COMMUNICATION, EDUCATION AND YOUTHS EMPOWERMENT FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Among the aims of development is the creation of opportunities for youths, who constitute an important segment of the society’s population. The obvious separation of this reality from the socio-political life of the nation can be why our national development planning is some-worth artificial. The alienation of the youth from economic activities has been the reason for the present mass poverty and anti-social behaviours (kidnapping, hostage taking, tuggery, Boko Haram, advanced free fraud, popularly known as 419, petroleum pipe-line vandalisation and so on).  The resultant burden on the fragile economy could have been avoided, if in building the nation’s myths, youth development was considered by successive governments. This paper discusses some of the underlining challenges and elaborates on how communication and education can play significant role in national economic planning. Using analytical approach and tenets in media framing, the paper concludes by suggesting that the employment embargo be relaxed to absorb a good number of university graduates as a stopgap in order to stem the looming youth unemployment crises