools of whatever variety their manipulator
desires. You say jump, they ask how high. They malleable, mostly validation seekers who are susceptible
to peer pressure and likely to be given to unproductive habits more than most demographics. It's not
everyone's problem now but wait till it spreads around like the Ebola virus, by then moral decadence
would have taken over our dear nation.
How did we even get to the topic of under-aged clubbing?
Taking it from most Nigerian university admission statistics, more and more Jambites are matriculating
at between the ages of 16 and 17. The average secondary school leaver writes his WAEC at the age of 16
in most of Nigeria's cities, the more brilliant ones graduate secondary school at 14. The influx of these
youngsters to tertiary institution isn't without its maturity issues. These brilliant but under-exposed
youngsters are highly susceptible to peer pressure and are usually initiated into night-time culture,
especially frequenting watering holes and night clubs with their more mature course mates. They
usually don't experience the unaccustomed young adult lifestyles from 16 without getting burned.
Sometimes with damaged psyches that requires counselling to heal up.
Can your curb your enthusiasm?
Freedom is a beautiful thing when taken in moderate dosage by growing, youngsters. But like every
good thing in life when over-explored, freedom turns to a liability, bondage. Due to having a lot of time
in their hands, youngsters tend to get into more damaging habits that productive ones. Drinking way the
evening is seen as far cooler than completing your research in the university library. Have we even

thought about exposure to sex and how much chance they have to explore their bodily functions?
Youthful exuberance takes flight from the age of 16, nobody but the mature youngster can put a lid on
his enthusiasm for everything he wants to explore. How many youngsters are exposed to adequate sex
education? In a society that shies away from sex talk, how do we think these youngsters cope?
What about the dangers of unwanted pregnancy?
For a society trying to put an end to the menace of unwanted pregnancy amongst its teeming youth
population, curbing under-aged clubbing should be a top-priority. If the Federal Government is trying to
right the wrongs bedeviling the Nigerian society, under-aged clubbing should be receiving urgent
attention. By discouraging under-aged clubbing, society would have succeeded in closing the door on
the menace of unwanted pregnancies, thereby, reducing the number of babies by dumped in cartons
and nylon bags in many of Nigeria's tertiary institutions and cities dumpsites, water ways and canals.
And there are STIs to worry about too
How can we talk about public health safety and not look at STIs? Impressionable youngsters worry more
about not getting pregnant than contracting a Sexually Transmitted Infection. An untreated STI is far
more dangerous than an unwanted pregnancy. How many homes do parents teach their children about
protection from STIs and STDs? The condom/protection talk is an even bigger taboo than the sex talk.
Many see talking about condom/protection usage as indirectly encouraging indiscriminate and pre-
marital sex. The under-aged clubber is more exposed to the danger of failing to protect himself than
flunking his/her GNS 101 exam.
So what's the way Out of the under-age clubbing malaise?
Before blames of moral upbringing is laid totally on the doorsteps of parents, someone had already
detailed security agencies to handle drug addiction and other socially unacceptable vices. If government
machinery can be deployed to combat drug addiction and Shisha smoking, then there's nothing wrong
with directing it at under-aged clubbing. This is about safe-guarding the future of young Nigerians. What
anybody does with their bodies as adults is their problem but discouraging the propagation of broken
youth is as vital as turning out the right constituency project. Protection our nation's youngsters should
be everybody's business. Club owners should insist on seeing identification before opening their
establishment to clubbers. Fake Id scenario might come up but starting trumps the anticipated
speculation of how the youngsters would beat the compulsory identification problem.
If society fails to act now, the rescue of under-aged clubbers from morally damaging social vices would
escape like a bird from a cage. It’s imperative to begin the rescue mission now because a stitch in time
today would save nine tomorrow. Financial poverty is bad enough a problem for government to wrestle,
adding a social vice would leave society crippled in the morass for an even longer time to come.