YOUTH DEVELOPMENT POLICY: A PANACEA FOR MANAGING YOUTH VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT
Youth violence in Nigeria has become a wrong legacy since the country gained independence. It bedevils the progress, peace and tranquillity of the country and indeed the universal world in time and space. Youth violence poses a serious and to some extent hidden social problems to Nigeria’s population that it now constitutes a major challenge to the government. In addressing this challenge, this paper therefore examined what youth violence is, the factors that promote it in the society and how development policy could be used in managing it. Secondary source of information was adopted for data collection. Results show that youth violence is very rampant in Nigeria than what political scientists and sociologists think. Some of its causes include the role of the elites in the society, political instrumentalism, family influence and poverty to mention but a few. Youth violence affects the growth and development of the country as well as increase youth homicides and other societal ills. However, the federal government has established certain youth developmental policies and programmes such as the YouWin, Nigeria Youth Parliament and the Nigeria’s Youth Entrepreneurship as means for managing youth violence in the country. However, in order to totally eradicate youth violence from the country, the federal government should make sure that employment is provided for these teeming youths and the established policies and programmes fully implemented.

Keywords: Youth, Youth Violence, Development, Policy, Nigeria