Immediate past Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has urged leaders across all sectors to focus on developing policies, programmes and strategies that will harness the energy and creativity of Nigerian youths as a way of getting the country to regain lost grounds.
Saraki said though the country could not have been said to have fulfilled all the dreams of her founding fathers to build a united, prosperous and secure country that would occupy a leading position in the comity of nations, it is unnecessary to start dwelling on the past but to immediately plan for the future which he said belongs to the youths.
He added that the present challenge for leaders who are interested in rebuilding Nigeria is to ensure that the youths who constitute over 50 percent of the population are gainfully engaged and their energy channeled to producing goods and services that can help rebuild the national economy.
“If we establish the foundation for a future in which our youths can drive Nigeria forward, we definitely will have a strong chance of rebuilding our country. Then, we can perhaps at long last realize the dreams of our founding fathers. The issues of security, underdevelopment, lack of unity and the negative forces which propel the recent surging demand for the disintegration of our country cannot be defeated If we fail to advance the right capacity building and utilization policies and programmes for Nigeria’s youths. We have no option than to turn a new page in our history and start listening to our young people and engaging with them.”