NIGERIAN YOUTHS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS ON THE SPEECH OF THE NIGERIAN PRESIDENT AT THE COMMONWEALTH FORUM IN LONDON

Abstract

The youths are an integral part of any society and they are the focus for any sustainable
development. Sustainable development comes with continuous growth, progress and
improvement in every facet of human existence and the self-acquired capability for
sustenance. Political parties and their existing government get involved in the business of
integral and sustainable development for the sake of the present and the future looking at
the realities that affect the present conditions any society finds itself. As such, the youths
becomes the most important beneficiaries of these developments and yet the victims of
underdevelopment which hardly translates into self-actualization that pricks youth
effectiveness in relation to polity and the dynamics of Nigerian identity. If the youths are
the leaders of tomorrow as popularly said then the future begins from today. This is on the
ground that for a development to be sustainable and to sustain the future of the youth, then
there must be fair level playing ground. This in mind, this paper did a qualitative research
in a laboratory of philosophical analysis in response to a question where the Nigerian
President has cause to talk about Nigerian youths at the Commonwealth Business Forum
in London. In so doing, this paper has critically x-rayed the role of Nigerian youths in
sustainable development in a contextual philosophical analysis as it pertains to the
comment made by the President of Nigeria so as to accommodate divergent views and
creating a more robust engagement between the youths and government in Nigeria.