Greg Odogwu
What I see in the British Council’s report on Nigeria as regards demographic disaster is not a prophecy of doom but a recipe for national development. This is because the whole world is going green in order to imbibe a sustainable development culture so as to adapt to global warming and climate change; and Nigeria has an enviable catchment of able-bodied and intellectually robust youth aggregate in its population, with a commensurate stock of natural and bio-resources, which are the primary ingredients for green entrepreneurship.
Surely, the case of an envisioned demographic disaster can be seen as the case of the cup being half-empty or half-full, and thank God that our eyes are now opened to the “either-way” possibility of our inevitable collective future as a nation. Therefore let us not vilify the producers of such a report, but let us appreciate an opportunity to look at things objectively in their right perspective. To be truthful, the government has failed the Nigerian youth. The leaders are visionless, directionless, prodigal, corrupt, insensitive and tactless; and these factors have driven them to create the doomed Nigerian youth. He roams the streets jobless and hopeless, waiting for the demographic disaster day (DDD) when he will join the den of new breed area boys.
The British Council report states that Nigeria’s booming population of young people may be a great boon for the country’s economy in the coming decades, but if the Nigerian government does not take steps to engage young people, the country could face “a demographic disaster”. So no matter what the pessimist (or pragmatist, for that matter) may think, I am optimistic that the cup is half full. I see possibilities which the government can tap to save the day. I see that if the Nigerian government puts in place the necessary social infrastructures to enable the youth harness their gifts and abilities, and also formulates the adequate policies to provide access to our many natural resources, Nigeria shall see itself skyrocketing to the top in the comity of nations.
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The first thing to consider here is that we are in a baby boom era. It is a known fact that 60% of the nation’s population is youthful, and by 2020 Nigeria’s population will cross 200 million and by 2050, the country would be the fifth most populous country in the world. According to the British Council report “If the country takes full advantage of the baby boom, the average Nigerian’s income could triple during the next two decades.” I see this assertion as true considering the American experience at the time they had their own baby boom during the 1940’s (after World War II) and 1950’s. It is the children of the American baby boom era that gave them their current edge in information and communications technologies (ICTs), entertainment and pop culture.
During the baby boom, the American government provided social security laws, proper sub urban housing (popularly known as Projects), and expansive and affordable education in order to carter to the essential needs of the teeming population. These helped and nurtured the creativity of the youth and saw to the resultant explosion of the ICT industry, alternative medicine, entertainment and general entrepreneurship in the United States. The likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Stephen Wozniak, Paul Allen, Steven Spielberg and many other self-made billionaires were all products of the baby boom America; and these men singularly helped set America ahead of other nations in the late 20th and this 21st century.
The baby boomers were planned for by their nation: the American government made sure that the infrastructure was on ground to help these youths achieve their God-ordained destinies. When it saw the need to provide welfare for the teeming population, it amended the existing Social Security Act, and replaced the Social Security Board with the Social Security Administration (SSA). In 1949 at the impetus of the social situation on ground, it once again reorganized the SSA, moving the administration of Unemployment Compensation to the US Department of Labour. In 1953 the government abolished the Federal Security Agency, and the Social Security Administration became part of the new Cabinet-level agency of Health, Education, and Welfare.
My point in citing the above developments in America is just to show what it means to have a caring and proactive government. It was the structure of the society that provided for Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as they delved into IT entrepreneurship. The subsequent youth culture of the 1960’s in America also found a nation that engaged them, spurring an unprecedented boom in self-styled new age business executives, film and music producers, and varied new technologies nerds, who at the end of the day gave America a new middle class. But today a new paradigm has been added to the lexicon of the twenty-first century: green economy. This is where I believe that Nigeria is naturally endowed to lead the way for others to follow.
