THE CHALLENGES FACING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF YOUTH ... · PDF file© 2011 egobooster books page 2 the challenges facing the implementation of youth empowerment programmes/economic and

© 2011 EgoBooster Books Page 1

THE CHALLENGES FACING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES/ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (NEEDS) IN

NORTHERN NIGERIA

BY

OMOTERE TOPE N.C.E., B.A. (Ed)


THE CHALLENGES FACING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES/ECONOMIC AND

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (NEEDS) IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

By

OMOTERE TOPE

N.C.E., B.A. (Ed)

February, 2011


© 2011 Omotere Tope

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Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. He has

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THE CHALLENGES FACING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES/ECONOMIC AND

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (NEEDS) IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study focuses on the challenges affecting the implementation of youth

empowerment programmes vis-à-vis the Economic and Development

Strategy (NEEDS) using four Local Government Areas of Wukari,

Ibbi, Gassol and Jalingo in Taraba State as a case study. This study

identifies the major challenges that stand as a bottleneck towards the

implementation of youth empowerment programmes. Questionnaire was

administered to collect relevant data which was analyzed, using the simple

percentages method. It was discovered that poor monitoring and

supervision of youth programmes, lack of funding, inadequate

infrastructural facilities, lack of qualified youth personnel (leaders), poor

management of youth recreational facilities and vocational centre, among

others were responsible for the poor implementation of youth empowerment

programmes in Taraba State. Having identified the problems,

recommendations were further made to help in solving the problem. The

researcher recommended that government needs to provide enough fund for

the assessment and monitoring of youth programmes, provision of well

equipped vocational centres, recruitment of qualified youth leaders, among

others have to be vigorously pursued and achieved if the objectives of the

Taraba State Government concerning youth empowerment is to be

ascertained.


CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Youth empowerment is a process whereby young people gain the

ability and authority to make decisions and implement change in

their own lives. In Nigeria, youth empowerment occurs in homes, at

schools, through youth organizations, government policy-making,

reality Tv Shows, and community organizing campaigns. Youth

empowerment ranges from economic empowerment to social,

ideological, educational, technological and political empowerment.

The term “youth empowerment” combines two important words

(“youth” and “empowerment”) which must be defined differently.

The United Nations, for statistical purposes, defines ‘youth’, as those

persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years. While the Webster

Dictionary (1998),defines empowerment in three ways “(1) to give


official authority or legal power to; (2) enable; (3) to promote the self

actualization or influence.” The strategy proscribed by the first

definition can be quite effective provided that the party being

empowered (that is, the "empoweree") already has the competencies

needed to achieve the desired outcome. The strategy does not work

well when it is plugged into a framework of youth development in

which empowerment itself is being used as a strategy for developing

competencies in youth. For youth development, the third definition

is more suitable. Youth empowerment therefore refers to a process

through which adults begin to share responsibility and power with

young people.

However, it must be noted that youth empowerment in itself has

been in practice in pre-colonial Nigeria. The trans-Atlantic slave

trade and the colonization of African states eventually led to the

impoverishment of African youths. The post independent African


countries inherited the problem of youth unemployment and other

social problems.

Within the African context, youth empowerment is a means of

encouraging young people to gain the skills and knowledge that will

allow them to overcome obstacles in life. In this sense, youth

empowerment does the following for African youths:

• The ability to make decisions about personal/collective

circumstances

• The ability to access information and resources for decision-

making

• Ability to consider a range of options from which to choose

• Ability to exercise assertiveness in collective decision making

• Having positive-thinking about the ability to make change

• Ability to learn and access skills for improving

personal/collective circumstance.


• Ability to inform others’ perceptions though exchange,

education and engagement.

• Involving in the growth process and changes that is never

ending and self-initiated

• Increasing one's positive self-image and overcoming stigma

• Increasing one's ability in discreet thinking to sort out right

and wrong.

Historically speaking, it is not clear when the term ‘Youth

Empowerment’ entered into the Nigerian socio-political and

economic vocabulary. The term perhaps, resonates more as an

attempt by stakeholders to draw attention to the ecological

degradation and economic ‘powerlessness’ of those living in the oil-

rich Niger Delta area of Nigeria. The Niger Delta youth adopted

militant approach to fight for resource control in the region. The

Federal Government responded by arresting what they perceive as

youth restiveness in the Niger Delta, and thus, introduced various


programmes targeted at diverting the attention of the youths. This

might have influenced their use of the term ‘youth empowerment’ as

a new vocabulary in governance. In the words of A. Emielu (2008),

since crude oil is the main stay of the Nigerian

economy, the concept of youth empowerment in

the Niger Delta area could be seen more as a

negotiated relationship between government

agencies and the ‘restive youths’, born more out of

fear of destabilizing the national economy, than

by the need to develop the creative potentials of

the Nigerian youth.

NEEDS and Youth Empowerment in Taraba State

Nigeria has implemented several ad hoc stabilization or reform

measures in the past to empower the youths. Some of them include

the Structural Adjustment Programme, National Directorate of

Employment, National Economic Empowerment and Development


Strategy (NEEDS), etc. Therefore, focusing on youth empowerment

in Taraba State requires that one picks one of these proagrammes

and analyses its implementation and its impact on the youths in

Taraba State.

Taraba State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy

was launched by the Taraba State Government in 2004 as a plan of

action aimed at tackling the problems of development in Taraba

State. The essence of developing the plan was to reduce poverty,

generate employment, create wealth and re-orientate the value

system in the State and pave way for sustainable development over

a short to medium term from 2005 to 2007. Therefore, the Taraba

State government not only target the children, the women and the

aged in her programme of action but also the youths who are seen as

engine of economic and social development in Taraba State.


In this sense, the TSEEDS seeks to strategically place the youths in a

comparative advantage and to allow them work creating wealth

through small and medium scale enterprises.

This research seeks to examine the evolution of youth empowerment

in Taraba State with emphasis on young people both in rural and

urban areas of the state. If empowering young people means

creating and supporting the enabling conditions under which young

people can act on their own behalf, and on their own terms, rather

than at the direction of others, this study therefore sets out to present

a historical analysis of what the Taraba State government has been

able to provide since its creation in 1991 to empower the youths.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Although, much has been written on the evolution of youth

empowerment in Nigeria (especially on youths in the Niger Delta),

little is known concerning youth empowerment in Taraba State vis-

à-vis Taraba State Economic Empowerment and Development


Strategy. It is on the basis of the above that this research seeks to fill

the vacuum which is yet to receive the attention of scholars in the

field of youth empowerment studies.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The purpose of this research work is to:

i. Discuss the concept of youth empowerment

ii. Discuss the various youth empowerment programmes of

the Taraba State Government as presented in the Taraba

State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy

(TSEEDS)

iii. Analyze youth empowerment policies of the Taraba State

Government in accordance with the National Economic

Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)


1.4 Research Questions

(i) To what extent has the Taraba state government promote youth

empowerment programmes in the state?

(ii) Does the Programme make available recruitment of youth into

the workfore?

(iii) Are there facilities in the Local Government Areas of Taraba

State to enhance youth entrepreneurship training as stipulated in the

document of Taraba State Economic Empowerment and

Development Strategy (TSEEDS)?

(iv) To what extent has youth empowerment programmes in Taraba

State been effective in line with the National Economic

Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)?


1.5 Scope of the Study

The study touches on the concepts of youth empowerment and its

importance to national development. It examines the evolution of

youth empowerment in Taraba State. It also discusses National

Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and

its implementation by the Taraba State Government. However, the

work is limited to economic and social empowerment of youths in

four Local Government Areas (WUKARI, IBBI, GASSOL AND

JALINGO) of Taraba State and does not cover other areas such as

religious empowerment.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The significant of this research work are enormous. First, the work

addresses one of the key issues of contemporary Nigeria. It touches

areas that affect the conduct of democratic principles in Nigerian

polity which is the National Economic Empowerment and

Development Strategy (NEEDS). Hence, the study is of benefit to


students of international relations, politics, development studies,

history, and even those in the social sciences.

Secondly, this study will contribute to the growing body of

knowledge in youth empowerment as it looks at the concept from a

different angle.

Thirdly, this study will aid other researchers who might want to

carry out research in related areas.

1.8 Definition of Terms

Youth: Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood

(maturity). "Youth are also regarded as those persons between the

ages of 15 and 24 years."

Empowerment: Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual,

political, social, or economic strength of individuals and


communities. It often involves the empowered developing

confidence in their own capacities.

Youth Empowerment: Youth empowerment is an attitudinal,

structural, and cultural process whereby young people gain the

ability, authority, and agency to make decisions and implement

change in their own lives

Taraba State: Taraba State was created out of the former Gongola

State on 27th August 1991, by the Military Government of General

Ibrahim Babangida. Taraba State which has its capital at Jalingo is

named after the River Taraba located in the Southern part of the

State.

Non-Governmental Organizations: A non-governmental

organization (NGO) is a legally constituted organization created by

natural or legal persons that operates independently from any

government and a term usually used by governments to refer to

entities that have no government status.


National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy

(NEEDS): revolves around the idea of empowerment across a broad

spectrum of the Nigerian people. NEEDS empowers through job

creation, opportunities for employment and wealth creation and

promoting private enterprise”.

1.9 Organization of the Work

Chapter one examines the background to the study and provides a

general overview of what the research intends to achieve.

Chapter Two provides literature review of the work and also looks

at theoretical and empirical framework of youth empowerment in

Taraba State.

Chapter Three looks at the methodology to be used for the study

Chapter Four gives a critical analysis of the findings of the study as

regards youth empowerment in Taraba State vis-à-vis Taraba State

Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (TSEEDS)?


Chapter Five provide the summary and conclusion of the study. It

also made recommendations as to how to improve youth

empowerment in the State.


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THE CHALLENGES FACING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF YOUTH ... · PDF file© 2011 egobooster books page 2 the challenges facing the implementation of youth empowerment programmes/economic and