Negative attitude of youth towards african traditional values and socio-economic implications for nigeria

Abstract

The negative attitude of youth towards African traditional values has to a great extent imprisoned the psyche of most Nigerian youth to the extent that a lag is created with concomitant socio-economic implications. We live in a world where the youth pursue fashions and values that are alien to Africa’s normative customs. Some of these youth condemn African traditional values as archaic, demonic, timid and of no relevance in the present dispensation. It is also obvious that many youth pursue values without knowing whether they are right or wrong and sometimes ignorant of their implications. In a bid to appear “civilized” or “modern”, some youth find themselves entrapped in a world of confusion. The paper employed qualitative research, involving published data and it was observed that factors such as western ideology and the dilemma of globalization as well as western educational system, social media and the family have influenced youth’s negative attitude towards African traditional values. Indeed, these factors have greatly influenced the youth to undermine the African traditional values. For example, a greater number of youth perceive African traditional values to be inferior compared to foreign values. It was further observed that the craze for western values also resulted to the adoption of strange criminal behaviors such as scam, hate speeches, kidnappings, terrorism, fraud, corruption, youth restiveness, drug abuse, cultism and conflicts among the youth. It is therefore recommended among others that government should introduce policy measures that will promote African traditional values, norms and culture among youth. This can also be done effectively through social work counseling, sensitizations, behavior change processes and advocacy by Non-Governmental Organizations, faith base organizations and social workers. Word count: 274