Abstract
The crux of democracy is dependent on the desires of the population which such government serves. The Youths have been identified as an essential section of any country’s population because of their contribution to economic and democratic development. In the case of Nigeria, youths have participated in politics, engineer agitation for environmental protection, electoral process and civil justice which constitute aspects of the democratic experience. However, in recent times the democratic experience in the country has been threatened by violence and insecurity which have been perpetuated by youths. This study is therefore informed by the need to analyse the challenges faced in sustaining democracy in Nigeria, the impact youths have on the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria as well as solutions that can be adopted to sustain democracy in the country. The study employs a survey design approach using a structured questionnaire titled “Impact and Challenges of Youths in Sustaining Democracy” (ICYSD) for data collection and was guided by three research questions. A total of 200 youths residing in Cross rives state were sampled from 1200 youths in the Niger delta region. Data was analysed employing frequencies and percentages. The findings indicates that the primary challenge faced in sustaining democracy is illiteracy, ethnic sentiment, unemployment, poverty amongst others and that the impact of youths on the sustenance of democracy include manpower provision, voter strength, electoral violence and disruption of economic activities to mention a few. This study further reveals that through empowerment programmes, access to education, religious and ethnic tolerance and job creation, democracy can be sustained in Nigeria.
Highlights
Every country operates a system of governance, governance refers to the manner the country is governed
In order to capture every geo-political zone, two hundred participants were selected from the population employing stratified sampling technique and random sampling was employed to get the participants that took part in the research. (III) Sample of the Study For the purpose of the study, a sample size of two hundred respondents was drawn up from the population comprising 114 males and 86 females aged between 20 to 30 years. (IV) Instrumentation The research instrument was titled “Impact and Challenges of Youths in Sustaining Democracy” (ICYSD) questionnaire fashioned for data collation and to allow participants state their opinions about these issues
This argument agrees with the proposition by Chukwuemeka & Aghara [17] who highlight that due to marginalization, denial of social rights and environmental degradation have continued to threaten the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria through agitations
Summary
Every country operates a system of governance, governance refers to the manner the country is governed. Throwing more light on democracy, scholars have highlighted that it is culled from the Greek language and refers to “rule by simple majority”. It can be defined as the ruling of a society through an electoral process that ensures that the freedom of citizens to associate with a view to actualizing their ideals and defend and advance their interest [3]. The task of any society is to rebuild and revitalize itself while building its own abilities, educating and mobilizing its citizens [4] which include youths, midaged and elderly and they must continue to allow themselves be educated and mobilized if the true values of democracy are to be sustained through consolidation and deepening of equity, in the fabrics of any society
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