Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
Abike Dabiri-Erewa,Senior Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, has blamed the desperate quest of African youth to get into Europe in search of greener pasture in spite of the high risk involved on failure of leadership in Africa.
Dabiri-Erewa stated this in Abuja at the maiden edition of African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council Nigeria (AU-ECOSOCC), with the theme; ‘Harnessing Demographic Dividend Through Investment in Youth. ‘
She stated: “what is the problem with the African youths? Why are you not participating? Who is stopping you, why are you allowing people that are not as intelligent as you, brilliant as you to take over your future, I think you should challenge yourselves. Nothing is stopping you but yourself. You have young educated graduates drowning at sea trying to cross over from Africa to Europe.”
“I have come across graduates, these are not poor people, these are people who have gone to school and then you decide that you can only get life by seeking hope in hopelessness by going through the desert, Niger, Chad. Half of them die before they get to Lybia anyway, some get to Lybia many times even killed as a black immigrant all because you want to get to Europe and then you find that one is a challenge and failure of leadership in Africa,” she added.
The presidential aide said that with this administration, the country will get things right, noting that it is going to be tough, it is going to be a long road but the country will get there.
Dabiri-Erewa said: “Don’t just sit back and say it is them, it is all of us together. This is the time to ensure we save ourself from ourselves, I will say that we have a President whose integrity cannot be questioned, who is fighting corruption, you need to support him. We have have to support President Buhari’s fight against corruption, corruption will destroy our future, Infact it has destroyed a lot off things, let’s save our country now.
“There is no compassion in governance anymore. If there is compassion you will know that that pension money is not meant to be stolen anymore, but why are people stealing anyhow because there are no sanctions, there is so much corruption, not because Nigerians are poor, not because Nigerians are greedy but because there are no sanctions. Now, we have a president that says there must be sanctions, it is going to take a while because the justice system is slow but we have to support him to ensure that those who stole your money go to jail,” she stressed.
Earlier, Michael Bamidele , a fomer Commissioner of Youth in Lagos state, lamented that the Nigerian system undermines youth creativity, energy and dynamism, due to the myraids of challenges like poverty, ignorance, manipulations, and cultural hindrance.
He added that any government that attempts to ignore the youth or fails to harness their potentials and talents to impact positively on the priorities of that governance is actually doing so at a very grave cost, no matter how well-meaning or visionary such government might claim to be.
Bamidele stated that, “in Nigeria, not fewer that 60 million Nigerian youth are presently unemployed, roaming about the streets and battling with startvation, social neglect, elite exploitation, extreme penury, stagnation and squalor of the highest order. ”
