Sports Development as a Panacea for Youth Restiveness and National Development

It goes without gainsaying, that, sports have become a universal language spoken by all and sundry. Its universality is such that it cuts across cultural, religious, ethnic and national divide. It has the tendency of aligning people of diverse creed and colour, through its unifying prowess. All over the world, it is apparent that sport fanatics are youths between the ages of 18 and 40, cutting across all genders. With the right policies and political will, sports and sporting activities can be made a viable national development tool, which has the tendency to deter young people from restiveness and curb nuisance, hence, turning our youths into a more productive workforce. It is against this backdrop that the paper attempts to analytically x-ray the nexus between sports, youth restiveness and national development. The paper relies mostly on content analysis as its methodology but infuses key-person-interview (KPI), alongside the desk research, thereby adopting both qualitative and quantitative methodology. The paper finds that with commitment from all stakeholders, sporting activities can be explored to better engage our youths and position them as contributors to national development. The paper recommends amongst others that, governments at all levels must ensure they prioritise sporting activities and tap into the resourcefulness of the youths for a more prosperous productive young workforce.