Femi Adesina, special adviser to
the president on media and publicity, says mischief makers are trying to
diminish the profile of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Adesina said this in response to
the anger that trailed the comment of Buhari at the Commonwealth Business Forum
in London on Wednesday.
The president had said a lot of
Nigerian youth were unwilling to do anything and wanted housing and education
for free.
“We have a very young population;
our population is estimated conservatively to be 180 million. More than 60
percent 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,” he had said.
Nigerians, particularly young
persons, had hit back at the president, accusing him of de-marketing the
country in the international community.
But reacting in a statement on
Thursday, Adesina said the president’s comment was twisted.
He said being a father to the
nation, Buhari could not have made offensive comments against the youth.
Below is Adesina’s statement:
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,”
Adesina said.
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 recognizes 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.
President Buhari has always
applauded and celebrated Nigerian youths who excel in different areas of
endeavour, from sports, to academia, and other realms. And he will continue to
do so, because he values the youths, and knows that they are the fulcrum on
which the future of the country rests.
Indeed, every country has its
share of idle population, and it is the bounden duty of government at all
levels, to create an enabling environment for them to actualize their
potentials. That is what President Buhari is committed to doing.
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. This 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 also said
more than 60 percent of Nigerians fall into the age category of youths and
deserve to inherit a stable and prosperous country that they can be proud of,
adding that the government will work assiduously to prevent waste and the depletion
of resources by corrupt Nigerians.
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.
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Femi Adesina, Buhari's profile speaks for itself. The people see what they see and say their mind. Why do you have trouble with that? Don't they have a right to their observations? Stop being idiotic.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you Mr. Adeshina. He who pays the piper, dictates the tone. Well done sir, you have just earned your salary. But the youths know the truth and we can't be fooled again.
ReplyDeletethey are claiming that Nigeria has been an oil producing country, therefore they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare and education free...............Femi Adeshina, you are well educated and have good mastery of English Language. If in an Exam you are asked to summarize Mr. President's speech, what will your answer be. We are not illiterates as your Master claims.
ReplyDeleteWhy did not South African President tell the world that their youths are all criminals? Why did India not ell the world that they are the Rape capital of the world? Let him continue insulting us. We are watching.
Stop twisting what we can read and understand by ourselves. Don't believe we are lazy as baba claimed. Whether 'some or all' as you are cunningly trying to defend your boss, the truth is that it is totally wrong to de-market any youth before the international community. And for your information, your boss got everything on the platter of gold, so he has no right to judge any youth.
ReplyDelete