Youth, Political Parties, and Peace-Building Process in Nigeria (Published)
The Nigerian Youth cannot be ruled out in the study of active contribution to the Nigerian political system, national stability, cohesion, and development, due to their orientation, attitude, and reactions to national issues. Political parties are the avenue for electing representatives of the people and to this effect, the Nigerian Youth have been trying to take a meaningful hold of the Nigerian parties by trying to be major political gladiators. Premised on this background, this paper is set to discuss the conceptual meaning of youth, political parties, and peacebuilding. In the same vein, it will establish the connection and relationship between youth partisanship and peacebuilding in Nigeria. Moreover, the study seeks to examine the pivotal roles the Nigerian youth play in enhancing peacebuilding and national stability as members of political parties in Nigeria, whilst also attempting to determine to what extent the youth have been contributing to conflicts and peace-building in Nigeria. The data for this study were collected through primary and secondary sources. The primary data were collected through the Interview with Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Direct Observation (DO), and participant observation. In addition, youth organizations, amongst others, were interviewed. The secondary sources include books, journal articles, periodicals, magazines, and other publications relevant to the study. The data were analyzed using a qualitative approach. The peace-building theory was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study. The findings of the study revealed that the Nigerian Youth, in these contemporary times, have been actively involved in partisan politics and that a significant correlation between Youth participation in politics and the peacebuilding process in Nigeria is well established. Now that the youth have been brought into political parties for more participation in the civic roles that they have been excluded from in the time past, there is a need for initiating programs and policies to better understand the roles of youth in political parties and the peace-building process. The study recommends that the Nigerian youth be properly enlightened and adequately equipped in peace and peace-building processes.
Keywords: Community development, National Stability., Political Parties, Youth, peacebuilding