Victor Ezeja
AdminThe latest research by Youth Talks, an initiative of the Higher Education for Good Foundation which had over 45,000 participants aged between 15 to 29 across 212 countries and territories, has shown that the major issue of concern to young Nigerians is individualism with as much as 21 per cent of all participants harping on the need for love and criticizing self-centeredness in the Nigerian society.
Other issues highlighted by Nigerian respondents in the survey included the stagnation of the educational system in terms of industrial actions by staff unions like the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) constituting 16 per cent of total respondents, political issues such as corruption and nepotism (12 per cent), discrimination and inequalities (11 per cent), and the lack of young people empowerment (9 per cent).
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This data released over the weekend came from the world’s largest open youth consultation which is an unprecedented data collection revealing the desires and needs of youth globally, answering the questions of what they need to help them find meaning in life, live more harmoniously, and thus together try and meet the challenges of our time. The consultation by Youth Talks was carried out between October 2022 through May 2023 and provides a rich snapshot of the aspirations, hopes, and beliefs of young people around the world.
Youth Talks uses state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence technology to analyze responses, enabling contributors to answer open-ended questions and distilling 1 million uncensored contributions into rich, comprehensible and actionable insights. It reveals an extraordinary diversity of themes, ideas, nuances, and points of view, illustrating the dynamism and diversity of today’s youth. Results from the consultation also unveiled important insights and opinions about Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa from its youth.
“The massive involvement of African youth in the consultation as participants and ambassadors demonstrates their strong desire to express themselves and actively participate in international decision-making. This highlights the importance of giving the younger generation from this region a platform to voice their opinions and contribute to solving the issues they face. By doing so, we can ensure that their unique perspectives are considered when shaping policies and initiatives that impact their future and the world at large”, the Director of Youth Talks, Marine Hadengue said.
The results also showcased significant differences between youths in Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world, whereby Sub-Saharan African youths were more interested in concepts such as a search for purpose, achievement, and personal development, rather than success, happiness, and financial situation. In terms of what they prioritized for the future, personal happiness ranked seventh, behind financial and professional matters.
In addition, the report also revealed that Sub-Saharan African youth are particularly concerned with the environment (24 per cent), wars and conflicts (20 per cent), and the economy (11 per cent). Their thoughts about the future are haunted by the spectres of poverty, social inequalities, and a dearth of job opportunities. Around 10% of participants in the region expressed their concerns about human behaviour in general, as they worry about an increase in human cruelty and a lack of humanity.
“Seventy-six per cent of the leaders of tomorrow – today’s youth – think that the older generations either don’t know or are deliberately ignoring their vital interest,” Hadengue said, adding that “the younger generations are the future of humanity. They are the people who will initiate the greatest changes in a world turned upside down by our past actions. The priority of leaders today should be on ensuring that this generation can express themselves freely, without imposing on them the thoughts or paradigms of another era.
“Youth Talks was created precisely to address this challenge. We are evolving in our mission from giving youth a platform to raise their issues, to giving them a seat at the table. By doing so, we hope to empower the youth to not only raise their voices on the issues that matter but also to contribute to solving them.”
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