The saying that ‘Youths are the leaders of tomorrow’ may not come to be as the state of the economy has made it difficult for most parents to provide the necessities for their children to nurture them as leaders.
These youths, of which many are undergraduates, are now seen at strategic places begging for their daily bread.
Don’t be quick to say they are almajiris.
Economy&Lifestyle findings revealed that most of these youths are employed male and female while others are unemployed and above 17.
Jeremiah Osarieme, a 19-year-old, said he works in a factory where he is paid N15,000.
“I work in a factory. I earn N15,000 monthly. This N15,000 can barely pay for my feeding and transport fare to and fro work.
“I live with my aunt who is a hairdresser.
“The N15,000 doesn’t come early and handy that is why I resorted to begging at the bus stop for survival.
“Nobody wants to help these days. Whenever I go home from work, I stand at the bus park begging passengers to help pay my transport fare. Whenever I am lucky someone volunteers to pay.
“I am not the only one in this dilemma. Many of my friends are.
“For now, I can hardly achieve my aim of saving to further my education because the money I earn is not enough for necessities, not to talk of school.”
Apart from being at the bus stop, some youths are found lurking in front of eateries and local food joints begging customers to either buy them food or give them money to buy food.
Bayo Fagbemi, a 21-year-old boy said he was sent out of his guardian’s house since he couldn’t bring anything to the table.
“I have searched for a job everywhere after finishing Secondary school.
“But nothing is forthcoming. Some people will tell you you don’t have experience in jobs like cleaning, washing and so on.
“The pure water company I was working for, I bagged water.
“I worked there for three months. When the cost of production was high and the price of a bag of pure water shot up, they retained two out of the 5 of us working and till now I haven’t seen any steady job.
“Whenever I am broke, I come here to beg so that I can feed. I am not the only one here, there are many youths like myself.
“I cannot steal. At least begging puts food in your stomach. You have to put shame aside in this country now to survive.”
Another set of beggars are those running after private cars in traffic jams.
Mr. Gideon Okpana, a trader, said some of these youths are homeless and sleep in front of traders’ shelters at night.
“It is so terrible what the state of the economy has turned our youths into.
“If you as a parent don’t have connections your children will not go anywhere except for the intervention of God.
“Now these youths are helpless and have turned to begging to survive this harsh economy where people are losing their jobs and struggling to survive.
“I pity these you see begging in the traffic. Some of them are school dropouts and doing menial jobs like shadowing passengers for commercial bus drivers and conductor jobs.
“Now, most bus drivers hardly go for the services of a conductor. They prefer hustling for passengers themselves leaving these youths helpless with no job.
“The street lifestyle has also eaten deep into them so getting a decent job now seems difficult.
“To survive they beg car owners in traffic. Some of them even accost people in residential areas for help.
“As you see them begging, they sleep in front of the shops in this market daily. They have no home to go.”
Mrs Favour Mobonuola, a fish seller, said: “It is a pity what the economy of Nigeria has turned our youths into.
