Social Marketing and the Management of Youth Restiveness in Nigeria’s Oil-Producing Region

This study, ‘’Social Marketing and the Management of Youth Restiveness in Nigeria’s Oil-Producing Region’’ extends the contextual boundary of social marketing by examining its relationship with youth restiveness in the South-south region of Nigeria. Therefore this study probably represents a maiden attempt in social marketing literature as against the conventional application of the phenomenon in inducing behavioural change in health related domains. Contrary to empirical tradition, this study investigated the possibility of social marketing as an effective tool for reducing the scourge of youth restiveness and criminality in the troubled South-south region of Nigeria. Using a systematic sampling procedure, 6 states where selected from the 9 states of the Niger delta on the bases of their oil and pipeline bearing statuses, two local government areas were selected per state and four communities per local government area from where unit of analyses or respondents (comprising community youths, leaders, elders, ex militants and their relatives) for the research were drawn who responded to the survey instruments that were distributed..Thereafter, multiple regression was used to analyse obtained field data and findings revealed a positive relationship between social marketing and management of youth restiveness in the South-south region. Hence it was recommended that multinational oil companies operating in the area should invest more in quality and durable infrastructural development as well as free human capital development programs such as vocational cum entrepreneurial programs, scholarship, intern-ship as well as provide employment opportunities as an army of unemployed youths is tantamount to sitting on top a keg of gun powder which could explode in no time.