ABSTRACT
Youth unemployment has been a major problem in many developing countries of the world. This has resulted to many social pathetical and economic problems such as prostitution, trafficking in persons, ritual killings, rural-urban drift, criminal activities and crises in these countries including Nigeria.Successive governments in Nigeria have initiated various programmes targeted at youths to better their conditions. These empowerment programmes failed due to one reason or the other. The study therefore sought to assess how youth empowerment can be achieved through indigenous arts and art-related trade in Oju Local Government Area of Benue state. Simple random sampling techniques were used in selecting the sample. The research instruments used were structured questionnaires distributed to 150 youths sampled for the study. The study revealed that over
70% of the respondents had a maximum of senior secondary school certificate or its equivalent. The study also revealed the practice of the following arts in the local government, ceramics, sculpture, textile weaving, carving, grass weaving among others as major areas of arts practical in the area. It also revealed youths readiness to engage themselves on those arts as a way of empowering themselves. The study further shows that the arts and art-related trades identified were also economically viable and played greater role in increasing their daily income, savings, assets and general well being than when they were not engaged in those area. It is therefore recommended that government, NGOs and Community leaders should collaborate and encourage the youths to further their studies above secondary level. They should also develop the ceramic and pottery works in Ibilla Alukpo of Igede Central Distric as well as establishing a technical or vocational school to
train the youths in the area.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
The Nigerian economy since her political independence in 1960 has undergone various fundamental structural changes, which however, have not resulted in any significant sustainable economic growth and development to ensure adequate employment opportunity for her youths (Emeh, 2012). Inspite of the attempts by successive regimes to improve the lots of Nigerian youths through the introduction of various reform programs, youth conditions still leaves a lot to be desired.
Nigeria like most developing nations of the world is faced with myriad of problems and harsh realities which include poverty, unemployment, conflicts and diseases (Ocho, 2005 and Oviawe, 2010). These problems therefore demand that the youths should be empowered with creative problem-solving skills. The training of educated individuals who can function effectively in the society for the betterment of self and society will require special attention as the system will deliberately set to concern itself with the development of sound human capital requirement for national development (Ocho, 2005) in Oviawe (2010).
National University Commission (2004) reiterates the massive unemployment of Nigeria graduates. This was traced to disequilibrium between labour market requirement and lack of employable skill by the graduates (Dijomal and Orimolade, 1991 and Diabelene Oni and Adekola, 2000).
More than half of the Nigerian populations are under the age of 30 according to the National population commission (2001). According to Nigerians National Youth Development Policy (2001), youths comprise all young persons of age 18-35, who are citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They represent the most active, the most volatile and yet the most vulnerable segment of the population, Onuekwusi and Elfiong (2002) defined youthful period as the period in an individual’s life which runs between the end of childhood and entry into world of work.
The youthful period which is a very critical period has been noted as an essential time for training and empowering youths to provide positive distractive behaviours that are frequently associated with adolescents and growing ups (Wool, 1998). It is the period to avail the youths of the various empowerment opportunities to help them learn wealth creation.
Empowerment is a relatively recent concept in Nigeria particularly in relation to youth development. It is not exactly 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 has been the loudest voice and militant arm of the Vanguard for resource control. Government in attempt to arrest what it perceived as youth restiveness in the Niger Delta may have introduced the term “youth empowerment,” as a new vocabulary in governance in recent times. For example, at the Youth Stakeholder Workshop in Port Harcourt in 2004, a resonant agenda was youth empowerment but it was from the viewpoint of quelling youth restiveness through some forms of economic empowerment (negotiation, government incentives or compensation) so as to provide an enabling environment for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other oil prospecting companies to work. The need to maintain a peaceful working environment in the Niger Delta through one form of empowerment led to the youth empowerment. Empowerment should therefore be seen as an approach, a strategy, a deliberate effort to bring about the ability of the youth to choose and control what affects their lives. Over and above this, the idea of strengthening and empowering includes choices
and control. It also involves the ability to initiate act and promote those choices they have made.
Within 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. It 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 takes place in homes, at school, through youth organizations, government policy-making, and community organized campaigns. Youth empowerment ranges from economic empowerment to social, ideological, educational, skills and political empowerment. In the light of the above, youth empowerment does the following for youths:
The ability to make decisions about personal/ collective circumstances; The ability to consider a range of options from which to choose; The ability to access information and resources for decision-making; Ability to having positive self-image and overcoming stigma; increasing one’s ability in discreet thinking to sort out right and wrong.
Despite the abundant human and natural resources in Nigeria, her citizens are still wallowing in abject poverty with little or no economic empowerment or the larger percentage of the population (Ohize and Adamu, 2009). If the present trend continues, Nigeria as a country may not likely
meet the vision 20-20-20 development goals. Nigeria has implemented several adhoc stabilization or reform measures in the past to empower the youth. Some of them include the Structural Adjustment Program, (SAP) National Directorate of Empowerment (NDE), National Economic Employment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP), etc. Therefore, focusing on youth empowerment in Benue State requires that these programs if well implemented will positively impact on the youths greatly and its impact felt in all the 23 local government areas.
Three common problems hamper progress in the aspects of youth empowerment in Nigeria. Firstly, not all the people enjoy the benefits of prosperity in this country due to lack of proper implementation of government policies (Iba, 2007).
Secondly, previous governments in Nigeria, instead of focusing on delivering essential public services assumed control of major sources of national income. In the process, corruption thrived in public services and gained a strong foothold in the society.
Thirdly, although the environment for private enterprise is improving there are still many challenges (Obasanjo in lba, 2007).
These development challenges among which are the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, improving material health etc. provoked the youths to demand for empowerment. However, certain conditions such as inculcation of national consciousness, right value system as well as training opportunities to acquire the appropriate skills ability and competencies both mentally and physically must be met. As opined by Carr (1969), “knowledge is knowledge for some purpose. The validity of knowledge depends on the validity of the purpose” Nigerian youths are in dire need of functional education to obtain knowledge for the purpose of pursuing and achieving a self-reliance attitude.
The early attempts by Nigerians to develop the manpower needed for stability and economic survival was not productive. It is however disheartening that the rate of poverty and youth unemployment in Nigeria in recent times seem to be on the increase.
The success of every nation in terms of development depends on the abundant and albeit untapped resources of the youths who form a large section of the population. Unfortunately, our youths have not been given the mandate to execute their potentials profitably for themselves and the society. Nevertheless, they need an opportunity to develop interest in a vocation to perform creditably well for the development of the nation. But the efficiency
of the youth towards the contribution to national development hinge on empowerment. Young people are the most vital resources in Oju local government area; this can be seen in the various aspects of the human activities engaged in by the Igede people.
They are far more creative, compassionate and capable tools for building a positive and sustainable future. The expressive arts are potent tools for youths to help them maximize creative tendencies and helping them become viable members of the society.
The researcher’s view is to receive, retrain and redeploy the creative capacity of youths so that they can play more productive and self-fulfilling roles in the emerging economic dispensations.
It therefore becomes necessary to identify and train them in social arts in other for them to be skilled conveners in their societies of intergenerational multicultural learning events in a more productive level for social change.
Empowerment as explained by Foy, (1997) simply means gaining of power to make one’s voice heard, to contribute to plans and decisions that affect one, to use one’s expertise at work and to improve one’s performance. Therefore, to empower youth means to mandate or give authority to the youth to acquire education that will be of benefit to them to contribute
effectively to economic development of their society. To that effect, vocational and technical education is expected to play an important role through training manpower in applied science, technology and commerce particularly sub-professional levels. This implies that, by training the youth as tailor, electrician, carpenter, baker, typist, crafts-men and women in Oju Local Government Area. They could be empowered to participate actively in the development of the country and become self-reliant as a prerequisite for employment.
‘Art’ has no universally accepted definition although it is commonly used to describe something of beauty, or a skill which produces an aesthetic or functional result. It requires some kind of creative impulse. “Art is created when an artist creates a beautiful object, or produces a stimulating experience that is considered by his audience to have artistic merits”. Art Encyclopedia.
Art can also simply refer to the developed and efficient use of a language to convey meaning with immediacy and or depth. It is also an act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations. There is an understanding that is reached with the material as a result of handling it, which facilitates one’s thought processes.
Britannica online defines art as “the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects”. By this definition of the word, artistic works have existed for almost as long as humankind; from early prehistoric art to contemporary art; however, some theories restricted the concept to modern western societies. The first and broadest sense of art is the one that has remained closest to the older Latin meaning, which roughly translates to “skill” or “craft”. A few examples where this meaning proves very broad include artifact, artificial, artifice, medical artist, and military arts. Lowenfeld and Britain (1975) asserts art as “dynamic and unifying activity with a potentially vital role in the education of our children. The process of drawing, painting, or constructing is a complex one in which the child brings together diverse element of his experience to make a new and meaningful whole. In the process of selecting, interpreting, and reforming these elements, he has given us more than a picture or a sculpture, he has given us a part of himself; how he thinks, how he feels, and how he sees living the child opportunities to create constantly with the knowledge he currently has is the best preparation for future creative action. Man learns through his senses. The ability to see, feel, hear, smell and taste provides the contact between man and his environment. The greater the opportunity to develop an
increased sensitivity and the greater the awareness of all the senses, the greater will be the opportunity for learning.
Visual art is very beneficial to young people, when properly engaged in it can help then in very diverse ways. As a creative outlet from more academic subjects, Ogidi (2012), Opined that visual art allows one to:
express oneself creatively; put emphasis on the value as content, which helps students understand “quality” as a value; Building problem-solving skills; think and perceive more deeply; put one in touch with other customs, heritage, society and civilizations; be therapeutic; convey knowledge, meaning and skills not learned through the study of other subjects; boost your confidence and self esteem; boost literacy skills;
help one to describe things in detail and explore the use of words to better describe things; flexes the “brain
muscle”; be a significant tool for community development and empowerment.
Art education is vital for today’s world including the ability to allocate resources; to work successfully with others; to find, analyze, and communicate, information; to operate increasingly complex systems of seemingly unrelated parts; and finally to use technology. Empowerment through art will greatly help the teaching of able bodied youths of Oju Local Government Area to diversify their creative tendencies.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Although much has been written on youth empowerment in Nigeria, little is known concerning youth empowerment in Oju local government area of Benue State. There are also recorded problems of poverty and youth unemployment in Nigeria. According to Salami (2013) 16.07 million youths are unemployed in Nigeria, while National Bureau of statistic (2010) report showed that about 112.5 million (65%) of 164 million Nigerians live in relatively poverty condition.
In Benue State, more than 54.6% of the people consider themselves as poor (Fiona, Maja, Caroline and Miguel, 2011). Also, the human poverty index for Benue State is 36% several points above the national average of
32.3% (Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, 2010). While Okwoche (2011), reports that Oju Local Government Area was among the local government areas in Benue State that have the highest rate of unemployment. Among the consequences of youth unemployment are trafficking in person, prostitution and other social pathology of street youths which is common in both urban and rural communities of all the 36 states of the Federation and Abuja.
It is on the basis of the above that the study seeks to fill the vacuum which is yet to receive the attention of scholars in the field of youth empowerment studies. The study will provide documentations on the
strategies to adopt in cubing youth unemployment in Oju Local Government Area in particular, by refocusing on unmaximized potentials of the youths into productive ventures.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main objective of this study is to take a closer look at the level of poverty among the youths of Oju local government area of Benue State in order to identify the self-empowerment possibilities in the arts of the area.
The specific objectives are to:
i. Identify the various forms of art and art-related trades in Oju Local
Government Area of Benue State.
ii. Assess the level of youth readiness to engage in the arts and art- related trades for self-empowerment.
iii. Assess the economic viability of the forms of arts and art-related trades.
iv. Examine the relevance of arts and art-related trades to youths
Empowerment in Oju Local Government Area
1.4 Research Questions
1. What are the various types of arts and arts related trades that can empower youths in Oju Local Government Area of Benue state?
2. What are the level of youth’s readiness to engage in the available form in types of arts and art-related trades?
3. Which areas of arts and art-related trades do youths engage most
4. Are the available areas of arts and art-related trades in Oju Local
Government Area economically viable?
5. Have the youths benefited from these areas of and art-related trades economically?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The researcher hopes that this research work will proffer practicable ways of helping government effort to poverty reduction and eradication; engage in creative discuss of government agencies and machinery in youth empowerment through arts, hinged on the peculiarity of Oju government area of Benue state; Draw the attention of government to the decline of skills acquisition and vocational training in our schools and its adverse effect on our quest for youth empowerment. The result of the study will also help the youths look inwards to their latent abilities and its viability in the arts and craft; and also to stimulate entrepreneurial development and achieve attitudinal orientation among the youths towards the establishment of small and medium scale business necessary for wealth creation and poverty reduction.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The study will touch on the concepts of youth empowerment with a particular interest in arts and arts-related traded in Oju local government area of Benue State.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ARTS IN OJU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE NIGERIA
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