CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The problem of unemployment and lack of empowerment predisposes jobless

and economically productive population to acts of youth restiveness and

violence, because it makes them readily available for the use of unscrupulous

elites, who activate violence for selfish reasons. Such act of youth restiveness

undermines sustainable peace and development in the society. Acts of youth

restiveness is a global phenomenon. For instance, in Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria,

Egypt, amongst others, there was youth restiveness during the Arab spring

(Shamasna, 2012); in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, where youths were

violent actors in the political space and their actions became serious security

concerns.

In support of this assertion, Felice and Wisler (2007) and Alao (2013), posit

that when working age people are unemployed, and have limited opportunities

for gainful employment, they become a ready pool of recruits for groups

seeking to activate violence. Therefore, empowering youths is arguably a

powerful proactive tool in conflict management for reducing youth

restiveness, in the sense that youths are naturally endowed with energy, and

when this energy is positively channelled, it productively contributes to the

overall development of the society, creating opportunities for achieving self

1
actualization and enhancing individuals' capacity to develop natural potentials

for sustainable self and societal development.

Globally, there are numerous youth empowerment initiatives. For example in

July 2016, UNDP launched its first Youth Global Programme for Sustainable

Development and Peace Youth-GPS (2016-2020), a 5-year global

programmatic offer on youth empowerment ("Youth Empowerment"- UNDP).

Similarly, USAID launched a $45 million initiative, Yes, Youth Can! in

Kenya, to assist youths to develop entrepreneurial skills, have better access to

employment opportunities and become positive change agents in their

communities ("Global Heights: USAID Youth Program"). In the same vein,

the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) is an international development

agency working with youths by providing technical assistance in the area of

enterprise/vocational training and micro credit to governments and youth-

centred organizations in the Commonwealth 54 member countries; while the

African Union Youth Volunteer Corps (AU-YVC) - a continental development

program recruits youth volunteers, to work in all 54 countries across the

African Union.

In Nigeria, there are many youth empowerment models like the National

Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Poverty Eradication Programme

(NAPEP), National Economic Empowerment & Development Strategy

(NEEDS), Subsidy Re-Investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P),

2
YOUWIN! amongst others, which are all geared towards the reduction of

youth restiveness.

In towing the line of the above mentioned international and national youth

empowerment programmes to reduce youth restiveness, the Kwara State

Government inaugurated the Kwara Bridge Empowerment Scheme

(KWABES), to empower 8,000 unemployed youths over a period of four

years with a view to finding a sustainable solution to the menace of

unemployment which primarily creates youth restiveness in Kwara State.

There is massive unemployment of the economically active population in

Kwara State, which has brought about a rise in youth restiveness and security

concerns. Unemployment rate in Kwara State has increased from 7.1% in

2011 to 10.4% in 2015 (National Bureau of Statistics). The lack of

empowerment of this group of energetic youths constitute a threat to the peace

and security of the harmonious state of Kwara across the three senatorial

districts viz.: Kwara North, Central and South. There are indicators that all the

zones have empowerment challenges that includes not only household poverty

and economic losses (World Bank, 2009), but also increase in crime rates

which portends instability and insecurity for the State. However, the worst hit

of youth restiveness are Kwara Central and Kwara South, where there are

large turnouts of graduates on yearly basis and limited employment

opportunities, coupled with Rural-Urban migration of youths and

3
abandonment of agriculture in search of greener pastures in urban areas

(Okafor, 2011). Kwara North fares better in relation to youth restiveness in the

State because there are youths in the area who still practise commercial

farming in their local communities.

However, the security challenges of unemployment in Kwara State are on the

rise, as many unemployed youths in the State indulge in substance abuse. For

instance, Aluko et al., (2015) identified lack of empowerment as a major cause

of anti-social and violent behaviour of youths in Ilorin, the State capital,

which runs contrary to the virtue of peace for which Ilorin indigenes were

renowned. Unemployed youths in Ilorin ''now cluster to form a ready troop of

violent gangs mostly employed by political actors against some perceived

enemies''.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In Offa Local Government Area which is the specific focus of this research,

unemployed youths formed gangs and hang around major junctions like Sanni

Aba, Orita-Merin, Osunte, Ita-Erin, Atan-Oba, amongst others in the ancient

town, they ask for money from motorists they consider as financially

comfortable and often intimidate them by threatening to assault them or

damage their cars if they refused "to cooperate". School dropouts and youths

who could not establish their trade due to financial constraints often join the

4
gangs of "successful" political thugs who have derived financial benefits from

political patrons. A situation like this, in a place that has a history of

reoccurring communal crises called for serious concerns given that this gangs

are readily available for manipulation to violence.

It therefore follows that, in a society where an army of youths and employable

adults are jobless, dependency ratio will be negatively skewed, leaving in its

wake psychological and economic trauma with negative implications for the

society (Greenberg, 2011), and security challenges like armed robbery,

kidnapping, insurgency, terrorism, ethnic and religious conflicts etc. (Adesina,

2013).

Thus, KWABES was designed as a safety net for the exigencies of

unemployment in the 16 Local Government Areas of the State, including Offa,

by providing transitory employment for 2,000 unemployed youths within a

year. However, absorbing youths enlisted on the bridge into the mainstream

Civil Service across Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and the

Teaching Service has limitations because employment in these areas is subject

to availability of vacancies on the one hand, and financial capacity of the

government to pay monthly salaries on the other. Meanwhile, KWABES

participants in Offa L.G.A who were able to complete their skill acquisition

training find it difficult to establish their trade due to the draconian

conditionality attached to loan accessibility.

5
Furthermore, funding KWABES has become increasingly difficult for the

State Government because of decreasing monthly allocation from the

Federation Account and national economic recession amongst other reasons.

This unfortunately, has made the State to be in arrears (of several months) of

paying the monthly stipends of KWABES corps in Offa L.G.A. along with

others participants in other Local Government Areas of the State. These

seeming unresolved challenges confronting KWABES made the youths in the

L.G.A. to conclude that the programme has failed (Kwara Youths Summit,

2015).

There are many literature on Youth Empowerment in Kwara State (Bello et al.

2009; Abdussalam, 2009; Latopa and Abd Rashid, 2015), but none has

focussed their work on the activities of KWABES in Offa L.G.A. This is an

important gap that this study intends to fill.

1.3 Aims and Objectives of the Study.

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of KWABES on

youth restiveness in Offa Local Government by assessing the

performances of the programme as a youth empowerment strategy. Other

objectives are to:

1. Study the origin of youth empowerment programme in Kwara

State;
2. Identify the main thrusts of KWABES;

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 3. Examine the nexus between KWABES and youth restiveness in

Offa Local Government;

4. Assess the achievements and challenges of KWABES in curbing

youth restiveness in Offa Local Government;

5. Suggest the best way in which KWABES could be used as an

instrument of reducing youth restiveness in Offa Local

Government.

1.4 Research Questions

This study answers the following research questions:

1. What led to the establishment of youth empowerment programmes in

Kwara State?
2. What are the main thrusts of KWABES in Kwara State?
3. What is the nexus between KWABES and youth restiveness in Offa

Local Government?
4. What are the achievements and challenges of KWABES on youth

restiveness in Offa Local Government?

5. How could KWABES be used to effectively reduce youth restiveness

in Offa local Government Area?

7
1.5 Significance of The Study

This study is a valuable contribution to empowerment policies, initiatives and

models with a view to ensuring sustainability of empowerment structures in

Nigeria irrespective of political or economic situation. This study will go a

long way to assist stakeholders in structuring empowerment initiatives to meet

the specific needs of the target population, thereby ruling out a "one size fits

all" approach which is counter-productive in curbing youth restiveness.

In addition, the aim of academic pursuit is to provide solutions to myriads of

societal problems, and considering the fact that lack of empowerment is a

factor that shakes the stability and security of a society, this study will enrich

literature on youth restiveness and empowerment. It also opens ways for

further research on empowerment as a pre-requisite for sustainable peace and

development.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The subject scope of this study is an assessment of the impact of KWABES on

youth restiveness in Kwara State. Within its geographical scope, the study

covers Kwara State and Offa Local Government Area in particular because of

high prevalence of youth restiveness in the area.

8
The timeline for the study is between September, 2011, when KWABES was

created as a safety net for the exigencies of unemployment in Kwara State, to

June, 2016, when the scheme was suspended for review and overhauling.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

One of the challenges of this research work was tracking down participants of

KWABES empowerment initiative, especially those whose aspirations were

not fulfilled in the scheme before its suspension in June, 2016. To surmount

this challenge, the researcher liaised with the Office of the Senior Special

Assistant to the Executive Governor of Kwara State on Youth Empowerment,

to facilitate access to the KWABES database which made available the

contacts of the participants through which they can be reached .

In the same vein, having access to classified information on the operations of

KWABES was difficult because of the confidentiality attached. The researcher

therefore, assured the key personnel that managed the programme that

information released to her, either orally or in literature will be handled with

utmost discretion and confidentiality.

Financial constraints was also a limitation in mobilizing to field. However,

this limitation was addressed by seeking financial assistance from the

researcher's family.

9
1.8 Definition of Terms

The operational use of terms as adopted in this study will be discussed in this

section. These terms are, as they appear in the title of this study - Youth,

Restiveness, Empowerment and Impact.

1.8.1 Youth

Although there is no generalized definition and specification of age for youth,

youth can be explained as the time of life when one is young, between

childhood and adulthood. The United Nations, for statistical consistency

across regions defines youth as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24

years, without prejudice to other definitions by Member States. The African

Youth Charter (2006) defines youth as persons between the ages of 15 and 35

years, while the Nigerian National Youth Policy (2009) defines youth as all

young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years. The last being the adopted

age specification for KWABES.

1.8.2 Restiveness

Restiveness is inability to stay still, silent or submissive, which could be the

outcome of boredom or dissatisfaction with the state of things. The restiveness

referred to in this study results from joblessness and lack of empowerment to

10
be gainfully employed - an unfortunate situation that conditions youths to

become recalcitrant, discordant, agitated, and generally unmanageable.

1.8.3 Empowerment

There are different meanings and perspectives of empowerment across

languages, cultures, content and context of use. In this study, however,

empowerment is defined as a process and an outcome. It is a process of

knowledge and skill acquisition for the unemployed, economically productive

population that will allow them to first acknowledge the need for a change in

the quality of life they live, and then change something about their lives to

improve the quality, while empowerment as the outcome is the positive

qualitative, change in perception, lifestyle and ability to make informed

choices which is key to curbing youth restiveness. In essence, the outcome

translates to ability to recognize the moment when and how to stand up for

oneself and others - a key means to achieving sustainable development and

other vital goals.

1.8.4 Impact

Impact as used in this study refers to the effects, influence or changes that can

be attributed to a particular intervention, such as a project, program or policy

(KWABES in this case).

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1.9 The Study Area

The study area of this research involves two key variables; Offa Local

Government and KWABES.

1.9.1 Offa Local Government in Focus

MAP OF OFFA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KWARA STATE

Source: OLASAM SURVEY SERVICES (2016).

Offa Local Government was created on the 27th August, 1991, while the

12
headquarters of the Local Government Area is Offa, with coordinates:

80849N 44312E / 8.147N 4.720E. As of the year 2006, Offa has a

population of 88,975 (Population Distribution: 2006 Census :38). Offa Local

Government is noted to have savannah vegetation. Historically, Offa, the

headquarter of Offa Local Government was founded sometime in the 14th

century by Olalomi Olofagangan, a hunter and one of the descendants of

Oduduwa. The indigenes of the Local Government speak Ibolo - a dialect of

Yoruba language. Offa is particularly identified with the cultivation of sweet

potatoes which has earned the town the nickname "home of sweet potatoes" .

The key religions practiced in the town are:- Christianity, Islam, and

Traditional religion. Traditionally, the town is renowned for the art of

wrestling.

Offa Local Government is one of the 16 Local Government Areas in Kwara

State. Other Local Government Areas in the State include Moro, Edu, Oyun,

Oke-Ero etc. Kwara State is one of the States in the North-Central geo-

political zone of Nigeria. The zone is also known as the middle belt

(Campbell, 2010; Medayese, 2009).

1.9.2 History of Kwara Bridge Empowerment Scheme (KWABES)

Prior to this study, no academic work had been undertaken on KWABES.

During the inauguration of Alhaji Abdul Fatah as the sixth Executive

Governor of Kwara State on the 29th of May, 2011, he made a pledge to

13
empower youths in Kwara State through employment generation, in fulfilment

of his election campaign promises. In redeeming this pledge therefore, Kwara

Bridge Empowerment Scheme (KWABES) was inaugurated on the 11th of

September, 2011.

KWABES was designed as a safety net to address the exigencies of

unemployment by facilitating transition between unemployment and gainful

employment for Kwara youths. The scheme was aimed at providing

employment for 8,000 youths drawn from all the sixteen Local Government

Areas of the State, over four years at the rate of 2,000 per year. It is expected

that within a year, the corps on the bridge would (a) be absorbed into the

Civil Service across MDAs, the Teaching Service, the State Universal Basic

Education Board and the Local Government Service Commission; or (b) be

empowered to start a trade on SME. KWABES is also expected to generate

reliable data on unemployed youths in the State with a view to finding a

lasting and sustainable solution to the menace of unemployment in Kwara

State. The scheme (like other empowerment programs before it), was

implemented through the Office of the SSA (Youth Empowerment), where

beneficiaries are categorized by levels of education and skills. The office is

also responsible for computing and disbursing monthly stipends of 10,000 to

beneficiaries on the bridge.

Although the first set of 2,000 corps got on the bridge in 2011, not all of them

could get off the bridge within that year. Therefore, the vacancies created by

14
the exit of corps who got placements in MDAs or employment outside the

State was filled by replacing them with new beneficiaries from the KWABES

databank which made it impossible to get another complete set of 2000 corps

on the bridge.

Meanwhile, funding KWABES became increasingly difficult for government

because of: (a) Quick-Win, a yet another youth empowerment programme

that was inaugurated in March, 2014, to "complement" the operations of

KWABES which had started ailing at that time; (b) decreasing monthly

allocation from the Federation Account and (c) national economic recession.

This unfortunately, has made the State to be in arrears (of several months) of

paying the monthly stipends of KWABES corps. Eventually, the scheme was

suspended in June, 2016 for review and overhaul.

This study opened the way for further academic undertakings on KWABES,

while it also examines whether or not youth empowerment programmes in

Kwara State have actually impacted on youth restiveness in a bid to fill the

gap in existing literature on empowerment programmes in the State.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

The confluence of the implications of lack of empowerment, the attendant

security concerns and desire for sustainable peace and development paved the

way for KWABES. While none of the three Senatorial districts is spared from

15
the implications of lack of empowerment, the worst hit are the Kwara Central

and South Senatorial districts. The scheme was designed to bridge the gap

between the unemployed and the employed in Kwara State by providing

opportunities for self reliance through knowledge and skills acquisition while

previous empowerment initiatives in the State include Poverty Alleviation

Programme (PAP), National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Youth

Empowerment Scheme (YES), Youth integrated Training Farm, Subsidy Re-

Investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) etc. The objectives of

this study therefore includes, to study the origin of empowerment in Kwara

State, to understand the challenges of KWABES and to assess its effectiveness

or otherwise as empowerment initiative in Offa Local Government Area of

Kwara State.

16
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE.

2.1 Introduction

Quite a number of scholars have researched on empowerment programmes

and policies from different directions and perspectives. Therefore, a review of

some relevant literature on empowerment and youth restiveness is carried out

below.

2.2 Conceptual Clarifications.

The term empowerment has different meanings in different socio-cultural and

political contexts (Medel-Anonuevo, 1995:9). The word "empowerment" has

become one of the most widely used development terms. For example,

Women's groups, non-governmental development organisations, activists,

politicians, governments and international agencies all refer to empowerment

as one of their goals (Medel-Anonuevo, 1995:7). Further, in the words of the

United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon (2012), empowerment is

not new to the United Nations. The UN's enduring efforts to protect human

rights, promote job creation and obtain improved access to water, sanitation,

energy, education and health care all have empowerment at their core - the

goal of ensuring that people have the opportunities they need to live better

lives in dignity and security. In other words, empowerment is about providing

essential services as the enabling environment for self-reliance and

actualization, which presupposes empowerment to be both the efforts put in

17
place to galvanize qualitative change of life and the end product - empowered

individuals living in secured environments.

The perception of empowerment as a process is also evident in Fan et al.'s

(2016) definition of empowerment as "a process of opening up something that

has absolutely unlimited potentials". This illustrates the concept as a

procedure of unlocking and releasing values and potentials that were hitherto

left untapped, to be utilized for great achievements. It also implies that

empowerment is about taking action to address helplessness, with a view to

reducing vulnerability and dependency.

Latopa and Abd Rashid (2015), on the other hand, view empowerment as the

outcome of capacity building. To them, "capacity building is a process of

improving the ability of individual or group with a view to empowering them

with a new knowledge or to add to their existing knowledge". In this case, the

capacity building role of government and other stakeholders is pertinent for a

successful empowerment outcome. The perceived synergy between capacity

building and empowerment led to their assertion that capacity building is the

process while empowerment is the output.

To Bonjana (2012), "Empowerment is gaining more economic independence

and having a broader control over ones own destiny. Having a true voice in

your future and that of your family and community. This definition clearly

illustrates empowerment as both a process and an outcome of "activation of

18
potentials" that leads to independence and control over critical issues which

implies "not taking a backseat" in the affairs of one's life.

The afore discussed and other related definitions of empowerment indicate

that there are two perceptions of empowerment. While many view the concept

as both a process and an outcome, others take an instrumentalist view of the

concept, which narrows their focus on the importance of process. (Lutrell et

al., 2009). Suffice it to say, that initiating empowerment, without paying

sufficient attention to its outcomes may be counterproductive. The distinction

between these two perceptions therefore, has operational implications for

implementing empowerment initiatives, which makes empowerment to have

higher success rates in one situation than the other.

It is deducible from the afore mentioned definitions and positions, that

empowerment entails aided ability to recognize and awaken innate potentials,

the knowledge of which is utilized to achieve self actualization. In essence,

empowerment is the process through which people acquire knowledge and

skills that bring the realization of the need to change former ways of doing

things, which translates to better quality of life.

Empowerment is a multi-levelled concept, in which three major levels of

empowerment are identifiable : (a) individual empowerment, (b)

organizational empowerment and (c) community empowerment (Ledford et

al. 2013)

19
(a) Individual Empowerment: This involves acquiring skills - decision

making, entrepreneurial etc. through empowering processes which equip the

empowered to become change agents, while also allowing them to gain a

sense of control, critical awareness (Kieffer, 1984), and participatory

awareness. In agreement with this assertion, Pinderhughes (1983), explains

individual empowerment as the ability to make decisions and to act in order to

attain goals. This ability (or its absence) shapes the persons character and

influences the degree to which he will be the effective actor in his life.

Zimmerman & Rappaport (1988), also uphold this view by positing that

individual empowerment brings about an integration of self-acceptance and

self-confidence, social and political understanding, and a personal ability to

take a significant part in decision-making and in control over resources in the

environment, wherein the sense of personal ability connects with civic

commitment.

(b) Organizational Empowerment: This involves activities of

organizations and groups, that may serve a dual purpose. For instance, there

are organizations that provide opportunities for people to gain control of their

lives (empowering organizations), and organizations that successfully

develop, influence policy decisions, or offer effective alternatives for service

provision (empowered organizations) (Zimmerman, 2000; Zimmerman &

Rappaport, 1988). Although the distinction between the two is clear,

organizations may have the two characteristics. Therefore, in as

20
much as empowerment can only be, when there is a connection with others, an

organization that is democratically managed serves a dual purpose of

empowerment, both for social change and for individual empowerment

(Crowfoot et al., 1983).

(c) Community Empowerment: An empowered community initiates efforts

to improve the community, responds to threats to quality of life and provide

opportunity for citizens' (both youth and adult) participation (Zimmerman,

2000). Which means the coming together of different voluntary organizations

and all of them having equal access to resources, opportunities and

involvement. However, the relationship between community organizations

and agencies determine the extent to which a community is empowered.

Therefore, an empowered community showcases a coalition of well connected

organizations that are both empowering and empowered (Zimmerman and

Rappaport, 1988).

Characteristics of empowerment include participation from two ends. For

empowerment initiatives to be, there must be two parties involved. These are

the Agency - which is defined as an actors ability to make meaningful

choices; that is, the actor is able to envisage options and make a choice; and

Opportunity Structure - which is defined as the formal and informal contexts

within which actors operate. (Alsop and Heinsohn, 2005:6; Lutrell et al.,

2009: 9).

21
Empowerment is also an avenue through which life changing choices can be

made. This is done by enabling individuals to gain insight and have an

awareness of what is undesirable and unfavourable about their current

situations, perceive a better situation, the possibilities of attaining it, realising

what is within their reach and what could be done to get to a better situation.

This characterisation of empowerment implies that the process could involve a

change of perceptions about the self, the environment, and the relationship of

the self and the environment (Lucita Lazo, 1995:25; Pinderhughes, 1983)

Empowerment can be observed from multiple levels - Individual

Empowerment, Organizational Empowerment and Community Empowerment

(Ledford et al., 2013; Medel-Anonuevo, 1995; Zimmerman, 2000).

Empowerment is a moving state; it is a continuum that varies in degrees of

power. For instance, an individual can move from an extreme state of

absolute lack of power to the other extreme of having absolute power. The

extreme ends of the continuum are of course "idealised" states (Lucita Lazo,

1995: 27; Longwe, 1991).

Further, empowerment is context and population specific. Empowerment

initiatives are specifically designed to meet particular needs of the target

population. For example, what empowerment means to a jobless graduate is

different from what it means to a 14 year old mother. Therefore, an

empowerment programme may focus on the youths, women, the physically

22
challenged, trade associations, socio-cultural groups etc. because it takes on

different forms, for different people, in different contexts (Zimmerman, 2000).

Measuring empowerment is a difficult task due to its context-specific nature

and sundry issues. Therefore, it has been suggested that the task of measuring

it is best undertaken using both qualitative and quantitative approaches (Dee

et al. 2013; Bronwyn, 2011; Brook and Holland, 2009 ). However, Alsop and

Heinsohn (2005), present an analytic framework that is rooted in both the

theory and the practice of measuring empowerment. While the framework

demonstrates how practitioners can structure their approach to gathering and

analyzing empowerment data, it also provides examples of indicators useful

for tracking empowerment.

Within this framework for measuring empowerment, it is understood that an

empowered individual or group, possesses the capacity to make effective

choices; that is, to translate their choices into desired actions and outcomes.

This capacity to make an effective choice is primarily influenced by two sets

of factors: agency and opportunity structure. Agency is defined as an actors

ability to make meaningful choices; that is, the actor is able to envisage

options and make a choice. While opportunity structure is defined as the

formal and informal contexts i.e. the empowering structure within which

actors operate. Working together, these factors give rise to different degrees of

empowerment.

23
Agency and opportunity structure are hypothesized to associate with the

degree of empowerment a person or group experiences. Therefore, they posit

that degrees of empowerment (DOE) can be measured by assessing:

i. whether a person has the opportunity to make a choice,

ii. whether a person actually uses the opportunity to choose, and
iii. once the choice is made, whether it brings the desired outcome.

This assertion was illustrated with the situation of a farmer who chose to

obtain a bank loan to finance a lift irrigation system, but the process for

obtaining the loan required that he - an illiterate person, complete 20 forms,

offer all his land as collateral, and obtain a lawyer to verify that he actually

owned title to the land. The farmers choice was well informed and

economically viable, but the opportunity structure - in this case the regulations

concerning loan accessibility - hindered the effectiveness of his choice. To

measure empowerment in this hypothetical example, there is a need to ask : if

the farmer desired to access a loan, is there a financial institution for him to go

to? If yes, did the farmer actually make the decision to access a loan? Again, if

yes, did he actually access the loan?

In consideration of the reviewed literature therefore, this study conceptualized

empowerment as a process and an outcome. A process of activating certain

potentials that unlocks positive actions in individuals, giving them voice to

advocate for themselves, or for others, while empowerment as an outcome

refers to the results of the empowerment processes, which include positive,

24
qualitative change in perception, lifestyle and ability to make informed

choices which is key to sustainable peace.

2.3 Review of Related Literature

Abdussalam, (2009), examines the impact of Youth Empowerment Scheme -

YES (a grass root economic package aimed at developing Nigerian youth

under the national programme of NAPEP), in Kwara State. Some of the

benefits and activities of the programme include provision of training skill,

working tools, vocational job and micro-credits for self-reliance, self-

actualization and employment opportunity. With the aid of questionnaire

distributed to one hundred and twenty (120) beneficiaries of YES under the

State government, the research shows that the majority of the respondents

(77.6%) recorded improved standard of living. More so, majority of the

respondents (76.5%) evaluated YES as an effective scheme. In spite of this

high ratings however, beneficiaries of the scheme still encountered some

problems in the areas of loan accessibility (high interest rates), providing a

guarantor, as well as inadequate training and equipment.

Conclusively, the researcher acknowledges that YES programme,

implemented through the Office of the SSA to the Executive Governor of

Kwara State (Youth Empowerment) was successful as perceived in the

25
improved standard of living of some beneficiaries, while also noting the

inadequacies of training and equipment, loan conditionality etc of the scheme.

A major drawback observed in the empowerment scheme mentioned above, is

in its implementation. By viewing this empowerment programme through the

lens of Alsop and Heinsohn's (2005) empowerment measuring framework, it

is evident that the opportunity structure in the scheme clogged the wheel of

progress of the participants who could not realise their dreams of economic

emancipation.

Latopa and Abd Rashid (2015), researched the decline in youth participation

in agricultural empowerment program in Kwara State. Through sessions of

FGDs, four causes of youth decline in the State government's Youth Integrated

Training Farm were identified.

i. Psychological factor - Lack of passion / interest in farming, quick

money and stigmatization. This results from the perception of farming

as the elderly and downtrodden's occupation, and preference for

money spinning economic activities;

ii. Government induced factor - Inconsistent empowerment package,

administrative deficiency. Failure of the government to sustain the

empowerment package as done at the beginning, selective

participation, dual reporting, and poor communication;

iii. Environmental factor - Proximity, duration of program, infrastructure

decay. These concerns the youth who desire to participate in the

26
 program but could not because of distance, period of program (one

year), and poor or lack of infrastructures like power, internet /

recreation facilities etc.;

iv. Other empowerment programs - KWABES, QUICKWIN etc. These

are programs that are located in the city and are assumed to be more

lucrative in terms of income and less energy sapping like farming.

The researcher concluded that the causes of the decline in youth participation

in agricultural empowerment program are inherent in the ineffective

motivational strategies, while the inconsistent empowerment packages since

inception of the program create doubts in the minds of the youth over

commitment of the government to facilitate start-up capital after the training.

It is pertinent to mention that three out of the four causes identified as

responsible for the decline of youth participation indicted the opportunity

structure, while only one indicted the agency. This raises serious concerns

about the structuring and implementation of empowerment programmes

towards the effectiveness of same.

Like Abdussalam (2009), Latopa and Abd Rashid (2015) also recommended

better participation of government in terms of improved access to loans,

training and re-training and adequate provision of equipment for beneficiaries

of economic empowerment programmes. Again, the opportunity structure

negatively impacted on the empowerment programme under reference.

27
Similarly, Bello et al. (2009), focused on Poverty Alleviation Programmes and

Economic Development in Asa and Ilorin West Local Government Areas of

Kwara State, in which the researcher showed that there is income inequality

within the three sectors considered for the study - civil service, agriculture and

other services in the State. The income inequality observed is especially so

against agriculture, which, as their investigation revealed, is the source of the

highest contribution to the total income generated from all other sectors in

Kwara State. The results of the focus group discussion (FGD) carried out in

the research also showed that, government at different times had put in place,

one economic program or the other towards alleviating poverty among the

population. However, the expected achievement is marred by misplacement of

priority that emanates from the pattern of the programmes and their

implementation.

The research recommended more economic empowerment for the agricultural

sector by providing access to agricultural inputs, credits and other facilities

and concluded that the policy target or objective of economic empowerment

programmes is at variance with the outcome of such policies.

It is deducible from the reviewed literature and other related literature that as

laudable as empowerment initiatives in Kwara State are, their implementation

has almost always reduced, if not obliterated their effectiveness in curtailing

youth restiveness in the State.

28
KWABES on the other hand utilized a multi dimensional approach to tackle

youth restiveness through empowerment by facilitating permanent job

placements and providing qualitative training in entrepreneurship and skills

acquisition. To participate in the Scheme, participants must complete

KWABES registration online by logging in to the KWABES Website and then

register either through Educated Portal or Uneducated Portal as applicable.

The completed forms contain basic personal information such as Name, Age,

Academic Qualification amongst others. This categorization is necessary for

the analysis of total eligible applications received and also for distribution of

eligible candidates into possible placements on the scheme for empowerment.

Youth restiveness is a negative development that has become one of the

gravest global security challenges in contemporary time. In many instances of

youth restiveness, lives have been lost, and valuable properties vandalized or

razed down by restive youths. Elegbeleye (2005), defined youth restiveness

"as a sustained protestation embarked upon to enforce desired outcome from a

constituted authority by an organized body of youths". Such protests are

usually marked by violence and disruption of lawful activities. Likewise, Igbo

and Ikpa (2013), described youth restiveness as a combination of actions,

conducts and behaviour which constitutes unwholesome, socially

unacceptable behaviour exhibited by youths in the society.

29
There is no gainsaying that young people all over the world are a vital and

important segment of the society in which they live. A disciplined, focused,

and law-abiding youth can create a bright future for any nation. Conversely, a

lawless, indulgent, and violent youth is a great threat to a nation's peace and

security (Anasi, 2010). Also, youths are the pride and strength of a society.

This claim is confirmed by the National Youth Development Policy (2001:1),

which asserts that "Youth are the foundation of a society. Their energies,

inventiveness, character and orientation define the pace of development and

security of a nation. Through their creative talents and labour power, a nation

makes giant strides in economic development and socio-political attainments.

In their dreams and hopes, a nation founds her motivation; on their energies,

she builds her vitality and purpose. And because of their dreams and

aspirations, the future of a nation is assured".

In agreement with the above assertion, Onyekpe (2007), explains that the

place of youths in the society cannot be over emphasized. This is because,

apart from being future leaders and decision makers, demographically, youths

have numerical strength which presupposes great ideas and potentials required

for societal development.

Further, Ozohu-Suleiman, (2006) affirms that youths are the major

determiners of peace and stability of a nation. This affirmation is confirmed in

the operational structure of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council's Youth

30
Wing, where Nigerian youths from different religious backgrounds are

brought together and empowered to dialogue with a view to ensuring peaceful

co-existence in the country.

Thus, it is deducible from the afore mentioned positions that youths play an

integral role in the peace and security of a nation. In as much as peace is sine

qua non to development, "the extent of the youths' responsible conduct and

roles in society is positively correlated with the development of their country"

(The National Youth Policy, 2001).

Igbo and Ikpa (2013, pp. 133), identified multiple causes of youth restiveness,

some of which are: Illiteracy, unequal distribution of natural resources, poor

child upbringing, poverty, unemployment, political instability/frustration,

drug/alcohol abuse, peer group/cult influence, religious indoctrination etc.

Similarly, Chukwuemeka (2008), also observed that even where talents are

available, they are not being used as a result of structural unemployment, a

situation which definitely makes an idle mind the devils workshop.

Likewise, Zakaria (2006), opines that poverty is a cause of youth restiveness,

in which he perceives that poverty results from inequalities and social

injustice and this traumatizes the poor. He asserts that more than 70 percent of

people in Nigeria are in abject poverty, living below the poverty line, and one-

third survive on less than US $1 dollar a day. This deprived group includes the

army of youth who struggle to eke out a living through street hawking and

31
other menial jobs. Their incomes on these very low paying ventures are so

insignificant that they barely manage to live above the poverty line. Thus,

their experiences of frustration, dissatisfaction and dejection often find vent in

restiveness. Further, Amorawo (2000) and Zakaria (2006) agreed that there is

a link among poverty, lack or loss of livelihood, inequality, and youth

restiveness as evidenced by the numerous violent protests against the wielders

of power in Nigeria.

In the same vein, Coleman (1996), affirms that psychological variables and

deprivation make up the recipe of conflict and restiveness of any kind. He

reiterated that the more widespread and intense deprivation is among members

of a population, the greater is the magnitude of violence in one form or the

other.

To Chukwuemeka, Anazodo and Nzewi (2011), dissatisfaction is a cause of

youth restiveness. They observed that dissatisfaction about the level of

attention given to development of the Niger Delta region and the damages to

ecology by oil spillage are the major causes of the alarming rate of youth

restiveness in the South-South geo-political zone in Nigeria.

It can therefore be said that, youth restiveness can be the result of one or all of

the above mentioned causes, especially when youths have lost confidence in

the sincerity of authority or when they have come to believe that breaking

32
down law and order is the only way to get the attention of those in positions of

authority.

In explaining the nexus between lack of empowerment/unemployment and

youth restiveness, Oromareghake et al. (2013) asserts that youths have

endowment of raw energy. They always bubble in high spirit, with high hope,

big dreams, aspirations and ideas of what their tomorrow may bring. If this

hope is therefore dashed, the unfortunate result will be the misapplication of

the abundance of youthful energy with disastrous consequences for the youths

in particular and the society in general.

As mentioned earlier, unemployment and lack of empowerment portend grave

danger for the society in view of the attendant security concerns like substance

abuse, kidnapping, armed robbery, insurgencies etc. Ozohu-Suleiman (2006),

notes that Nigerian youths are trapped by unemployment. Likewise, Zakaria

(2006) affirms that, the rising tide of unemployment and the fear of a bleak

future among the youth in African countries have made them vulnerable to the

manipulations of aggrieved politicians, religious entrepreneurs, and greedy

multinationals that employ these youths to achieve their selfish ambitions.

Zakaria (2006) reiterated that the absence of job opportunities in developing

countries is responsible for youth restiveness with disastrous consequences.

Therefore, from the fore going arguments it is evident that, when youths find

it difficult to access employment, and the enabling essential services like

33
quality education, good road network, electricity supply, take-off grants and

loans, etc that facilitate economic emancipation are also lacking, restiveness

takes over the scene, while the society as a whole suffer the dare

consequences.

There is no gainsaying that, aside youth restiveness, there are other negative

implications of lack of empowerment in the society. This is more so where the

large army of unemployed youths engage in substance abuse to dull the harsh

realities of unemployment and or become enticed by the unscrupulous

political elites to engage in clandestine and criminal activities for financial

benefits to make ends meet (Adebayo, 2013; Felice and Wisler, 2007; Bala,

2010; Greenberg, 2011; Aluko et al., 2015).

Lack of empowerment among youths is a time bomb for any society because

indoctrinating and mobilizing them to violence is not difficult for

unscrupulous elites. Therefore, it portends security concerns such as

kidnapping, pipeline vandalism, insurgencies and terrorism for the society.

(Campbell, 2010; Adebanwi, 2011; Adesina, 2013).

A country's potential for economic growth is greatly influenced by its

endowment of physical and human resources (Usman & Badmus, 2010). It

therefore follows that, the attendant security concerns of lack of

empowerment is a great threat to investors who may be willing to invest in the

34
country. Thus, investors would prefer to invest in a country where the safety

of their investment is guaranteed. In the same vein, foreign investment is a

necessity for economic growth and sustainable development, but foreign

investment will not come to a volatile environment because, investors do not

feel safe in a volatile environment. Hence, unaddressed security concerns like

lack of empowerment fosters little or no development (Okoye, 2011).

2.4 Theoretical Framework

This study is explained within the framework of Empowerment Theory.

Empowerment theory posits that actions, activities and structures may be

empowering, and that the outcome of such processes result in a level of being

empowered.

Zimmerman (2000), explains empowerment theory as involving both

processes and outcomes which are diverse in their outward form due to the

fact that no single standard can fully capture its meaning for all people, in all

contexts. This explains specificity of empowerment programs e.g. the

processes and outcomes of empowerment programs for youths are quite

different from those of women.

According to the Zimmerman (2000), to understand the empowerment theory,

the distinction between empowering processes and outcome is critical. These

35
two focal points of empowerment run across individual, organizational and

community levels of analyzing the concept.

Empowering processes bring about critical understanding of one's social

environment, skill acquisition and unlocking opportunities that give access to

obtaining needed resources for one's independence.

In empowering programmes for individuals, the processes may include

organizational and community involvement; that of empowering organizations

may include shared leadership and decision making, while at the community

level it may include accessible government, media and other community

services.

On the other hand, empowerment outcomes refer to the consequences of the

process, in which the results of citizens' attempt to gain control of their lives,

or the events of the interventions designed to empower participants can be

studied.

At the individual level it is perceived as effective skill acquisition or pro-

active behaviour; at the organizational level, empowering outcomes manifest

as organizational network, effective resource acquisition and policy leverage;

while at the community level we may see organizations coalition and

36
accessible community resources. All the three levels of analysis are inter-

related because it is difficult to imagine empowering communities and

organizations devoid of empowered individuals.

The Empowerment Theory framework explains KWABES. The empowerment

scheme was designed to function as a bridge between unemployment and

employment, the bridge being a platform that facilitates absorption into the

civil service for some participants, entrepreneurial training and vocational

skill acquisition for others with a view to unlocking potentials that lead to self

awareness, reliance and economic emancipation.

It therefore follows that, for the purpose of empowering unemployed

individuals to take charge of their lives through facilitated informed decision

taking, KWABES sits on the second level of empowerment (organizational

empowerment), to equip participants to be critically aware of their

environment and potentials, make informed choices with positive life

changing effects, and achieve self reliance through knowledge and skill

acquisition trainings (Individual empowerment).

Although KWABES does not possess the combined characteristics of

organizational empowerment earlier mentioned (it lacks capacity to make

policies but is, in itself an implementation of government policy), it is an

empowering organization that has the capacity to achieve organizational

networking and resource acquisition.

37
2.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY

The concept of empowerment have different meanings across cultures,

languages and context. The concept is perceived as a process to some people,

while others view it as both a process and an outcome while it also a multi-

levelled concept than can be viewed at three inter-related levels i.e.

individual, organizational and community. Essentially, empowerment involves

participation from two ends, has life changing capacities, is a moving state

and is context specific while the implications of lack of empowerment include

increased crime rates, security challenges and low development. Further,

empowerment can be measured by evaluating the actor and the opportunity

structure using both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Different

researchers agree that previous empowerment initiatives in Kwara State

require improvement in the areas of implementation and financing.

Conclusively, KWABES as an instrument of reducing youth restiveness was

explained within the framework of empowerment theory. Youth restiveness

was described as a combination of actions, conducts and behaviour which

constitutes unwholesome, socially unacceptable behaviour exhibited by

youths in the society.

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

38
This chapter describes the research methods employed to gather relevant data

to achieve the objectives of this study, the sample procedure adopted and the

method of data analysis used.

3.2 Research Design

The study adopted the mixed method research design in which primary and

secondary data were utilized. The data gathered was analyzed quantitatively

and qualitatively to facilitate sound understanding of this study.

Quantitative research involves the generation of data in quantitative form

which was subjected to quantitative analysis using statistical standards. It is

highly objective and predictable, it uses factual and numerical questions with

short responses that have precise and conclusive outcomes; while Qualitative

research is concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and

behaviour of the population under study. It is descriptive, but not measurable.

It looks at how and why and yields an in-depth understanding of the issue

under study.

The use of the two approaches is justifiable because discussing the findings of

the research from the point of view of respondents on the field embellishes

better understanding of the qualitative results.

3.3 Study Population

39
The population focus of this study is the KWABES participants , which is

over 2,000 youths. In view of the fact that collecting data from every member

of this population is a herculean task, a manageably sized population of 160

i.e. a subset of the participants, both male and female in Offa Local

Government Area, having different levels of education and also those without

formal education, which closely represents the whole population was sampled

for this study. Thus, the population for this study comprises:

(a) a subset of educated participants that were proposed for permanent

job placement and entrepreneurial training;

(b) a subset of the less educated participants who were trained to

acquire vocational skills .

3.4 Sampling Style and Sampling Techniques

Purposeful sampling method was used for this study. Purposive sampling

technique is also known as deliberate technique or non-probability sampling

(Kothari, 1990). This sampling method involves deliberate selection of

particular units of the population of study, for constituting a sample which

represents the entire population. Respondents were purposefully selected to

cut across levels of education amongst the KWABES participants in Offa

L.G.A. Out of the 160 questionnaire prepared, 15 were allocated to

40
participants with no formal education and primary school certificate holders;

25 to secondary school certificate holders; 50 to NCE/OND certificate holders

and 70 to HND/First Degree holders, while respondents from these subsets

were randomly selected.

3.5 Data Source

The study utilized both primary and secondary data. The primary data were

obtained through administering of questionnaire and personal interviews,

while the secondary sources include libraries and online materials.

3.6 Data Collection Procedure

As mentioned earlier, this study utilized both primary and secondary data.

Primary data is collected in an ongoing research. This was done using the

under listed methods:

i. Through personal interview: This method of collecting data was

carried out in a structured way where output depends upon the ability

of the interviewer to a large extent (Kothari, 1990:17). The researcher

asked a set of pre-conceived questions from respondents, guarantying

confidentiality where necessary. Further, the interview was recorded

using standard recording devices;

ii. Through telephone interviews: This method became necessary due to

the need to interact with participants who relocated to other States in

the country after the KWABES initiative was suspended;

41
 iii. Through administering questionnaires: A questionnaire consists of a

number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or

set of forms.

Secondary data as used in this study, refers to existing data which have

already been collected and analysed by someone else. The source of this data

includes publications, technical and trade journals, books, magazines and

newspapers, public records and statistics, historical documents, etc. Secondary

data from books, journals and online materials were used in this study.

3.7 Validity of Research Instruments

Interviews were recorded by experts using high quality recording devices

which presupposes reliability. However, a backup recording device was

provided to take care of unforeseen disappointments.

3.8 Analysis of Data

In analyzing the data collected, a number of closely related operations were

carried out. These include the application of categories to raw data through

coding, tabulation and then drawing inferences. Thus, raw data were classified

into purposeful and usable format. The outcome of the data analysis were

further interpreted and presented statistically using simple percentages, tables

and charts.

42
3.9 CHAPTER SUMMARY

The research was designed to utilize both primary and secondary data sources.

While primary data was gathered through personal interviews and by

administering questionnaire, secondary data was gathered through books,

journals and online materials. The study population consists a subset of all

KWABES participants selected across levels of education while purposeful

sampling was used. The data gathered was analysed using simple percentage

for tabulation and interpretation.

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Introduction

43
This chapter presents and analyses data gathered through primary and

secondary data sources in the course of researching this work. Data is

presented in the form of tables and charts, and the findings discussed.

A total of 160 questionnaire were distributed to KWABES participants in Offa

L.G.A. The distribution cuts across sex and levels of education. Similarly,

structured interviews were conducted with Principal Officers in the planning

and implementation of KWABES.

Respondents' Profile

Out of the 160 questionnaire distributed, a total of 120 (which is 75%)

answered questionnaire were retrieved. The demographic characteristics of the

respondents is presented using sex and levels of education as dependent

variables, while KWABES and its specified age of 18-35years are independent

variables.

Table 1. Distribution of Respondents' by Sex

Sex Frequencies Percentages (%)

Male 63 52.5
Female 57 47.5

Total 120 100

Table 1 indicates that 52.5% of the respondents were males while 47.5%

were females. The implication of this numerical percentage difference for this

44
study is that more males than females respond to youth empowerment because

of the cultural roles of provider assigned to the male gender.

Table 2. Marital Status of Respondents.

Status Frequencies Percentages(%)

Married 85 70.8
Not Married 35 29.2

Total 120 100

The above table shows that 85 respondents (70.8%) were married while 35 of

them (29.2%) were not. This result indicated that most of the respondents

were youths saddled with domestic responsibilities. Suffice it to say, that a

regular income is required to meet many of these responsibilities.

Table 3. Respondents' Academic Qualification

Academic
Qualification Frequencies Percentages (%)
Education :
Non/Primary Sch. 10 8.3
Secondary Sch. 22 18.3
NCE/OND 38 31.7
First
Degree/HND 50 41.7
Others 0 0.0
Total 120 100

45
Table 3 shows the different levels of education of the participants. The highest

academic qualification is HND/First Degree and 41.7% respondents fall into

this group, while 8.3% respondents are those who have the lowest academic

qualification (Primary school certificate ) and those who do not have formal

education. The implication of this is that Offa L.G.A is not spared from the

national problem of graduate unemployment, which has often been identified

as a cause of youth restiveness.

4.2 Data Presentation and Analysis.

Research objectives 1 and 2 were undertaken through qualitative approach

using primary data in the form of structured interviews and secondary data

from libraries.

Findings on Research Objective 1.

The origin of Youth Empowerment in Kwara state is attributable to the

establishment of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) by the

Federal Government of Nigeria in 1986, with a view to promoting self

employment and facilitating artisans to form cooperative societies amongst

other objectives which were implemented in collaboration with all the State

Governments in Nigeria. Therefore, NDE offices were established in every

State including Kwara.

46
Available programmes under NDE include the National Youths Employment

and Vocational Skills Development Programme which was developed to

address the lack of productive and marketable needs observed in youths by

providing the means for youths to acquire basic skills in the National Open

Apprenticeship Scheme which also organizes artisans into cooperative

societies to enable them to access financial support from government and the

private sector. Skills acquired in this programme include tailoring/fashion

designing, painting, leather works, plumbing works, hairdressing etc. (Fan et

al., 2016:12-13)

Other NDE programmes that were aimed at empowerment are : the Waste to

Wealth Programme; the Schools on Wheels Programme; the Small Scale

Industries and Graduate Employment Programme and Agriculture Sector

Employment Programme in which Kwara State set up an NDE Agricultural

Programme Committee, which oversees the organization and implementation

of the particular programme.

Later, Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP) was introduced by the Federal

Government in the year 2000 as a palliative measure to address the problem of

unemployment and increasing crime wave. While the major objective of this

programme is to improve the welfare of Nigerians, it also aims to decongest

the highly over populated Nigerian Labour Market (Okoye, 2011). Like NDE,

PAP was also domesticated in Kwara State, in which a monthly stipend of

47
3,500 was paid to each participant. However, due to uncoordinated

management, politicization of the programme and weak policy framework of

fund allocation amongst other reasons, PAP was amended and renamed

National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) in 2001. Components of

NAPEP include: Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES); National Resources

Development Conservation Scheme (NRDCS); Rural Infrastructure

Development Scheme (RIDS); and Social Welfare Services Scheme

(SOWESS).

The YES component of NAPEP involves the provision of training skills,

working tools and micro-credit for self reliance. YES was implemented in

Kwara State through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the

Executive Governor of Kwara State on Youth Empowerment (Abdussalam,

2015). Other national empowerment programmes domesticated in Kwara

State are National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy

(NEEDS) as Kwara State Economic Empowerment and Development

Strategy (KWA-SEEDS), Subsidy Re-Investment and Empowerment

Programme (SURE-P), while Kwara State initiated empowerment

programmes are Youth Integrated Training Farm Programme, KWABES and

Quick Win.

48
Findings on Research Objective 2

In explaining the main thrusts of KWABES, the Senior Special Assistant to

Executive Governor of Kwara State on Youth Empowerment shed light on the

background of the Scheme. According to him, at the inception of the

administration of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kwara State,

Alhaji AbdulFatah Ahmed, there was an urgent need to address youth

restiveness, and after the researching the cause of same, youth unemployment

was identified. Consequently, the search for a means of reducing the menace

commenced which led to the conception of KWABES.

Therefore, the main thrust of KWABES is to reduce youth restiveness in the

State by utilizing these three pillars viz.:

i. Permanent job placement - This is the first policy thrust of KWABES

which provides for participants to be absorbed into permanent

employment across MDAs. This was made possible by the established

strategic relationship between KWABES and stakeholders in

government and the private sector;

ii. Entrepreneurial/Financial management - This involves encouraging

and supporting youths to be self reliant by facilitating their training in

entrepreneurial skills acquisition and the establishment of small and

49
 medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in the area of management, funding,

marketing etc.;
iii. Skill acquisition and financial empowerment - This entails training

participants to acquire vocational skills like carpentry, metal works,

hairdressing, tailoring, soap making etc and financial assistance to

establish trade.
By implementing these policy thrusts of the KWABES initiative across the 16

Local Government Areas of the State, the Kwara State Government aimed to

eradicate youth unemployment which was identified as the cause of youth

restiveness.

Analysis of Research Objective 3

The nexus between KWABES and youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A from the

point of view of respondents is analyzed below:

50
Fig. 1 : What are the causes of youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A?
FREQUENCIES PERCENTAGE (%)

Frustration 80.0
96
Manipulation of information 56.7
68
Poor quality of education 65.8
79
Lack of Good Governance 81.7
98
Peer influence 70.8
85
Poor child upbringing 54.2
65
Underemploment 60.8
73
Unemployment 95.8
115
Drug/Alcohol abuse 69.2
83
Poverty 84.2
101

Figure 1 elucidated respondents' perception of the causes of youth restiveness

in Offa L.G.A. Prominently identified are Unemployment (95.8%), as the

most frequently mentioned cause of youth restiveness in the Local

Government, which is closely followed by Poverty (84.2%), Lack of good

governance (81.7%) and Frustration (80%) respectively, while the least

mentioned cause of youth restiveness is poor child upbringing (54.2%).

Further, figure 1 shows that youth restiveness in Offa Local Government is a

result of a combination of causes. This finding is in agreement with previous

studies that identified multiple causes of youth restiveness (Igbo and Ikpa,

2013; Coleman, 1996; Chukwuemeka, Anazodo and Nzewi, 2011). Suffice it

51
to say, that an efficient empowerment structure can effectively address the

prominent four causes identified.

Fig. 2 : Is there a connection between lack of empowerment and youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A
Frequencies Percentages%

120

107
100.0

89.2

10 8.3
3 2.5

Yes No Not sure Total

Figure 2 showed that majority of the respondents, represented by 89.2%

acknowledged a connection between lack of empowerment and youth

52
restiveness in Offa L.G.A, while 8.3% claimed that there is none. Further,

2.5% of the respondents were not sure whether or not there is a connection.

Fig. 3 : Do you agree that KWABES can improve frustrating situations of joblessness, thereby reducing youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A?
Frequencies Percentages %

120

107
100

89.2

10 8.3
3 2.5

Agree Disagree Not sure Total

Figure 3 similarly showed that the highest percentage (89.2%) of respondents

agree that KWABES can indeed be used to curb youth restiveness in Offa

L.G.A, 8.3% and 2.5% were not in agreement and not sure respectively. This

53
finding confirms that KWABES can actually be used as an instrument to curb

youth restiveness in the Local Government.

Analysis of Research Objective 4

The achievements and challenges of KWABES on youth restiveness in Offa

Local Government Area from the point of view of respondents is analyzed

below:

Fig. 4 : Do you consider yourself empowered through KWABES?

120

100.0

Frequencies Percentages %

58
48.3 51
42.5

11 9.2

Yes Not really No Total

From Figure 4, the respondents' perception of being empowered through

KWABES is made known. 48.3% confirmed that they were empowered

through the Scheme, 9.2% were not sure that they were empowered, while
54
42.5% claimed they were not empowered. In essence, less than 50% of the

respondents actually agreed to being empowered through KWABES.

Fig. 5 : To what extent have you been empowered through KWABES

Frequencies Percentages %

100.0
Total
58

8.6
Monthly stipend
5

0.0
Employment in the Private Sector
0

60.3
Employment in the Civil Service
35

20.7
Entrepreneurial Training
12

10.3
Skill acquisition
6

For the respondents who confirmed their empowerment through KWABES,

Figure 5 indicated the extent to which they consider themselves empowered.

60.3% of the 58 respondents in this category considered themselves

empowered because they were absorbed into the Civil Service from the

55
Bridge, 20.7% and 10.3% were empowered through entrepreneurial training

and skills acquisition respectively, while 8.6% thought themselves empowered

because they collected 10,000 monthly stipend.

Fig. 6: What are the limitations that hindered your being empowered?
Frequencies Percentages %

100.0
Total
62

17.7
Not satisfied with my placement
11

9.7
Politicization of the Scheme
6

21.0
Unfriendly loan conditionality
13

8.1
Unavailabity of take off grant
5

43.5
Availability of vacancies/suitability of qualification for available vacancies in the Civil Service
27

For the respondents who claimed they were not empowered and those who

were partially empowered, Figure 6 showed their reasons for taking such

positions. Of the 62 respondents in this category, 43.5% claimed non-

empowerment because they were not absorbed into the Civil Service, 8.1%

asserted that their requirement of take off grant was not met by the

56
government, 21% were ready to obtain loan in the absence of take off grant

but were hindered by loan conditionality, 9.7% blamed politicization of the

Scheme, while 17.7% agree to partial empowerment because they preferred

other placements within the Scheme to the ones KWABES imposed on them.

Findings on Research Objective 5.

Respondents had diverse views about the best ways in which KWABES could

be used as an instrument of reducing youth restiveness in Offa Local

Government. These opinions were aired in structured interviews with

participants and Principal Officers in the implementation of KWABES.

From the participants' point of view, KWABES can be effective in curbing

youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A if the State government improved the

following aspects of the Scheme:

i. Financial Support for Smooth Take-off of SMEs: Participants

trained in Entrepreneurial/Skills acquisition claimed that the State

government did not put in a place a friendly financial support system

for them. According to this category of participants, the State

government handed the funding aspect over to a Financial Institution

that split them into groups and then organized them into cooperatives

societies. These cooperatives were scheduled for loans to be

distributed among members while the repayment plan stated that the

cooperatives make a fixed repayment on monthly basis. The import of

57
 this is that whether or not all members of a group were able to repay

their share of the loan, the fixed monthly repayment of the Financial

Institution must be remitted unfailingly. This follows that lazy and or

un-enterprising members of a group will constitute serious setbacks for

those who were hardworking and enterprising. Meanwhile none of the

participants was ready to take the risks implied in this conditionality,

eventually, none could access funds to start a business. Therefore,

participants advocated for take-off grants for those who acquired skills

in the Scheme as this will keep them gainfully engaged and less

predisposed to youth restiveness.

ii. Distribution of Participants into Placements on the Scheme:

Respondents were of the opinion that distribution of participants into

the different available placements in the Scheme should not absolutely

be at the discretion of the management team but that during

registration, applicants should have the opportunity to indicate their

areas of interest. According to respondents, the imposition of

placement on them constrained the achievement of potential

actualization. It is pertinent to mention the case of a Mechanical

Engineer who came on the bridge with the hope of becoming an

entrepreneur in fabrication of machinery but because of his placement

on the scheme, he ended up absorbed into the Civil Service, which

made him to considered himself partially empowered. In the same

vein, there were also some participants with low qualifications like the

58
 Primary and Secondary school certificates who preferred to work in

the Civil Service, hoping to make use of in-service trainings to further

their education but the graded specification of KWABES scheduled

them for Skills acquisition training. Therefore, respondents hold the

view that putting round pegs in round holes will ensure the success of

youth empowerment and reduce youth restiveness.

Some Principal Officers in the KWABES management team also aired their

views on how the Scheme could be more effective in reducing youth

restiveness. These category of respondents opined that for KWABES to be

efficient, political interference must be reduced to the barest minimum.

According to them, political godfatherism adversely affected the

screening/selection process of participants whereby suitability of applicants

was discarded for political patronage which facilitated the coming on board of

youths who were more interested in the monthly stipend than being

empowered.
They also claimed that having the State Government's full commitment will

go a long way in repositioning KWABES to deliver on empowerment because

abandoning KWABES midway and starting a yet another youth empowerment

programme - Quick Win dealt the Scheme a lethal blow.

4.3 Discussion of Research Findings.

The Origin of Youth Empowerment in Kwara State.

59
Research findings revealed that Youth Empowerment is not new in Kwara

State. Starting with NDE in 1986, several attempts have been made to

empower youths with the major objective of assisting them to be self reliant

and independent. This was done by putting up a framework for training youths

to be self employed through vocational skills like tailoring, hairdressing, soap

making, carpentry, metal works etc. and providing take off grants with which

trained youths could establish SMEs.

However, for reasons that range from lopsided structuring to mismanagement

of funds, empowerment programmes have almost always missed their marks,

if not, there would not have been transformation of one empowerment

initiative to another as we have in PAP to NAPEP. YES, a major component of

NAPEP was implemented in Kwara State and was adjudged successful by

Abdussalam (2015), yet, he noted some challenges like insufficient training

and equipment and unfriendly loan conditionality. Therefore, many more

youth empowerment programmes like KWA-SEEDS and Youth Integrated

Training Programme sprung up, going the way of others and collapsed yet

again.

The Policy Thrusts of KWABES

60
After identifying youth unemployment as the cause of youth restiveness in

Kwara State, the State government developed the KWABES initiative to

reduce the menace of youth restiveness by addressing its root cause - youth

unemployment. In order to achieve this, the government developed three main

policy thrusts for KWABES viz.:

a) Permanent Job Placement - Participants who are holders of OND

certificate and above were scheduled for Permanent and Pensionable

Appointments in the Civil Service;

b) Entrepreneurial/Financial management - Participants are facilitated to

become self employed and by extension, employers of labour by

establishing SMEs;
c) Skill acquisition and financial empowerment - Participants are trained

to acquire vocational skills like metal works, carpentry, hairdressing,

tailoring, soap making etc and financial assistance to enable the

procurement of the tools of trade for trainees is given.

These three pillars on which KWABES was built were designed to gainfully

engage youths by removing them from situations that expose them to

manipulations to violence. The diversity of these placements is also all

encompassing in the sense that it assisted some participants to access white

collar jobs, some to be entrepreneurs and others to learn vocational skills

which clearly shows KWABES as an empowering organization i.e. one that

provides opportunities for people to gain control of their lives.

61
However, the research findings revealed that participants are not at liberty to

choose preferred placements as they were distributed into placements in the

wisdom of the management team, a move which some participants viewed as

a limitation to their self actualization. It therefore follows, that the

empowering processes of KWABES inadvertently curtails participants' ability

to make decisions and to act accordingly in order to achieve self actualization.

Suffice it to say, that the inability to gain a sense of control over one's life is a

limitation to individual empowerment.

Further, KWABES' position on the distribution of participants into placements

shows that the Scheme implemented empowerment using the instrumentalist

approach - placing more emphasis on the process of empowerment than the

outcome.

The Nexus Between KWABES and Youth Restiveness in Offa L. G. A

A strong connection between KWABES and youth restiveness in Offa Local

Government Area was established in the research findings that showed 89.2%

of respondents in agreeing that there is a connection between joblessness and

lack of empowerment and youth restiveness the Local Government Area.

There is no gainsaying that, the devil finds work for the ideal hand, because,

in a society where there are able bodied youths without any decent source of

livelihood, coupled with the absence of empowering structures, youths are

62
bound to face a lot of challenges and multiple deprivations, the pains of which

could result in misapplication of youthful energy with unfortunate

consequences.

Suffice it to say, that the prominent four causes of youth restiveness identified

by respondents viz.: Unemployment, Poverty, Lack of Good Governance and

Frustration can be effectively and efficiently addressed through youth

empowerment. This is so, because once an empowered youth attains a certain

level of economic stability in SMEs, he/she becomes an employer of labour or

in turn, empowers others, the ripple effect of which brings about social

cohesion in the society.

Further, because of the pivotal role of youths in the peace and security of a

nation, KWABES as youth empowerment initiative came handy when the

Kwara State Government was confronted with the exigencies of youth

restiveness.

Therefore, the nexus between KWABES and youth restiveness is established

in the implementation of the former with a view to empowering youths to

have a decent livelihood which is expected to keep them off the radar of

socially unacceptable behaviours.

63
The Achievements and Challenges of KWABES on Youth Restiveness in

Offa Local Government Area.

Although, not all the respondents adjudged KWABES empowering, yet, the

Scheme recorded some achievements on youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A as

follows:

i. Permanent and Pensionable Appointments in the Civil Service :

From the bridge, some participants were absorbed into the Civil

Service across Ministries, Departments and Agencies on Grade Levels

06 - 08 depending on their academic qualifications. These group of

participants consider themselves particularly empowered in view of

how difficult it is nowadays to access government employment.

ii. Entrepreneurial Training : The Scheme also availed some

participants who had always wanted to own SMEs the opportunity to

be trained as Entrepreneurs. This group of participants opined that the

knowledge acquired in the training has become a part of them with

which can navigate their ways to success whenever the opportunity

comes.
iii. Skills Acquisition: Some participants acquired apprenticeship training

on the Scheme such as hairdressing, metal works, soap making etc.

Though not all were fortunate to start their businesses after their

training, some of these group of participants were working with

business owners in their lines of training.

64
The Challenges of KWABES on Youth Restiveness in Offa L.G.A

The major challenge of KWABES on youth restiveness in Offa Local

Government is in the outcome of the Scheme's empowerment processes as

indicated below:

i. Limitations of the Civil Service: In spite of the synergy between

KWABES and the State Civil Service, it was not easy to make the

former the feed stock for the latter because appointment into the Civil

Service is subject to availability of vacancies and more importantly,

suitability of academic qualification in relation to the available

vacancies is given utmost consideration. This limitation undermined

the laudable goal of absorption of participants into the permanent job

placements.
ii. Lack of Take-off Grants : The unavailability of take-off grants to

start SMEs was a great challenge to participants trained in

entrepreneurship and other vocational skills as they were unable to

have access to the necessary equipments with which to start their

businesses. This was a major blow to the outcome of the Scheme's

empowering processes.
iii. Unfriendly loan Conditionality : While some participants wanted

only grants and would not have anything to do with taking loans

from financial institutions, some were ready to go the extra mile but

65
 the conditions attached to obtaining loans were such that may put

unnecessary burden on participants. Therefore, unless participants

had other means of financial support, starting their own businesses

may be a mirage.
iv. Politicization of the Scheme : Political interference was another

challenge for KWABES. Some of the participants got on the bridge

through political patronage which probably made them to perceive

the Scheme as kind of pay back from the political elites for "services

rendered". Participants also blamed political interference for the

lopsidedness observed in the absorption of participants into the Civil

Service which was described as more favourable to some Local

Government Areas than others.

In summary, participants who showcase the achievements of KWABES are

those who were fortunate to be absorbed into the civil service, while those

who illustrate the Scheme's challenges consist of those who were either caught

in the limitations of appointments into the civil service or who could not

surmount the draconian conditionality of loan accessibility, depicting the

inadequacies of KWABES as an empowerment opportunity structure.

Nevertheless, less than 50% of the respondents adjudged KWABES as

empowering, which presupposes disappointment and frustration over

unfulfilled dreams of empowerment, coupled with the need to make ends meet

66
which makes the un-empowered participants vulnerable and susceptible to

manipulated acts of violence and inclination to unacceptable social behaviour.

KWABES as an Efficient Instrument of Reducing Youth Restiveness in

Offa Local Government: The Way Forward.

Through personal interviews, respondents opined that KWABES could be an

efficient instrument of reducing youth restiveness if the Kwara State

Government could improve on the following areas:

i. Policy Framework for Fund Disbursement: In line with the

discussion on pp. 23, the participant's choice to acquire skills was well

informed and economically viable, but the opportunity structure - the

regulations concerning loan accessibility, hindered the effectiveness of

his/her choice. Therefore, in order for those who were trained to

acquire entrepreneurial and other vocational skills not to be idle and

subsequently frustrated, it is expedient for the State Government to

ensure financial support for the smooth take-off of SMEs.

ii. Distribution of Participants into Placements: The research findings

revealed that while some holders of HND/First Degree certificate

holders are prefer to be entrepreneurs, some Secondary school leavers

desire Civil Service employment with the hope of going back to school

on the platform of Study Leave. Therefore, participants should be

67
 given the opportunity to indicate their areas of interest as this will

ensure that round pegs are placed in round holes for the effectiveness

of the Scheme in curbing youth restiveness.

In other words, for KWABES to impact positively on youth restiveness in

Offa Local Government, the Scheme as the opportunity structure of

empowerment must be re-appraised with a view to facilitating empowerment

of youths and monitoring its outcome - which is key to reducing youth

restiveness.

4.4 CHAPTER SUMMARY

The origin of Youth Empowerment in Kwara State is traceable to the

establishment of the National Directorate of Employment in 1986, other youth

empowerment programmes are PAP, NAPEP, YES, Youth Integrated Farm and

Quick Win. The main policy thrust of KWABES is to reduce youth restiveness

through Permanent Job Placements, Entrepreneurial and Financial

Management, and Skills Acquisition and Financial Empowerment, while the

prominent four causes of youth restiveness identified by respondents show a

strong connection between KWABES and youth restiveness. For KWABES to

68
have tremendous impact on youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A, it is expedient to

re-appraise the implementation structure to incorporate a fund disbursement

framework.

69
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS.

5.1 Introduction.

This is the concluding section of this research work. In this section, the

findings generated in the research are summarized and concluded, while

recommendations on effective strategies for reduction of youth restiveness are

made.

5.2 Summary of Research findings.

Youth Empowerment in Kwara State has its origin in the National Directorate

of Employment (NDE) which was established by the Federal Government in

1986 with the aim of ameliorating poverty by providing platforms for gainful

employment for youths and working age adults. Like other States in the

Federation, Kwara also keyed into NDE by setting up Agricultural Programme

Committee to organize and implement the Agricultural Sector Employment

Programme of NDE. Other Federal Youth Empowerment Programmes

domesticated in the State are PAP, NAPEP - YES, while the ones initiated by

the Kwara State Government are Youth Integrated Farm programme,

KWABES and Quick Win.

The Kwara State Government conceived the KWABES initiative to combat

the menace of youth restiveness across the 16 Local Government Areas in the

70
State. To achieve this aim, KWABES was structured on three pillars through

which participants were enlisted and distributed into three categories with a

view to: (a) facilitate the absorption of some participants into the Civil Service

on Permanent and Pensionable Appointments, (b) train some participants to

acquire Entrepreneurial and Financial Management skills and (c) train others

to acquire Vocational Skills and Financial Empowerment in consideration of

participants' academic qualifications. By implementing these policy thrusts of

the KWABES initiative, the Kwara State Government prepared to address

youth unemployment which was identified as the cause of youth restiveness

across the 16 Local Government Areas of the State.

The connection between KWABES and Youth Restiveness in Offa Local

Government Area was established through respondents' identification of

Unemployment, Poverty, Lack of Good Governance and Frustration as

prominent causes of youth restiveness amongst others in the Local

Government Area. Arguably, youth empowerment can effectively address

these prominent causes mentioned. To confirm this assertion, 89.2% of the

respondents agree that KWABES can improve frustrating situations of

joblessness, thereby reducing youth restiveness in the Local Government

Area. More so, an empowered individual can in turn, empower others, the

ripple effect brings about social cohesion which enables a society to develop

even in the face of bad leadership.

71
KWABES recorded some achievements on youth restiveness in Offa Local

Government Area, especially in the area of absorption of participants into the

Civil Service and also the training given to other participants to enable them

to become entrepreneurs and skilled individuals. However, the challenges of

KWABES on youth restiveness in the Local Government Area include

amongst others non-availability of take-off grants start off SMEs and

draconian conditionality for loan accessibility. Others are the limitations of

appointment into the Civil Service, Political interference, etc. Meanwhile, less

than 50% of respondents adjudged the Scheme as empowering.

For KWABES to be optimally effective on youth restiveness, it is necessary to

re-appraise the Scheme with a view to (a) ensuring the inclusion of fund

allocation framework which will assist participants to start their businesses

without hassles, (b) giving participants the opportunity to indicate preferred

areas of interest in relation to the different available placements on the

Scheme, (c) reducing political interference in the implementation of the

Scheme. To cap it all, ensuring that KWABES pays sufficient attention to the

processes and outcomes of empowerment will ensure its effectiveness and

efficiency on youth restiveness in the Offa Local Government Area.

72
5.3 Conclusion

Rather than alleviate economic suffering that predisposes youths to violence,

haphazardly structured and half-heartedly implemented empowerment

initiatives do more harm than good economically and psychologically, to

participants because it leads to further frustrations and disorientation.

Therefore, in combating youth restiveness through empowerment initiatives,

care must be taken to ensure that such initiatives are well structured,

implemented and the outcomes efficiently monitored for sustainable self and

societal development.

5.4 Recommendations

Kwabes can be a viable youth empowerment initiative for reducing youth

restiveness in Offa Local Government Area if proactive steps were taken to

address the implementation challenges of the Scheme. In consideration of this

fact, the researcher recommends that:

i. Participation in the Scheme should be encouraged to result from self

motivation, for this is the only assurance that participants were

critically aware of their circumstances and truly desired positive and

qualitative change in their ways of life, in order to ensure full

commitment of participants to empowerment;

73
 ii. The State Government should be consistent and committed to the

policy thrusts of KWABES by giving unwavering support to the

scheme as experienced at its inception. This recommendation is apt

considering that the State Government initiated yet another youth

empowerment programme - Quick Win in 2014, which, though

implemented through a different political office, is similar in content

to KWABES. Suffice it to say, that the duplication of resources

expended on different empowerment programmes with similar

objectives is counterproductive while the resources deployed to start

another could be put to a better use by ensuring the wellbeing of the

existing one.
iii. Participants should be given the opportunity to decide the particular

area were they preferred to be empowered to ensure the achievement

of self actualization;
iv. The State Government should facilitate take off grants or loans to

enable entrepreneurial/skill acquisition participants to start their trade

without the hindrances of draconian loan conditionality, thereby

paying attention to the outcome of empowerment initiatives. Thus,

the operational implication of synergy between Agency and

Opportunity structure will lead to achieving greater levels of

empowerment, which invariably curbs youth restiveness;

v. Empowerment programmes should not be politicised or be an Ad

Hoc Government policy to be initiated and discarded at whims and

74
 caprices because it is a powerful proactive tool as a conflict

management strategy;
vi. Political interference in the implementation of KWABES should be

discouraged or reduced to the barest minimum for this will ensure

that youths who actually needed empowerment are attended to and

not those who saw the Scheme as an access to share in the "national

cake" or as a dividend for services rendered to the political elites;

vii. The practice of implementing empowerment programmes through

Political Offices should be discontinued, while a Government

Agency in the like of the Federal Government's National Directorate

of Employment be created and managed by Technocrats to

implement empowerment to ensure its sustainability irrespective of

economic and political situation.

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 APPENDIX 1

CENTRE FOR PEACE AND STRATEGIC STUDIES,

UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN.

QUESTIONNAIRE

81
This questionnaire is administered to sample opinion on the topic "An
Assessment of the Impact of Kwara Bridge Empowerment Scheme on Youth
Restiveness in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State". Respondents are
assured that the purpose of this questionnaire is strictly for ongoing academic
research at the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin.
Therefore, respondents' identities and opinions will be handled with utmost
discretion and confidentiality. Thank you for your time and contribution to
this research.

SECTION A

Personal Data of Respondents

Please tick ( ) the most appropriate responses

a. Sex: Male ( ) Female ( )

b. Marital Status: Single ( ) Married ( ) Divorced ( )

Separated ( )

c. No of children: One ( ) Two ( ) More than two ( )

d. Highest Academic Qualification: Primary ( ) Secondary ( )

NCE/OND ( ) Graduate ( ) Post Graduate ( ) No Formal
Education ( )

e. Occupation: Self-employed ( ) Public Servant ( )

Private sector employee ( )

SECTION B

Research Variables

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1. Have you participated in Youth Empowerment programmes prior to
KWABES?
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No ( )

2. If you answered "Yes" to question 1, Please tick as applicable

(a) Poverty Alleviation Programme [PAP] ( )
(b) National Poverty Eradication Programme [NAPEP] ( )
(c) Youth Empowerment Scheme [YES] ( )
(d) Youth Integrated Farm Programme ( )

3. If you responded to question 2, what is your opinion about the

implementation and outcome of the empowerment programme?
(a) Satisfactory ( )
(b) Partially Satisfactory ( )
(c) Not Satisfactory ( )

4.What did you do for a living before your participation in KWABES?

(a) Menial Job ( )
(b) Trading ( )
(c) Apprenticeship ( )
(d) unemployed ( )

5. What motivated you to participate in KWABES?

(a) The need for economic empowerment ( )
(b) The need to be meaningfully occupied ( )
(c) The need to acquire entrepreneurial training ( )
(d) The need to acquire skills ( )
(e) Peer pressure ( )
(f) Others (please, specify)

6. In your opinion, what is KWABES about?

(a) A platform for self actualization/reliance ( )
(b) A political programme ( )
(c) A means to share in the "national cake" ( )
(d) Just another government policy ( )

7. Were you aware of life changing opportunities in KWABES?

(a) Yes ( )
(b) No ( )

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8. If you answered "Yes" to question 7, what were the perceived
opportunities?
(a) Facilitated appointment into the Civil Service ( )
(b) Skill acquisition ( )
(c) Support system for SMEs ( )
(d) Others ( please, specify) ( )

9. If you answered "No" to question 7, why not?

(a) Outcomes of previous empowerment programmes are not
impressive ( )
(b) Re-occurring implementation flaws ( )
(c) Just another government policy ( )
(d) Others ( Please, specify)
10. In your opinion, what are the causes of youth restiveness in Offa
L.G.A?
(a) Poverty ( )
(b) Drug/Alcohol Abuse ( )
(c) Unemployment ( )
(d) Underemployment ( )
(e) Poor child upbringing ( )
(f) Peer influence ( )
(g) Lack of Good Governance ( )
(h) Poor quality of education ( )
(i) Manipulation of information ( )
(k) Frustration ( )

11. Is there a connection between lack of empowerment and youth

restiveness in Offa L.G.A?
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No ( )
(c) Not Sure ( )

12. Do you agree that youth empowerment can reduce youth restiveness
in Offa L.G.A?
(a) I agree ( )
(b) I disagree ( )
(c) I am not sure ( )

13. Do you agree that KWABES can improve frustrating situations of

joblessness, thereby reducing youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A?
(a) I agree ( )

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 (b) I disagree ( )
(c) I am not sure ( )

14. As a KWABES participant, were you given a free hand to choose

between permanent job placement and entrepreneurial/skill
acquisition training?
(a) Yes ( )
(b) No ( )

15. What was your placement as a KWABES Corps?

(a) Permanent job placement ( )
(b) Entrepreneurial/Skill acquisition Training ( )

16. If you were to make that choice, what would you have chosen?
(a) Permanent job placement ( )
(b) Entrepreneurial/Skill acquisition Training ( )

17. Do you consider yourself empowered through KWABES?

(a) Yes ( )
(b) Not really ( )
(c) No ( )

18. If you answered "Yes" to question 17, to what extent have you been
empowered through KWABES?
(a) Skill acquisition
(b) Entrepreneurial training
(c) Employment in the Civil Service
(d) Employment in the Private Sector
(e) Payment of monthly stipend

19. If you answered "No" to question 17, what is/are the limitation(s)
that hindered your being empowered?
(a) Availability of vacancies / suitability of qualification for
available vacancies in the Civil Service ( )
(b) Unavailability of take off grants ( )
(c) unfriendly loan conditionality ( )
(d) Politicization of the Scheme ( )
(e) Not satisfied with my placement ( )

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20. What is your opinion about the implementation of KWABES in
Offa L.G.A?
(a) Satisfactory ( )
(b) Partially satisfactory ( )
(c) Not satisfactory ( )

21. What is your evaluation of the success of KWABES in reducing

youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A?
(a) Successful ( )
(b) Partially successful ( )
(c) Not successful ( )

22. How could KWABES be improved to become an effective

instrument of reducing youth restiveness in Offa L.G.A
(a) Effective policy framework for take-off grant
(b) Effective networking with the private sector
(c) Thorough screening of participants to ensure individuals'
commitment to empowerment
(d) zero/minimal political interference in the implementation
structure
(e) Enabling structures that can stand the test of time should be put
in place.

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 APPENDIX 2

INTERVIEW GUIDE

1. Please, may I know your full names?

2. What is your occupation?

3. What position do you hold in KWABES management team?

4. Please, explain what led to the emergence of the KWABES initiative?

5. What is the main thrust of KWABES?

6. Please, explain the KWABES registration process.

7. What parameters do you use to determine the suitability of applicants

for KWABES enlistment?

8. On what basis are the enlisted participants distributed into placements?

9. Please, explain the financial support system of KWABES.

10. What monitoring systems where put in place to oversee the activities
of the financial institution given the responsibility of disbursing loans
to participants?

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11. What are the achievements and challenges of KWABES on youth
restiveness in Offa Local Government Area?

12. How would you describe the impact of KWABES on youth restiveness
in Offa Local Government?

13. In your opinion, how could the operations of KWABES be improved

with a view to ensuring that youth restiveness is effectively reduced in
Offa Local Government Area?

14. Do have other suggestions?

APPENDIX 3

Address By His Excellency, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, The Executive

Governor Of Kwara State, On The Occasion Of The Inauguration Of
Youth Empowerment Scheme, Under The Aegis Of Kwara Bridge
Empowermnet Scheme, (KWABES) On Saturday, September 17, 2011.

Courtesies,

During my inauguration as the sixth Executive Governor of Kwara

State, in this same venue, I pledged to empower our teeming youths through
employment provision, among other cardinal programs. In fulfilment of that
pledge, the Kwara State Bridge Empowerment Scheme (KWABES) was
subsequently established to collate data on employable youths in the state as a
first step towards getting them into gainful employment. Following the
enthusiastic response of our youth and analysis of the data collected, we are
here to formally launch KWABES and engage an initial 2000 youths. I am
therefore pleased to welcome you all to this historic occasion.

The Kwara Bridge Empowerment Scheme (KWABES) is designed to

facilitate the transition between unemployment and gainful employment for
our youths. In doing this, the scheme seeks to establish strategic partnerships
with key stakeholders in the public and private sector to ensure the absorption

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of registered members of the corps as well as promote youth involvement in
small and medium scale enterprises.

Let me seize this opportunity to congratulate the 2000 youths to be employed

in the first phase of KWABES. Although you would be placed in the public
and private sector, your wages would be paid by the state government.
Therefore, you must take your assignments seriously and discharge your
duties diligently, realising that thousands of your equally eligible
contemporaries remain unemployed.

I note with satisfaction the generous support of employers in the public and
private sector who have agreed to absorb corps members into their various
organisations. For instance, each of the 16 local government councils in the
state has agreed to accept a minimum of 20 youths. We thank you for
supporting our efforts to rehabilitate our youths and channel their energy
towards more productive activities.

For those applicants yet to secure employment under the scheme, let me
restate the fact that KWABES is an on-going program that will continuously
collect data on our youths and facilitate their access to jobs. Our aim is to
source all candidates for future recruitment into the state civil service from the
KWABES database. It is therefore important for all eligible youths aged 18-35
to register with KWABES in order to benefit from future recruitment
programs.

As a complement to KWABES, my administration plans to promote the

acquisition of market-relevant skills through our human capital development
program. This program is designed to bridge the gap between skill acquisition
and application through the provision of basic skills, enhanced technical
education and internationally-recognised training for our youths. Towards this
end, plans have been concluded to establish and equip skill acquisition centres
as well as reposition at least three technical schools to provide up-to-date
skills and science education.

However, the task of effectively providing employment for our youths

requires substantial resources beyond what the state can provide. I am pleased
to announce that the Federal Ministry of Youth Employment will be partnering
with Kwara State for a comprehensive skill acquisition program for our youth.
We thank the Honourable Minister for Youth Employment, Mallam Bolaji

89
Abdullahi, for this laudable gesture and his continued support for our
programs. Furthermore, I call on the Federal Government to provide
additional assistance for our youth employment and skill acquisition
programs.

Once more, I congratulate our pioneer KWABES corps members and urge you
all to be worthy ambassadors of the scheme.

Thank you all and God Bless.

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