STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE - “PRESIDENT BUHARI
COULDN'T HAVE DERIDED ALL NIGERIAN YOUTHS” - by:
Femi Adesina - April 19, 2018
At the Commonwealth Business Forum in London on
Wednesday, April 18, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari gave a keynote address on Making Business Easier Between
Commonwealth Countries. The presentation was followed by
a discussion, and question and answer session.
Responding to a question, President Buhari had cause to talk
about some Nigerian youths, and he said: " We have a very
young population; our population is estimated conservatively
to be 180 million. More than 60 per cent of the population is
below the age of 30. A lot of them have not been to school
and they are claiming that Nigeria has been an oil producing
country, therefore they should sit and do nothing and get
housing, healthcare and education free.”
Typical of their stock in trade, manipulators and twisters of
statements of Mr President, who lie in wait to make mischief,
interpreted the comment to mean that President Buhari had
taken all Nigerian youths to the cleaners. But elementary
English recognizes a wide gulf between "a lot of" and the
word "all." How can "a lot of them," suddenly transmogrify to
mean “all of them?” Mischievous and unconscionable!
There is no way President Buhari, father of the Nigerian
nation in every sense of the word, who equally has biological
children of his own in the youths age bracket, pass a vote of
no confidence on all youths. It can only exist in the
imagination of those who play what the President has described as "irresponsible politics" with everything.
President Buhari has always applauded and celebrated
Nigerian youths who excel in different areas of endeavour,
from sports, to academia, and other realms. And he will continue to do so, because he values the youths, and knows
that they are the fulcrum on which the future of the country
rests.
Indeed, every country has its share of idle population, and it
is the bounden duty of government at all levels, to create an
enabling environment for them to actualize their potentials.
That is what President Buhari is committed to doing.
The focal areas of the administration; securing the country,
reviving the economy, and fighting corruption, are actually
intended to give youths a future and a hope. This much was
emphasized in an April 5, 2018 comment by President Buhari,
while receiving Letter of Credence from the Head of
Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria, when he said: "
Our insistence on probity is to encourage people to be
accountable, and accept honesty as a lifestyle so as to
secure the future of our youths.’’
The President also said more than 60 percent of Nigerians
fall into the age category of youths and deserve to inherit a
stable and prosperous country that they can be proud of,
adding that the government will work assiduously to prevent
waste and the depletion of resources by corrupt Nigerians.
It is futile for mischief makers to lie in wait, and take a minor
part of the words of the President, and turn it into negative
commentary, peradventure they could diminish the profile of
the President. Nigerians across all walks of life know who is serving them faithfully and truly, and they will always
reciprocate such fidelity as occasions demand.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
April 19, 2018
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