"NIGERIAN YOUTHS ARE NOT LAZY": Youths reply PMB

It is Nigeria's own president, president Buhari who on Wednesday during a panel appearance with world leaders at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London said that a lot of Nigerian youth are lazy, illiterate and depend on oil. In the words of the president “More than 60 percent of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare, education free".

Recall that the president had earlier in 2016, during an interview with UK Telegraph said some Nigerians in the UK, mostly youths, are disposed to criminality and should not be granted asylum there. A statement for which he was heavily criticized as the statement failed, as some said, to convey the true nature of the Nigerian youths.

The President's statement, I must say, is defamatory and a calculated attempt by Mr President to injure the estimation of Nigerian youths in and outside Nigeria. Nigerian youths are some of the most vibrant youths ever to walk on this earth, their strength and resolve is second to none, that is why they have continued to record groundbreaking successes amidst the harsh economic, security, socio-political and infrastructural atmosphere in the country. Naija Youths no dey dull!

I can't think of a single Nigerian youth who'll have an opportunity to work that would not explore such an opportunity to the fullest whilst doing his ultimate best.
 It is this relentless and enterprising spirit in every Nigerian, especially the youths that have helped them build a film and music industry that is second to none in Africa, from the scratch.
   It is this hardworking spirit of the Nigerian youth that manifested in an analysis conducted by Rice University in the US which showed that Nigerian youths are the most educated immigrants in the country due to their relentless drive for education.
   It is this spirit of hard work that has led every young Nigerian to engage in different forms of enterprises in other to make ends meet in a country whose economic situation has taken a turn for the worse since the sitting president came on board. In a country whose roads have been adjudged some of the worst in the world. In a country that provides her citizens with little or no power supply. In a country whose security forces that are meant to protect the citizens are only security forces by day and armed robbers by night. In a country whose educational sector is at the bottom of the ladder when compared with its sister sectors around the world.
   So it is no surprise that Nigerians, youth and old, have risen up to criticize the President's statement. For the past few days, the social media has been flooding with angry criticisms of the president who recently declared his intentions to run for a second term in 2019. Citizens have expressed their anger at the country's chief pilot through Twitter and Facebook hashtag #LazyNigerianYouths. Some people have called out all Nigerian youths to get their PVCs and vote out the president, according to one Twitter user
"Y'all the only way to get back at that wrinkled reptile is getting a PVC no matter what it takes and making sure he doesn't go a second term for the culture!!"
On his own, the former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has also criticized the president, in a tweet he says "Our youth are charting new frontiers; creating a huge tech industry on their own! Their entrepreneurial spirit, work ethic, and creative abilities are things of pride and should be applauded, encouraged and nurtured."
   The statement by the Nigerian President that Nigerian youths are lazy is not only wrong, but is totally uncalledfor and unacceptable as it is nearly impossible to find a youth in Nigeria who is not ready to work, in fact, show me a Nigerian youth who is lazy and I'll show you a person whose nationality should be checked.