Nigeria youths should embrace "I can do Spirit". Obasanjo

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's former president, has on Sunday, urged the youths in the country to embrace the "I can do Spirit". This can be achieved by developing all opportunities in making them better citizens, he added.
Adding to this, he said there could be no
meaningful transformation if government at
all levels failed to include the youths in
governance.

Obasanjo made this known at the 2017 Youth
Governance Dialogue, organised by the
Youth Development Centre, an arm of the
Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library
(OOPL), Abeokuta.
The program was themed:
“Preparing Successor Generation for
Effective Participation in Governance.”

Various personnel graced the occasion, among which was the Sokoto State
Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, former deputy
speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka
Ihedioa, the former Corps Marshal, Federal
Road Safety Corps and Minister of Aviation,
Osita Chidoka, student bodies, youth
organisations from different part of the
country, among other dignitaries.

Further making it known that, the issue of unemployment
must be attended to by government so as to
avoid any dire consequences that might
arise if unaddressed.
The former president encourages the youths
on the need to speak out on whatever they
believed in and be ready to pay price for any
action, recalling how he was almost killed
for speaking out against the regime of the
despotic ruler, Late General Sanni Abacha.
According to him:
“Today’s Nigerian youth can only be
successful if they have ‘I can do spirit’. Our
generation had more opportunities but no
facilities, while you have more facilities and
fewer opportunities. Unfortunately,
government is not helping the situation,
hence, you must help yourselves.
Linking the above speech to his personal life, he said:
“While some claim they are ‘atapata dide’,
me, I am ‘aterefo dide’. I worked as a real
labourer. But when I finished my secondary
education and about to go to university,
there was just a university in the country,
but I had about five letters of appointment
waiting for me. That was opportunity but no
facility. But today, they are over 152
universities for you to choose from, but less
job opportunities. Now, that is facility with
less opportunity.
Furthermore, he added that,
“With this tight opportunity, Nigerian youths
are frustrated. And if the government allows
this anger and frustration to explode, then
the consequences might not augur well for
us as a nation.
In conclusion, he stated:
" I would advise
those of us who have benefitted immensely
from Nigeria, to assist and offer advises to
the youth, with a view to develop them as
worthy successors".

Governor Tambuwal, adding to Obasanjo's speech said, the
nation leaders must address the issue of
unemployment, submitting that the
diversification policy of the President
Muhammadu Buhari led-administration would
bring about broader opportunities for self
employment.
Tambuwal, who was the chairman of the
programme, added that:
“we cannot keep
calling youth the leaders
of tomorrow without ensuring that we put in
place deliberate measures that will aid their
quest for public service.”

"Our national aspirations should inspire the
next generation and provide them with the
existential meaning of Nigeria. A meaning
that transcends geography, natural resources
and ethnicity,” Chidoka, who spoke on the theme ‘Towards
a Guiding Political Philosophy for a
Democratic Nigeria’ said.