ABUJA — President Muhammadu Buhari has said Nigeria’s most strategic assets are the youths.
According to him, young citizens are currently the country’s most potent ambassadors.
He stated this on Monday in Abuja while declaring open a three-day national youth conference themed, ‘Youth Inclusiveness-Governance, Security and Employment’.
Represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the president said the youths have been breaking new grounds, records and winning laurels in diverse fields of endeavour across the world.
“We recognise that our young people are this country’s most strategic asset. Investing in them is investing in the economic strength and development of our nation,” NAN quoted him as saying.
“The president said it had established youth development-focused initiatives while scaling up existing ones, such as the recently approved increase of N-Power beneficiaries from 500,000 to one million.
“This is why I recently approved the investing in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme, an over 600 million dollars program supported by the AfDB which will support young tech and creative sector entrepreneurs through the provision of finance, skills development and infrastructure.
“While differences of opinion in respect of official policies are normal in liberal democracies such as ours, but out of respect for the rights and sensitivities of others, disagreement must be tempered and channeled through legally and socially acceptable means.
“Most importantly, we must keep our faith in our country and remain optimistic that it will serve as the locus for fulfilling our aspirations.
“Building a nation is an intergenerational endeavour; I think this is a particularly important point; governments can be changed in electoral cycles, but the destiny of a nation is shaped across generations.
“This country is ours — above and beyond partisan squabbles, disagreements and everything else — the future will be what we make of it,” he said.
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