The Implications of Youth Restiveness on the Socio-Economic Development of Ikwerre Nation of Rivers State: the Case of Emohua Local Government Area

Abstract

Emohua Local Government Area is one of the four local government areas that make up the ethnic nationality of Ikwerre in Rivers state, Nigeria. Others are Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt and Ikwerre local governments. Ikwerre is within the wetland of Niger Delta sufficiently endowed with human resources, natural resources, such as forest resources, energy and water resources. Since after the Nigerian civil war, in 1970, the natural resources located in Ikwerre land have been of paramount importance to the socio-economic development of the Nigerian state to the detriment of the Ikwerre people. Unfortunately, Ikwerre people have been denied not only access to these resources by the federal government, but its benefits and enjoyment thereby keeping the place perpetually under developed and with extreme poverty and neglect. It is within this context that the issues relating to its youth restiveness and the attendant socio-economic deprivation need to be properly examined in this work.

Keywords: Resources, Exploration, Deprivation, Restiveness, Development.