TheCable

Oluremi Tinubu, the first lady, says Nigerian youths must be innovative and get involved in the government’s programmes to achieve financial stability.

The first lady spoke on Monday when she received members of the Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (YOWICAN) for the Easter celebration at the State House in Abuja.

She said the government had initiated programmes for youth empowerment, urging them to be innovative.

“I congratulate you all for the giant strides you have been able to achieve since you started. All your programmes are quite laudable; however, you all have to align yourselves with the government programmes,” NAN quoted Oluremi as saying.

“I want you to key into what the government is doing.

“Recently, we had a national fabric competition with a prize money of N25 million for youths between the ages of 15 and 25; those are the things you should look forward to.

“We also have the ‘Every Home a Garden’ competition with a prize of N20 million for the winner by December. These are ways you can also make money.

“You have to be innovative, as there are different innovative ways of farming now.”

The first lady said there is a need for more female youths’ inclusion in the leadership of YOWICAN, noting that all the executives of the association introduced to her were men.

“I was wondering why all the executives introduced to me are all men; there are no women in the executive,” she added.

“When women are talking about gender parity, you should be a good example for us.

“There won’t be a better world without the women. They should be part of decision-making since they are the ones advocating.

“We have to start talking about who we are as a nation without throwing away our culture.”

On his part, Enwere Belusochukwu, national chairman of YOWICAN, solicited the support of the first lady to construct a national resource centre for the training of youths.

Belusochukwu said YOWICAN is willing to key into government programmes.

“I want to tell you authoritatively that all Christian youths in Nigeria are ever ready to align themselves with the vision of President Bola Tinubu,” he said.

“We will continue to pray and key ourselves into the policy of the government, as you can see today with the way the Dollar to Naira rate is going down. It means the policy is good.”