The Presidency on Thursday denied the allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari berated Nigerian youths and expressed lack of confidence in them.
The Presidency said the claim was the deliberate misinterpretation of the president’s statement by mischief makers who were always waiting to strike.
According to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement he issued, the president held the youths in high esteem and could not have spoken ill of them.
Said Adesina: “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 recognises 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.”
He said Buhari had always applauded and celebrated Nigerian youths who excelled in different areas of endeavour, from sports, to academia, and other realms.
He said he would continue to do so, because he valued the youths, and knew that they were the fulcrum on which the future of the country rested.
The media aide stated that every country had its share of idle population, and it was the duty of government at all levels, to create an enabling environment for them to actualise their potentials.
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“That is what President Buhari is committed to doing,” Adesina said.
He pointed out that 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.
He said that 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 he said also stated that more than 60 per cent of Nigerians fell into the age category of youths and deserved to inherit a stable and prosperous country that they could be proud of.
According to him, “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,” he added.
