The singular and most frightening demographic fact of twentieth century Africa is the bulge in its youth component whose consequence constitutes a paradox of untold proportion. The youth is, without doubt, the most active proportion of any continent’s or state’s population whose unbounded energies constitute a threat if not channelled to productive endeavours. Africa’s youth population is leaping in geometrical proportions, yet there is no correlative employment into which to channel their humongous exuberances.
Now, here is the tragedy: By 2030, it is expected that many African countries would find themselves within a demographic window of opportunity that would allow them to reap the benefits of what has been called the ‘demographic dividend’. This results from the transition of the youthful population of a country to working-age adults relative to children and the elderly. The middle group is usually reserved for the youths who, it is expected, will have fewer children and would thus provide enormous boost for a state’s economic profile. We have the example of the East Asian countries and their economic miracle as illustration of the immense possibility of a demographic bulge.
Yet, that bulge portents a serious challenge to most African states. And we also have the example of the Middle Eastern states and the Arab Spring as illustration of the negative dimension of such a bulge. There are about 65% of Africa’s total population today that are under the age of 35; there is a further 35% that stands in the demographic gap between 15 and 35 years (this makes for about 200 million people between age 15 and 35); and the continent offloads at least about 10 million of this youthful population into the labour market either as unemployed or unemployable. These figures are expected to double by 2045. In Nigeria, close to 70% of the population, translating into about 80 million people, are within the youth age bracket. More than 38% of this figure is currently unemployed. And the figure keeps rising!
We can therefore interject the question: What do the youths want? This question provokes the awareness of our collective insensitivity as well as the willingness and readiness to take institutional steps to correct the imbalance in policies that engage the youths in national and continental agenda. The question is equally a rebuke to the youths who have no inkling of their manifest destiny and thus have abandoned hope of ever receiving the baton of national influence that would enable them to claim tomorrow. I don’t mean this as a critique. And this is because, apart from taking the radical way of unmitigated violence, the youths seems to have been locked into a constitutional closure that deny them legitimate avenues for contributions. Thus, while we pay lip service to the rhetoric of the role of the youths in the vanguard of democratic governance as well as within the political economy of a state, the youths continue to represent all that is bad within our development profile: kidnapping, robbery, internet fraud, political thuggery and militancy.
The index of negativity which we decry today is essentially a national and continental indictment of our lack of institutional foresight about the role of the youth as a demographic imperative in our nascent development. And, surprise of all surprise, this institutional deficit is even enshrined in constitutional provisions. It therefore becomes obvious that our inability to respect the youths as an inevitable component of national development derives ultimately from our lack of diligence about making the constitution an enabling document that would allow the youths several avenues for participating. For instance, the only reference to ‘youth’ in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution surfaced in the term ‘National Youth Service Corps decree’ mentioned in Part Three, 315 (5). And this is a critical indication of the substantive exclusions of the youths that the constitution perpetuates, especially with regard to certain significant posts in the polity. Chapter two—Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy—section17 (3f) states that ‘children, young persons and the age are protected against any exploitation whatsoever, and against moral and material neglect.’ We are at a loss therefore to reconcile this constitutional contradiction.
Yet, any meaningful onslaught against the danger of unleashing the negativity of youth unemployment, as the Arab Spring pointedly demonstrates, must be through an institutional reform. And there is no best place to begin than with a serious tinkering with the constitution. The constitution of any state represents the tangible document for promoting a political culture of a deep respect for the law contained in the legal document. Constitutionalism is premised on the notion that the government is tasked with the duty of making available provisions that would enable every segment of the state live meaningfully. And this can be achieved by engaging with the letter and spirit of the constitution. And in some instances, it becomes imperative to reinforce these constitutional contents with regional and continental initiatives and advocacies that energise what the national constitutions lack. In this case, I have my mind on the African Youth Charter, a definitive statement of intention, enriched by several other regional, continental and international programmes of actions and statutes, concerning the future roles and integration of the African youths in the mainstream development, democratic and political dynamics of their various African states.
The evolution of what can be called a ‘new constitutionalism’, therefore, would be an abiding concern with strengthening, through the legal provisions of the constitution, a framework for integrating the youth constituent of the state into the governance processes that, in the final analysis, determine their future prospects. Studies have shown that there are two major factors that would be significant in determining Africa’s future economic growth, and especially with regards to whether or not African states would be able to reap the demographic dividend. These factors are, first, a bulge in the number of working adults and, second, the evolution of institutional quality—strong rule of law, efficient civil service and stable socio-political environment by which the demographic bulge can be effectively utilised. We have already achieved the necessary demographic bulge; we have an army of willing youths whose patriotic zeal remains untapped. And, this constitutes further news: these young ones do not care to be restrained by the usual ethnocentric biases that we have allowed to slow our progress for so long. What is needed to move forward, therefore, is finding the right constitutional arrangement for engaging them.
To achieve the objectives of youth participation and empowerment requires several policy decisions and institutional initiatives that look to the youths as a constitutional necessity. The following can serve as the starting point of such constitutional reform:
The first initiative requires strengthening constitutional means for increasing the respect for the rule of law. When the law is respected, it generates multiplier effects which enhance other democratic practices that benefit the youths;
Constitutional enactments that remove exclusionary clauses restricting the youths from elective offices, and recognise in them viable participants in the governance processes. This can begin by making specific provisions regarding the youths and their roles in national development; evaluation and review of youth participation strategies in national affairs (i.e. the imperative of having a youth chapter in all political parties with youths serving as executives); evolution of elaborate national empowerment schemes that focuses the energies and attention of the youth.
Education serves a significant function in the attempt to orient the direction of the youth towards national development; and the existing National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) can be capacitated with constitutional muscle that replicates its organisational strength in the 36 states of the federation as a ready avenue for youth convergence and deployment for national affairs.
Herbert Hoover, one time president of the United States remarked that ‘Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.’ In the final analysis, the youths and the constitution of a state represent the incomparable ingredient of progress if both can be made to synergise through a deep respect for the law of the land which recognises the youth. When all is said and done, the youths in Nigeria, and Africa, constitute our first and last hope. Beyond the demographic dividend, the youth is the future.
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Dr Olaopa is Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth Development
Abuja.
