A rights group, Rising-up for a United Nigeria (RUN) has appealed to the country’s youths to invest their energies in productive activities and avoid divisive tendencies.
RUN convener, Ambassador Solomon Adodo, gave the charge in Abuja when he addressed hundreds of youths to commemorate the 2024 International Youth Day with the theme: “Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development.”
Adodo said Nigeria is endowed to be at par with developed countries of the world.
He condemned the loss of lives and wanton destruction of properties running into billions of naira in the just-concluded nationwide protests against hunger and bad governance.
Adodo alled on the youths to work in concert with those entrusted with the governance of the country to actualise their goals.
Stressing that Nigerian youth must move from protests to productivity, Adodo referred to how the late Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew harnessed, galvanized its youthful population to transform the country from backwardness to one of the developed economies of the world.
While applauding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for putting in place several intervention programmes targeted at empowering the youths, he expressed the readiness of his outfit to partner with other civil societies organisations (CSOs) to prevail on ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to ensure that the youths are engaged in productive activities.
The RUN convener frowned at the destructive conduct of youths during the nationwide protests, he assured that the teeming population of youths in the country would resist the call for foreign interventions in the affairs of the country.
He lauded the various security agencies for the role they played in curtailing the protests.
A former president of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Ambassador Wale Ajani warned the youths to desist from any act that could lead to the disintegration of Nigeria.
He said regular communication and engagement is required to galvanize the youths in ensuring a better and prosperous Nigeria in the years ahead.
A former senior special assistant on student affairs and youths to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Comrade Jude Imagwe. noted that the nationwide protest was in tandem with global practice of holding government accountable.
He said Nigerians , including the youths are at the recieving end of the high cost of living as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy, electricity tariffs and other levies saying they cannot be blamed for expressing their grievances.
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