Popular Music and Youth Empowerment in Nigeria

Abstract

Since 1979 when the youthful Kris Okotie took the Nigerian music scene by „storm‟, Nigeria has witnessed an endless stream of „musical youths‟ into popular music practice. Critics of this phenomenon point to lack of proper training and poor musical output as the bane of these youthful artistes. Yet, their involvement represent a new form of youth empowerment and poverty alleviation in a country where youth restiveness and graduate unemployment have reached frightening proportions. Based on the writer‟s involvement with youths in the popular music industry in Nigeria over the last two and half decades, coupled with recent interviews with stakeholders and published works on the subject matter, this paper explores the concept of empowerment and the place of popular music within the broad spectrum of youth employment in Nigeria. The paper concludes that in the emerging global socio-economic environment of the 21st century, a well developed and professionalized music industry can provide a sustainable means of economic empowerment and poverty alleviation for Nigerian youths.