CHAPTER ONE
1.0INTRODUCTION
The aim of rural development is to get rid of poverty. Youth involvement in community development programme has been as long as man’s existence. Their contribution towards community development in a given area like Oredo Local Government has much to be desired. It is generally accepted in most developing countries like Nigeria, that government alone cannot develop all the rural communities as at when due. Apart from leadership, there are other things that are against the attainment of a meaningful, progressive and just society that we have been longing for but failed to respond decisively. Although these are few books that cover the role of youth in community development or nation building. This study will treat all aspects of the topic as evidence to show whether or not youths played effective contributive role in the development of rural areas Oredo Local Government is not an exception, this is because they need the help or support of the youths to assist the nation in achieving self sufficiency in areas like food production and the realization of structural transformation of the Agricultural sector (Doorbus, 2001).
It is a common thing that “youths are the leaders of tomorrow”, it could therefore be seen that the contributions of youths to rural development is very important, hence people look up to the youths for active leadership, self reliance, honesty, selfless service, industrial knowledge, patriotism and discipline. Generally, youths constitute about 2/3 (two-third) of the active population, by youth we mean those young active and powerful or dynamic people in the society under the ages of forty. They have some qualities, which includes responsibility to challenges (Oadire, 2010).
The community does show that government alone cannot provide all the development needed by themselves,, as a result the communities are to mobilize themselves by using the resources at their disposal to provide amenities through self-help and popular participation; we cannot over emphasize the effect of youth class or cooperative organization in carrying out such a task, no wonder BEJA says “there is hope that our country will still grow and survive into a great nation despite the ills of our times and that hope is in the youths”.
The researcher will attempt to state the energetic nature of youth class in Oredo Local Government. The hope of the rural communities is to have access to the provision of the basic social amenities. But the way of achieving this hope cannot be guaranteed by the government alone, but through the help or contribution of the rural developers, moreover no community should see rural development as the sole responsibility of the community development officers, in order not to experience law level development, unemployment, starvation and poor health care, government can no longer or finds it difficult to satisfy all these needs due to the enormity of the task on her, hence from time immemorial, youths have been assisting the elders in the development of their areas. Their participation is very essential and this further boosts national development.
1.1BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
THE PEOPLE: Majority of the people that stay within Oredo Local Government area are from Edo (Bini), though there are people from other parts of the State being among the indigenes. The number of people residing there is relatively more compared to other local government due to development that has come to the place.
The culture of the people is rich and unadulterated, which has its origin in Edo (Bini). It has its statutes, morals, beliefs and values, social, religious and political institution. There are also ancestral cults to which every person is born into; to deny them is to deny one’s birth right and citizenship. Their cultural values also affect their marriage, ceremonies, new yam festivals, burial ceremonies and their cultural dances.
Their main occupation they practice is farming and palm wine tapping, crops grown there includes yam, groundnut, etc. Though there are many white-colar jobs due to development of the area but their main occupation is farming.
The Youth: The youth have a storage formation where they come together and talk on pressing issues concerning the community. They help in keeping the law of the land and try to influence the decision of the leaders through their reactions.