I choose to comment on this issue in my capacity as a Nigerian and one of the sons to Mr. President. Ordinarily I shouldn’t have bothered because I am not a youth by the President’s definition and I know I am not lazy. The President was certainly referring to people within the age bracket of thirty which I am significantly over.
The statement raises so much dust and continues to dominate both social and conventional media. Mr. President made the statement at the Common- Wealth Business Forum in Westminster on April 18, 2018. There is no sign that the issue would be dropped so soon.
Basically, I have no qualms with the President’s remarks but I am of the opinion that the timing was wrong as well as the forum. He was also too economical with the truth, with greatest respect to him.
On the timing, Mr. President was wrong to have made such remarks when majority of his subjects are in abject poverty and the statistics of jobless youths ascending on daily basis. Mr. President should have informed his audience how many jobs he created for the youths that remain unutilized or how many policies he introduced that are geared towards providing opportunities for the youths to get educated, irrespective of social or economic background. Mr. President should have waited to get that statistics clear before going to the media.
On the forum, it is a wrong forum because that issue is completely domestic and therefore requires internal solution, one of which is to create abundant job opportunities in the country and make education affordable to the citizens. Left to me, I share my problems only with whom I believe has my solutions not the one that will simply laugh me off. Instead of solution, that remarks would merely portray us in the international community as daft and having no clear vision because the issue seems too inconsequential to complain about.
Mr. President was too economical with the truth by refusing to disclose to his audience the bitter truth that not only youth, even Nigeria is lazy. The last time I checked, Nigeria depends squarely on oil money to survive and no concrete effort is underway to diversify the economy. What do you call that one? I call it laziness.
The President, State Governors, Local Government Council Chairmen and of course the whole country rely on Federal Allocation to survive.
Adopting Mr. President’s definition of lazy, nobody is spared even the President himself. We are all lazy for as long as we remain docile waiting for the Monthly Federal Allocation.
Next time, when Mr. President makes any remarks, take a sigh before you crucify him. He knows what he is doing.
Galadi is the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Gusau Branch, Zamfara State; Secretary, National Rescue Movement (NRM), Zamfara State and is the President of the Bello Galadi Foundation. He can be reached on muhammadbel_law@yahoo.com or muhammadbellaw80@gmail.com
