Reducing juvenile delinquency through business development

In 2008 alone, the country lost $20.7 billion in oil revenues due to militant violence in the oil-rich but volatile Niger Delta region. A Presidential Technical Committee report to the Nigerian government attributed the tax loss to activity by armed militants at oil facilities that resulted in closures and spills. The conflict has significantly paralyzed oil exports, the country’s main source of income, from 2.6 million barrels in 2006 to a current figure of just 1.78 million barrels. The human component of this economic tragedy is even more terrifying: at least 1,000 lives lost and another 300, including 44 foreign oil workers and businessmen, taken hostage.

The Nigerian government considers four of the nine states in the delta region to be conflict zones, and foreign travel to these places is strictly restricted. The area of ​​70,000 square kilometers, a pillar of the country’s economy, represents 85% of the State’s income2. Armed insurgency in the region is rooted in a perceived sense of neglect by both oil companies and the national government, a sentiment that is corroborated by empirical evidence. Despite its strategic and economic importance, the Niger Delta region’s human development indices are well below national averages. In addition, pollution from oil and gas exploration has decimated indigenous sources of livelihood, such as fishing, bringing home disease, malnutrition, and high death rates, as well as severe environmental repercussions.

However, localized symptoms in the Niger Delta are only part of the problem. Poverty remains endemic despite billions flowing into national coffers. Successive government policies of the last century failed to include the vast majority of Nigerians; 76 million of whom are officially classified below the poverty line, while a staggering 35% of the population continues to live in abject poverty3.

However, poverty imposes an unavoidable social cost, and for an impoverished people, crime is often an easy step from deprivation. Although reliable independent data is hard to come by, Nigeria has a massive unemployment rate that adds thousands of new graduates to its jobless roll every year. The country’s leading newspaper ‘This Day’ reports in a September 2007 article that young Nigerians make up half the population, 95% of whom are unemployed4. By the government’s own admission, more than 70% of the population was unemployed that year. The figure has since dropped to just under 29% to match recent findings from the independent World Bank. However, even at this rate, more than 40 million Nigerians are currently unemployed. Significantly, policy changes made after 1999 have done little to alleviate the situation, largely due to a misguided focus on capital-intensive businesses that generated few employment opportunities. The situation was made worse by acute infrastructure shortages, forcing hundreds of factories and informal sector industries to lay off workers.

Consequently, juvenile delinquency has been on a steady rise, fueled by decades of underinvestment in the social sector, coupled with poor initiatives to alleviate poverty and ineffective efforts to reduce unemployment. Over the years, billions in annual oil revenue flowing into the country raised the bar for its economic and social aspirations, resulting in a climate of criminal propensity.

For a nation with millions of unemployed youth, the gross result has been an increase in violent crime by individuals and gangs, including frequent muggings, assaults, robberies, car thefts, extortion, and kidnapping. Fraud is an especially large criminal subsector here. In fact, the US Department of State specifically warns Nigeria-bound travelers to beware of innovative scams hatched on the Internet that pose the risk of financial loss and personal danger.

Over many years of political and social turmoil, the accumulation of petty crime has transformed Nigeria into an established transit point on drug routes heading to Europe and North America. Due to its strategic location, the country has also become a center of massive economic corruption and criminal activity. However, since 1999, a climate of renewed collaboration with international law enforcement agencies has resulted in a substantial crackdown on syndicated criminal activity across the country. A notable achievement in this regard has been a national initiative against drug money laundering, which resulted in Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s list of non-cooperative countries in 2006. However, the commitment of the country with the fight against economic crimes continues to be monitored.

The combination of poverty, inflation and unemployment in Nigeria has created a situation where opportunities for paid employment are few and crime is often a means of survival. The same is true in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa where legitimate opportunities are shrinking. In Nigeria, the highest incidence is of crimes against property, related to survival: robbery, armed robbery, fraud, etc. The inherent flaws in the criminal justice system only add to the problem. Addressing law and order is especially difficult due to the existence of a triple criminal justice system, including a Penal Code, a Penal Code (based on Islamic edicts) and Customary Law, some of which are informal and unwritten. .

Juvenile delinquency is currently one of the biggest obstacles on Nigeria’s path to accelerated economic development. One of the government’s central priorities, in the context of long-term development goals, remains the mobilization of its significant youth population to lead an entrepreneurial revolution. Nigeria’s emerging leadership has, in principle, at least realized the urgency of implementing key initiatives related to creating new jobs for sustainable and inclusive growth. For Nigeria, business development is both a social and economic imperative. The following aspects require critical consideration as part of any concerted governmental effort in this regard:

* In the face of Nigeria’s turbulent past, maintaining political stability and the authority of democratic institutions is critical to the success of any worthwhile youth reactivation initiative.

* Improvement in per capita income, standard of living, and related human development indices through the implementation of informed changes in social and economic policies.

* Effective poverty alleviation programs that focus on business development as a viable means to legitimize prosperity. Mobilization of the young workforce to promote rapid business development in rural and urban areas alike.

* Massive review of the education system to correctly address local realities. Focus on vocational and skills development programs that translate into hands-on job opportunities.

* Rehabilitation programs for Niger Delta militants and other criminal elements that focus on equipping them with practical skills and harnessing their economic potential.

For a country beset by a bewildering array of problems, piecemeal measures can hardly be effective in the long run. Hopefully, Nigeria has at least started to take positive steps.

In June this year, the government of President UM Yar’Adua announced a declaration of amnesty for activists in the Niger Delta region. The proclamation acknowledges that the militancy arose from the state’s inability to meet the aspirations of the local population and the need for sustainable development in the Delta states. It goes on to add that most of the militants are “healthy young people whose energies could be harnessed for the development of the Niger Delta and the nation in general5”.

As is the case with most seemingly intractable problems, the problem of juvenile delinquency in Nigeria also contains its solution!