Former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan yesterday defended his
\nadministration\u2019s Transformation Agenda stressing that it was designed
\nto engage the latent potential in the entire nation, as well as
\nstimulate and enable higher productivity.<\/p>\n
Jonathan who stated this yesterday in a lecture at the Oxford Union of
\nthe Oxford University in the United Kingdom, also said that while
\nserving as President of Nigeria, he worked for the next generation and
\nnot for the next elections, as a means of ensuring that Nigerian
\nchildren had a promising future.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhile serving as President of Nigeria, I worked for the next
\ngeneration and not for the next elections. Somebody must sacrifice and
\nwork for the next generation otherwise your children’s children will
\nsuffer the same predicaments as you have.<\/p>\n
Jonathan who was speaking to students of Oxford University on youth
\nentrepreneurship, further pointed out that quality education and youth
\nempowerment were at the heart of Africa\u2019s growth and development.<\/p>\n
He said further: \u201cI am excited to be in the midst of some of the
\nWorld’s future leaders to discuss issues relating to youth empowerment
\nand entrepreneurship. The issue of youth entrepreneurship in Africa is
\nvery critical, as Africa is the only continent in which we will
\nwitness a population boom. Most violent crises in Africa can be traced
\nto a lack of education and opportunities among its teeming youth
\npopulation. Studies have revealed that there is a symbiotic
\nrelationship between youth unemployment and youth restiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a leader, you can decide through your policies to educate the
\nyouths, or face the consequences of failing to do so. The
\nTransformation Agenda was conceived to engage the latent potential in
\nthe entire nation, and to stimulate and enable higher productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former President emphasised that his Administration came up with
\nvarious programmes to encourage young entrepreneurs including the
\nyouth enterprise with innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN). We reformed the
\ninstitutions and introduced various mechanisms to stop the problems
\nassociated with in our country without much publicity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe may not have been perfect, but we did our best, and our best
\nyielded an era of unprecedented economic growth for Nigeria. A growth
\nthat proved the truism that a Nation’s wealth is not underneath the
\nground but between the ears of her people. Nigeria was rated as the
\nlargest economy in Africa and the 23rd in the world by the World Bank
\nand the IMF, with a GDP above US$570 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stated further: \u201cWe identified Nollywood as a sector that can
\nemploy many young people and provided a grant of $200 million to boost
\nthe industry. As a result, Nollywood became a major contributor to our
\nGDP and in 2014, the industry contributed 1.4% to our GDP.<\/p>\n
Jonathan also recalled that as Governor of Bayelsa State and later the
\nPresident of Nigeria, he asked himself some critical questions:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do individuals that grow up in similar circumstances end up
\ndifferently, with some as successes and others as failures? Why are
\nsome nations rich and some poor? Is the wealth of nations a result of
\ngeography, weather, culture, destiny? What could a leader do to
\neffectively lift a people out of the depths of poverty, and enable
\nthem to achieve prosperity?<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter much soul searching, I concluded that: wealth is a creation of
\nthe human mind properly prepared by education. Any nation that does
\nnot spend its wealth and resources to develop the capacity of its
\nyouth will be forced to use them to fight insecurity\u201d<\/p>\n
He challenged \u201ccontemporary African leaders to see youth
\nentrepreneurship as a collective project transcending national
\nboundaries, adding that \u201cdespite incredible challenges, Nigerian
\nyouths are achieving great things and placing Nigeria positively in
\nthe world map. They inspire us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ikechukwu Eze<\/p>\n
Media Adviser to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan yesterday defended his administration\u2019s Transformation Agenda stressing that it was designed to engage the latent potential in the entire nation, as well as stimulate and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n