A rights group, Rising-up for a United Nigeria (RUN), has appealed to 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, which has the theme “Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development.”
Adodo said Nigeria is endowed to be at par with developed countries.
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 called on the youth to work in concert with those entrusted with governing the country to actualise their goals.
Stressing that Nigerian youth must move from protests to productivity, Adodo referred to how the late Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew harnessed and galvanised the country’s youthful population to transform it from backwardness to one of the world’s developed economies.
While applauding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for implementing several intervention programmes targeted at empowering the youth, he expressed the readiness of his outfit to partner with other civil society organisations (CSOs) to prevail on ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to ensure that the youth 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 country’s affairs.
He lauded the various security agencies for their role 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 are required to galvanise the youth and ensure a better and more 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 the global practice of holding the government accountable.
He said Nigerians, including the youths, are at the receiving end of the high cost of living due to the removal of fuel subsidy, electricity tariffs and other levies, saying they cannot be blamed for expressing their grievances.
