On Thursday, April 19, 2018, during his first major foreign business trip, President Muhammadu Buhari called Nigerian youths “lazy” at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London.
Contrast this with President Bola Tinubu’s glowing tribute to Nigeria’s youth on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, at the ongoing 2024 G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He praised Nigeria’s youth as “very vibrant” and sought support for his plan to feed all Nigerian public schoolchildren at least one meal a day while they enjoy free education.
Just look at the contrast. Buhari told the Telegraph of London that Nigeria’s youth are “in prisons all over the world accused of drug trafficking or human trafficking.” Compare this with Tinubu, who told the G20 that Nigeria’s youth are ‘creative and vibrant’.
President Buhari’s disdain for Nigeria’s youth was legendary, and that was why there was not a single youth in his cabinet.
Please fact-check me: The average age of General Buhari’s ministers was 61 years. If you are interested, you can see the age breakdown of the Buhari cabinet here provisiodigital.com/age-analysis-o…
The youngest person in Buhari’s cabinet was then 44-year-old Sadiya Umar Faruk.
Contrast that with the Tinubu cabinet, which started out with six young persons in their thirties and early forties and an average age of 52, almost a decade younger than the average age of Buhari’s ministers.
This shows Nigeria’s youth that they finally have a President who will fight for them, rather than one who will fight against them. In Tinubu, Nigeria’s youth have a President who understands them. In contrast, with Buhari, they had a President who stands them under.
That is why one of President Tinubu’s first major policies on assumption of office was to provide student loans to help Nigerian youths go to school, whereas Buhari’s first significant policy after his election was to shut down the Almajiri school program of the previous administration to stop Nigerian children from going to school.
It is said that nations grow when elders plant trees whose shade they know they will not enjoy. In Tinubu, Nigeria’s youth have such a leader.
The days of condemnation of our youths are over. Now, we have entered the era of commendation of the young people of Nigeria.
May God bless Nigeria.
Reno Omokri
