TheCable

BY DAVE ALONGE

Dear President Muhammadu Buhari,

I am writing to air my regrets and disappointment in you for the speech made in London to de-market the larger percentage of your workforce, the youth, in the face of the international community. Mr. President, for the past three years of your administration, you have been making comments in disadvantage to the national interest, zeal and vision toward development in various international settings; this last one was the straw that broke the camel’s back, saying our youths are ‘uneducated’, but would rather sit down doing nothing and expect the dividend of democracy from the national cake.

Your assertion could have been right if your government had provided 24 hours power supply as you promised during your campaigns, enabling environment for small and medium enterprises to thrive, single digit interest rate for loans in commercial banks, qualitative education system that encourages the youth to be innovative, research and technical supports, among numerous others. But all what should be provided by the government were thrown into blame games of the past administration and now to the youths. It’s a pity this is what we signed up for.

First of all, what is the relationship between the question asked and your response? Sir, you were asked to give the final comment to your interview, which the concluding point could have been an avenue to whet the appetite of investors in acting against their doubts about Nigeria, not a statement that will tell the investors that when you come to invest in Nigeria, understand that the larger percentage of our youths are uneducated, they will sit down and do nothing but expect the government to give them housing, healthcare and education.

It is an insult to the youth, seeing the numero uno citizen denouncing them even when they have shown him supports and love during his trying times.

Remember the youths gave you their total support even when they knew you didn’t have a school certificate result when there is an opportunity cost of a doctoral candidate. Mr. President, we never blamed you for spending over 30 years after your first reign as the head of state and still not advancing beyond secondary school certification as you claimed to have. We didn’t condemn you for not building your business beyond the shore like other colleagues of yours have done which has helped in creating employment opportunities for several youths. The youths never accused you of wrong doing even though you don’t have any foundation, support group or humanitarian programme in your name even when you are capable of doing so. For all our supports and love, your statement at the Commonwealth is what we get in return sir. Thank you.

Before ending my note to you sir, I will acknowledge the efforts of the ‘lazy’ youths who have been hustling in the draconian system of Nigeria but you failed to mention them in the statement. Mr. President, let me introduce to you Seun Osewa, the founder of Nairaland.com, the largest online forum in Africa. He is the master of lazy youths association sir. Yomi Casual, the Lagos-based stylist whose designs have gone international, is also part of the lazy youth.

Wale Yusuf of Techpoint, who rose from being a security guard to become one of the top tech guys in Nigeria, is also a very lazy youth; Linda Ikeji, Africa number one female blogger, is undoubtedly leading the laziness class. From Iyinola Aboyeji of Andela to Bosun Tijani and Femi Longe of CcHub, those guys that Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook came to visit the other day, hope you remember now, they are the class representative of lazy youths. You see Omoyele Sowore of Sahara Reporters, that one is very lazy sir.

In short, the Super Eagles team, the Nollywood stars, the young engineers, the mechanics, the developers, the young architects, the guys in the street hustling, the computer village guys, the Alaba guys, the young ladies in Eko, Idumota and Oshodi, the roadside traders, are all lazy sir.

Finally, I think it is right for you to apologize publicly to the youths in Nigeria on local, national and international platforms for the statement made to belittle their efforts, zeal, goals and visions. Failure to do this will surely have detrimental effect in the nearest future. Thank You