Are Our Youths Losing their Civic Responsibility?

The International Youth Day was celebrated on August 12, 2015. The2015internationalthemewas‘YouthCivicEngagement’.This was in line with the United Nation’s System Wide Action Plan on Youth (Youth-Swap). This year’s focus was a call to promote young people’s effective inclusive engagement at all levels. To understandwhatthethemewasallaboutandwhoitwasdirected at, it is important to dissect the phrase. Who is a youth? Or who are youths? It would also be necessary to explain the term, ‘Civic Engagement’. UNESCOdefinesayouth“…asapersonbetweentheagewhere he or she may leave compulsory education and the age at which heorshefindshisorherfirstemployment.”Thisdefinitionmaybe extremely dodgy, for us in Nigeria, in view of the high prevalence ofunemploymentinthenation.Manypeoplereach35oreven40 years of age (and more) without having had a first employment. The United Nation’s universal definition defines the youths as those persons between the age of 15 and 24 years. You would have noted that this encapsulates the teenage period of 13 to 18 years and young adulthood from age 19 to 24 years.The African Youth Charter defines a youth as every person between the age of 15 and 35 years. There are indeed variations in everyone’s opinion of the ideal age bracket to represent youth. None the less, this time for many young individuals connote vigor, spirit, virility, resilience, freshness, quality and enthusiasm. According to UNESCO, 85 per cent of the entire world’s youths live in developing countries. Of this global youth population, 60 per cent live in Asia, and the rest in Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean. Majority of these youths live in the rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Eastern and South Central Asia and Oceania. Civic Engagement described also as Civic Participation is the encouragement of the general public to become involved in the politicalprocessandissuesthataffectthem(Wikipedia).TheNew York Times explains it as, “working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge,skills,valuesandmotivationtomakethatdifference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.” Andsotobringallthisbackhome,theInternationalYouthDay2015 was calling our spirited, virile, fresh youth-citizenry to a sense of responsibility for the social-political state of Nigeria. A morally and civically responsible Nigerian youth would recognise him or herself as a member of a larger social and therefore consider Nigeria’s social problems to be at least partly his or her own. Furthermore, a civically responsible Nigerian youth is willing to see the moral and civic dimensions of both national and grass root issues. That young individual seeks to make and justify informed moral and civic judgments. He or she wants to take actions as and when appropriate to address civic pitfalls. But a problem persists! Today, a continuing trend is fast disabling the collective strength, virility, spirit and soundness of many Nigerianyouths.Earlierthisyear,aparentsharedthestoryofhow marijuana found its way into the hands of a few teenage boys in a reputable Nigerian boarding school. A.U. Shehu and S.H. Idris (2008, Annals of African Medicine Vol 7, No4: p175-179) found a high prevalence of marijuana smoking among secondary school students in Zaria with an associated negative effects on their academic performance. Presently at Oshodi, children as young as 12 years pedal cannabis. A ‘wrap’ of it for smoking is said to be about N50. In 2013, a Vanguard publication (online) stated that youth of between 15 and 29 years are the highest abusers of not only marijuana but also codeine, alcohol and other most commonly abused drugs and substances in Nigeria. We know that marijuana is home-grown in Ondo, Delta, Osun, Oyo and Ogun States. According to Wikipedia, Nigeria is a major source of West African grown cannabis and is the eighth highest consumer of cannabis. Sadly among the Nigerian youths, cannabis has gained a foothold because of its easy availability, affordability and accessibility. For a civically sound youth populace, marijuana must be curbed. Marijuana is a mind-altering drug. In the short-term, its users have reported euphoria, alertness, boldness, increase in appetite and a relaxed muscle tones. When an individual continues to return for more, and a dependence on the drug sets in (drug abuse), all manner of problems begin to befall him. Chief among these deteriorations are memory and problem solving related. Focus and attention at tasks begin to dwindle just as cognitive processing and academic performance would begin to drop. Mania may set in