Youth Social Vices and Internal Security in Anambra State: Implications on Sustainable Development

Abstract

Youth’s depravity is global to human societies. In Nigeria and Anambra State particularly, youth social vices have created huge security  issues with palpable fear among the residents of the state. This paper seeks to examine youth and internal security and its implications  on sustainable development in the state. For clarification, the theory of conflict was employed where both primary and secondary data  were used, while primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire, and respondents were purposively sampled. Secondary  data were used to corroborate the findings from primary data. Cross-sectional data were used and the sample size obtained was 200  respondents across the three senatorial zones of the state. Thus, data were analysed quantitatively using linear regression to establish  the relationship between variables through OLS. The paper reveals a significant influence of the youth’s social vices on the level of internal security and sustainable development in the state. It, therefore, concludes that the inclusion of youths in national development is  important for the sustenance of internal security. Thus, it suggests that there are brighter chances of achieving sustainable  development targets and internal security with an appropriate governance structure in place that will help mitigate social vices among  youths in the state.