The study examines the relationship between youth restiveness, quality education, economic empowerment, development, and employment opportunities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Data was collected through a cross-sectional survey of 305 second and third-year students in six federal universities representing the three sub-regions of the Niger Delta. Simple regression analysis was undertaken to test three hypotheses that established predictive relationships between independent variables and youth restiveness. The results indicated that all three variables were strongly correlated with economic empowerment/development having the strongest power of prediction (R 2 =.296), followed by employment (R 2 =.256), and good education with the lowest and most significant correlation (R 2 =.037). These findings have implications that comprehensive youth development initiative that integrates employment generation and educational reforms initiatives as well as economic empowerment programs are needed in reducing youth restiveness in the Niger Delta. They bear significant policy implications and conflict prevention initiatives in geographically marginal resource-rich areas.
Education, Economic Empowerment, Niger Delta, Unemployment, Youth Restiveness
IRE Journals:
Michael Edem Ibanga "Youth Restiveness in The Niger Delta: An Empirical Analysis of Unemployment, Education, And Economic Empowerment as Predictive Factors" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 5 2025 Page 1278-1289 https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I5-1711993
IEEE:
Michael Edem Ibanga
"Youth Restiveness in The Niger Delta: An Empirical Analysis of Unemployment, Education, And Economic Empowerment as Predictive Factors" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(5) https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I5-1711993