If any countries in the world should take youths and youth development seriously, Nigeria should be high on the list of such countries – Nigeria has one of the largest youth populations in the world, with the youth making up almost 34% (33.65%) of the country’s huge population of more than 200 million people. One fundamental way of demonstrating this seriousness is through the enactment and serious implementation of meaningful and effective youth policies, as well as the creation of an enabling environment for youth development. From virtually every indication, government has failed abysmally over the years in recent times to enthrone a liveable society as a conducive environment for effectively implementing its well-crafted youth policies and programmes, thus wreaking havoc on youth development. For how long should this terrible scenario continue? Something definitely needs to be done by the government, by the youth themselves, by non-governmental bodies made up of well-meaning Nigerians, and by the international community (if need be) – and the time to do this ‘something’ about this situation is NOW
