Posted by Babatunde Ojebuyi, a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication and Language Arts at the University of Ibadan, claims that the COVID-19 pandemic and insecurity have had a severe impact on the life of many Nigerian youngsters.
Ojebuyi made this statement while speaking to attendees at the Youth Aspirations and Resilience workshop, which was co-hosted by the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) and the MasterCard Foundation.
The session in Ibadan on Wednesday was attended by representatives from various youth organizations, opinion leaders, and the media.
Ojebuyi, who also acted as the Project Principal Investigator in Nigeria, addressed the research project’s findings, emphasizing the enormous challenges that Nigerian youths confront as a result of causes such as the Covid-19 pandemic and insecurity.
He added that these difficulties have a variety of detrimental repercussions on young Nigerians’ expectations.
“Several barriers, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and insecurity, have negatively affected the aspirations of Nigerian young men and women in various ways,” he said. The majority of young entrepreneurs (79.0%) reported that the COVID-19 epidemic had an impact on their firms compared to the pre-COVID-19 era. More than five out of ten young people lost jobs and customers, and business alternatives were decreased by 45.0%. Young women, on the other hand, often endured more emotional trauma: they were forced to stay at home to care for their children, and in the process, many of them became victims of rape and other forms of domestic violence.”
Joel Otieno, the Programme Officer for Research and Policy at PASGR, highlighted the potential of young people to drive Africa’s prosperity in his opening remarks.
“We are based in Nairobi, Kenya,” he explained. The importance of youths is vital to us. Young people have the ability to accelerate Africa’s development.”