The world has in recent times been experiencing rapid urbanization. Presently,
over 80 per cent of children and youths live in urban cities of Africa, Asia, and
Latin America (Unicef 2002:21). Sub-Saharan Africa is said to have the most
youthful populations in the world. An estimated 200 million young people between
the ages of 12 and 24 years live in Africa’s urban cities today. This rapid rate of
growth has pushed the absolute size of the youth population in Sub-Saharan
Africa beyond that of many other regions. By 2030, youths will account for 28
per cent of the population, making Sub-Saharan African the ‘youngest’ region in
the world (Garcia and Fares 2008:5).
The implication of this scenario is that the growth of the population of children
and youths is bound to outstrip the coping capacity of poorly resourced
governments and economies in developing nations, such as most nations in Africa,
to absorb new residents and provide them with adequate jobs, shelter and services.
In these circumstances, many if not most children and youths may end up in
substandard housing in unserviced and marginal locations with exposure to health
hazards and poor nutrition as well as other livelihood challenges.
In Nigeria, an estimated 20 per cent of children and youths are found in cities
(Wikipedia, accessed 10th October 2009). Many of the urban youths live in squalid
slum dwellings with poor basic infrastructure and social services. Given the situation
they are confronted with, the youths are bound to initiate and construct various
forms of adaptation as livelihood strategies to enable them to survive and stay in
the city. Onitsha is a densely populated city and has a very high percentage of its
population made up of youths that migrated from the many communities that make up the South East geographical zone of Nigeria. Livelihood opportunities
are the major attraction of youths to the city.