Abstract

This research is motivated as a result of rapid changes in the lifestyle of our youths and the increasing deterioration of their welfare in terms of the increase in the number of out of school youth in the country, high incidence of child participation in economic activities and incidence of street children in Nigeria. Although, many researches have been conducted in areas of child welfare, most of these researches neglected the determining factors of these welfare indices as well as relationship between environment, poverty and life styles and life chances of our youth. This may have contributed to poor policy response to youth welfare in Nigeria as the literature has shown that child welfare continues to deteriorate. This study was based on primary survey data collected in Lagos between 7th and 21st of April, 2009 from 200 youth (boys and girls) aged 10-24. The sample, a one-stage purposive sampling, is representative of the city of Lagos. This stage increases the use of accidental sampling to select respondents around the Oshodi Motor parks. The individual based questionnaire schedule consists of 60 questions under six sub-sections. The purpose of the survey was to collect information on youth and vocational training. Retrospective longitudinal data were collected concerning residence, education, occupation, sexual unions, family backgrounds, and social attachments among others. Both male and female youth were asked about their perception on vocational training and skills acquisition. The quantitative data were entered, edited, transformed and cleaned. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in analyzing the data. Simple statistical techniques like Percentile and cross-tabulations were carried out. The study found among other things that participation in school or work is dictated by region, sector, child, parent and household characteristics. The study also noted that incidence of street children is a response to poverty, parental interest and regional and environment differences. The study thus suggested that policies aiming at improving child welfare in Nigeria should consider environment, sector, region, child, parents, household and community characteristics in their policy.

Key words: Lagos, lifestyle, youth, Oshodi motor park, Nigeria.