‘DISCORD IN THE CITY OF HARMONY’: PROBING THE PHENOMENON OF YOUTH VIOLENCE IN ILORIN, NIGERIA

Abstract

The phenomenon of youth violence and its attendant consequences constitute the leading problems ravaging many urban cities of the world most especially the socio-economically developing Nations. In Nigeria, the phenomenon of youth violence is widely reported in every region of the country. Thus, this study examined factors contributing to youth violence in the harmonious city of Ilorin. Between methods approach was adopted. Questionnaire was employed to collect data among 1210 chosen young peoplethat are domiciled in violence prone localities. Descriptive data were analysed with the aid of frequency tables, while inferential data were analysed using chi-square and multinomial regression analysis. Using chi-square test of association, the findings of the study shows that there is a significant relationship between neighbourhood safety regarding violence and concentration of poor people in the neighbourhood (p<0.05) experience of violence and neighbourhood unplanned structure (P<0.05); Youth violence and lack of security patrol in the community ((P<0.05). Further, the likelihood ration tests from the regression model shows that drug abuse (.000), illiteracy (.000), poverty (.006) and insecurity (0.00) were significantly impacting youth violence in Ilorin metropolis. On the other hand, poor neighbourhood (.016) were not significantly impacting criminal activities in the neighbourhoods.The regression model also reports that Poverty, unemployment, drug abuse, illiteracy, poor neighbourhood and insecurity only contributes 26.3% ( Nagelkerke =.263). The study concludes that there is a chemistry between certain socio-economic characteristics and youth violence in Ilorin metropolis. Therefore, the study recommends that relevant stakeholders in their respective communities should be incorporated into the community policing to ensure the menace of youth violence is properly addressed. Also, the study recommends that more funds geared towards social investment programs and infrastructural development should be budgeted to violence prone communities to arrest the phenomenon of youth violence.