Dear President,

My name is Habeeb Whyte and I have a responsibility, as a youth, to suggest a path deserved to be toed in taking decision that will affect the youth and the fate of our father land, especially at this moment when we have just ushered in a new era. You would agree with me that the success of the All Progressives Congress (APC), your party, in the last general elections can be said, without mincing words, to be the handiwork of the youth.

As key players in the youth movement, some of us had been locked in battles with your predecessor before the formation of APC as a party to rescue us from the brink. I said this to buttress my claim that we knew what we bargained for and have our expectations from your administration.

It should be said, the primary motivation for the involvement of the youth in the electioneering was not for pecuniary gains. Those who wanted money did not stay long before abandoning the struggle and joined parties where dollars rained. Therefore, it becomes necessary for me to lend my voice to the high expectations from the youth.

It is true that expectations are very high, but I do not share in ‘miraculous change’ expectation. I believe in gradual change by I want you to know that there are some pressing issues affecting young people that must be addressed with sense of urgency.

One of them is abuse of the youth energy. The reign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last 16 years saw the promotion of youth inducement and engagement for criminal venture. For jobless young people, the best way to make cool cash is to destroy lives of others. Politicians exploit waywardness of some misguided youths to commit ungodly acts.

The nation is seen as a home to all forms of crimes and terror. Because nobody would like to bequeath a nation of monsters to the next generation, efforts should be made to pursue value orientation and psychological rehabilitation to enable these abused youths re-integrated back to the society.

Another challenge is that, years of maladministration have made some youths to be hopeless in securing good jobs that would make them responsible citizens. Most have been compelled to seek way out through organised crimes. Youths have decided to depart from this because we cannot grow under these circumstances in a globalised world and be expected to compete with our peers from other nations. We do not want to inherit a nation that cannot stimulate pride in her citizens.

There was already confusion about what needed to be done to right the wrongs in the system. Most people are already trapped in the ‘employment creation’ syndrome so much so that they are hopelessly expecting nothing other than job from the government. Ours is not a nation without jobs; but one with as many people without jobs and jobs without people. The youth have decided to work with the government to correct this narrative, because we did not want to inherit a nation consuming itself from within.

Before the general elections, the nation was said to be sitting on flame as a result of possible religious or ethnic war. There was distrust and disunity among ethnic groups and between Muslims and Christians and this was fanned to the point of conflagration, with youths at the centre. Youths were used as evangelists or pseudo-ideologues of ethno-religious militias, preaching hatred and spewing venoms.

This is the extent to which our society has sunk. We need to change the orientation of our youths and make them to cherish the values of hard work.



You would bear witness sir, that the results of the presidential elections showed that the youth were all out to bring about the change. The social media campaigns were made possible by the youth. This shows that the youth wanted an end to challenges facing our nation.

We expect you to cut down the cost of governance greatly. So, reforms in government structure and political appointments are expected.

We expect that there would be recovery of loot from past leaders and investing the funds in education as proposed by you sir. We expect a gradual rebuilding of infrastructures and amenities in all sectors, including health, education, transportation, energy, sports, etc.

Youth empowerment is key to development. We expect you to formulate and implement policies that will bring out positive potentials in the youth. While the long term objective should be paramount, there is the need for immediate sop to bring smiles on the faces of youths within the first year in office.

I would suggest you introduce a student-friendly programme to reduce hardship on campuses by providing affordable services for students only.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an area where the youth have found interests and committed great passion. Wise countries like Singapore have digital entrepreneurship strategies to keep youths busy, thereby turning their passion to a significant source of revenue. Nigeria accounts for over 10 million global internet presence. This implies we can make over N100 billion revenue yearly if half of the youth make just N50,000 each monthly. We only need creative approaches to explore our passion.

I will say emphatically that the huge fund claimed to be committed to technological advancement and similar empowerment schemes are more than what is required to turn things around and make this to happen within months.

Sir, if your government invests in digital entrepreneurship, it would empower millions of youths within the first six month. And it would turn in huge revenue. ICT industry alone, given the population of youth, will create millions of jobs within and drive in huge foreign exchange. I leave you with a mind full of hope and I believe you will not disappoint us.



•Habeeb, is a UN AMBASSADOR and a Corps member, NYSC ABUJA

Source: http://thenationonlineng.net/new/open-letter-to-buhari/

Nice one. I'll forward it to him , no worries.

I don't know if Nigeria's educational sector is to blame....
But a letter like this should be brief and straight to the point.

There is hope for Nigeria. Nigeria shall surely become great. I am very positive about this. There's little government can do about the provision of jobs. It is entrepreneurship that will move this country forward.