the voice of our rural youth contemporaries

I can select two keywords in the above heading. The first is ‘youths’ and the other is ‘rural’.
The word youths can be attributed to mean the period of human life between childhood and maturity; the state of being young; or better still the early age of life.
The other word, Rural connotes ‘outside the city or in the country’; ‘typical of the country’; and could also have some relationship with agriculture. It could also involve farming. If you do the math, rural youths are simply young individuals in the period of human life between childhood and maturity that happen to be living outside the city or urban areas. Many of them live deep in the country and when I say country, I mean the vast under-developed geographic areas of a country where the primary source of living is agriculture.

According to a 1997 study by FAO, rural youths are among the most disadvantaged of the poor. These young people grow in restricted, traditional, social and cultural environments, with limited opportunities for education. Often, the education they receive, designed from a predominantly urban perspective is not closely related to their environment. They are offered little support in seeking a more in-depth knowledge of their environment or ways of improving their own communities.

In our society today, we know that anyone who desires to make a point or express an opinion must either be well connected, possess some form of influence or affluence, or be overcome with some resilience and desire to make an impact which must certainly be borne out of exposure, experience and quality education. We all know that these three gems are indeed rare amongst rural dwellers particularly youths. Rural youths are not afforded quality education, lack exposure and experience, and are certainly ill equipped to compete with those in the ‘developed’ and ‘enlightened’ society. Its not news that there are thousands of potentials wasting away in our rural communities but the fact however remains that resources not harnessed certainly waist away. As long as rural youths are not afforded quality education and adequate exposure to current trends in the newly emerging technology society, they will remain locked out of the ever dynamic urban controlled society.

Recommendations

We all know that the bulk of the country's resources particularly, the country's land, natural and mineral resources are in the Rural Areas. If we are to embark on true development, it is logical that we spread the process where the bulk of the population and the bulk of our resources are, namely, the country's grassroots. In view of the above, I believe alliances and organizations (especially NGO’s) should be formed and setup by well meaning individuals and firms to assist with large scale rural development programs for youths in particular since we know the ‘limitations’ and priorities of government and given the fact that the people concerned can not really help themselves. Many of these communities in-fact have quite a number of successful sons who should be willing to plough back resources in developing their native communities using the youths as reference point.

They would also have responsibilities to monitor the development process of the rural youths, by way of ensuring that democracy dividend gets to those in the grass roots. These organizations would also redress the lack luster attitude of those in governance towards rural dwellers to sensitize and mobilize the rural dwellers towards laying claim to their natural and mineral resources that are abundant in their area. It is believed that Nigeria is endowed with abundant human and natural resources, which if properly and adequately harnessed, can ensure sustainable national prosperity. Accordingly, we need to put in place an empowerment program designed specifically to identify talents, reward hard work and increase youth's enthusiasm towards improved education. On the other hand, we must ensure provision of micro-credits for those engaged in petty trade and micro-business towards enhancing their productivity and on the political scene, to inform and sensitize the rural populace.
Development is generally believed to be the leading objective of any government. In Nigeria for instance, our development strategy for sometime, has centered on the top-down, rather than on the bottom-up approach, which provides the opportunity for the people to conceptualize development projects suiting the peculiar circumstance of their localities.

The current grassroots educational and societal socio-philanthropic status quo is certainly unsatisfactory. Being so dedicated to the cause of breeding and propagating socially balanced minds and to ensure democratic dividends as it affects the grassroots dwellers, there must be a firm and solemn resolve to come together and form organizations with a purpose to empower, sensitize, inform and re-orientate the grass-roots dwellers. This will in the process, provide the rural-dwellers and youths with the opportunity available to harness the agricultural and mineral resources which this nation is endowed with, to enable them to continuously improve the quality of their lives and make meaningful contribution to society. For its successful implementation, there shall be put in place proper financing, training opportunity, local aids and raw materials sourcing and quality education which the beneficiaries are expected to make the best use of.