Buhari and the Commonwealth business forum

BY FOLAJIMI ADESANYA

President Muhammadu Buhari left Nigeria on April 9, 2018 and the official release from his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity stated that he was leaving to attend the Commonwealth Business Forum scheduled to hold in London from April 18 – 20, 2018, as well as to meet with certain personalities who would also be in attendance at the highly regarded business meeting. An excerpt from the press release states:

“President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja on Monday April 9, 2018 for an official visit to Britain where he is due to hold discussions on Nigeria-British relations with the Prime Minister, Mrs. Theresa May, prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings scheduled for 18th to 20th April, 2018.”

A question remains – Did President Buhari have to leave Nigeria so early, 9 days before an event he is to attend was scheduled to start? Is this just one of those classic examples of resource wastage in the Nigerian Government? Or, were the talks he was to have with the British Prime Minister really to last for nine (9) whole days? Let’s all ponder on these things having in mind that each day President Buhari spent in London cost Nigerian Tax Payers millions of naira.

During the forum, an incident occurred that every Nigerian youth will not quickly forget. President Muhammadu Buhari was asked a question relating to the Nigeria youths and the economy and he had this to say in return:

“About the economy, we have a very young population; our population is estimated conservatively to be 180 million. This is a very conservative one. More than 60% of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare and education free”

Looking at the afore-mentioned statements credited to Mr. President, my first impression would not be that of a President describing the contributions of the youth in his country to the economy in an international forum. Looking beyond the complete fallacy of the claim, it is simply not right on the basis of image cultivation and national promotion for the President of a nation to utter such words. This reminds of a similar situation in 2017 when Mr. President while making a comment next to the German Chancellor – Angela Merkel stated that his own wife was meant for his kitchen, and “The Other Room”. The look of shock on the poor woman’s face after hearing such derogatory statement from Mr. President still makes me sad till date. Mr. President has after three (3) years in office not come to realize that his words and actions go a long way in shaping the image of the country to the international community.

Now, let us place President Buhari’s statement under an x-ray and check its validity. There are many Nigerian youths who would beg to differ on the ‘lazy’ tag that has been placed on them. Let’s look at some examples of such leaders:

1. Adebola Williams – 32-year-old co-Founder of Red Media Africa and the brains behind the Image Branding of President Buhari towards the 2015 General Elections. Tagged by the Ghanian President Nana Akufo-Addo as “the man with the golden touch”, Adebola Williams, fondly called Debola Lagos has helped three (3) African Presidents get elected. His speech at the closing session of the Obama Foundation Summit on “Collective Power” earned him a standing ovation from the crowd including Former US President Barack Obama. He was recently selected for the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship 2018.
2. Chude Jideonwo – A 33-year-old co-founder of Red Media Africa and Joy, Inc. He is the author of the award-winning book: How to win Elections in Africa. He has been involved as a Media influencer in National Elections is Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Liberia. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his impact on the continent, some of which include: Yale World Fellow 2017, Business Day 40 Under 40 (2012), CNBC Young Business Leader of the Year and Under 30: Africa’s Best Young Entrepreneurs.
3. Japheth J. Omojuwa – A-33-year old blogger and columnist. His has columns on The Punch Newspaper, Leadership Newspaper and some of his work has been featured on CNN and other International News Platforms. His articles have also been translated into different languages, some of which include: German, French, Portuguese and Greek. Named in 2015 by Credit Suisse Bulletin as one of the 50 Movers and Shakers of Africa and in 2016, he was named Best Twitter Personality of the Year at the annual African Bloggers Awards sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
4. Kasope Ladipo-Ajai – A 29 year old entrepreneur who is the co-founder of OmoAlata – a Nigerian brand that packages local Nigerian peppers and spices. She was the winner of the 2015 She Leads Africa Pitch Competition and was named on the 2016 Forbes List of 30 Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa.
5. Olatorera Oniru – A 28 year old fashion designer and founder of Dressmeoutlet.com – a Nigerian online store of fashion products, health and beauty products. She is a fellow of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and was named on the 2016 Forbes List of 30 Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa.

Above are Nigerian youths, all under-35s who have navigated their way through the tough waters of the Nigerian economy and made a name for themselves in the local and international community. I could go on all day with more examples, however, to the end of stating empathically to Mr. President that Nigerian youths are in no way lazy, nor do we deserve to be labeled as such. My generation has to live everyday of our lives paying for the mistakes of our elders and so far we have done well for ourselves. What we need at the moment is some encouragement from our government and not to be chastised in such a way and on such an important platform. Like a popular adage in Yoruba says: If you can’t solve my problem; don’t add to it, just leave me as you met me.