After President Buhari described the Nigerian youths, in his speech at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster, as “wanting to sit down and do nothing“, thereby sparking #LazyNigerianYouths, the Nigerian youths would not let such a derogatory description sit on them. Therefore, they took to social media to fire back at their president. It seems Buhari has made a great mistake because most of the youths have vowed not to vote for him, should he contest in the next presidential election.
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Nigerian leaders sleeping during meetings
In his speech, Buhari said “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 percent 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, education free.”
The pictures on this page are some of the ones that were uploaded by the Nigerian youths on social media to show how the Nigerian senate members, members of house of assembly, and other governmental officials fell asleep during official meetings. Some of them also uploaded photos which show how the Nigerian youths are struggling to survive. Some of the youths even need to hawk on the streets to make ends meet.
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Street hawkers in Nigeria
Most international news media have condemned Nigerian President in the past for not doing enough as the President. For instance, New York Times wrote that “Nigeria’s 75-year-old president, who spent almost four months out of the country last year while getting medical treatment, says he will run for a second term. Despite calls to step aside and concerns about mysterious health problems, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria on Monday declared his intention to seek re-election next year, ending months of speculation.”
BBC wrote that “His first term has been beset by poor health, which saw him spend months in the UK last year receiving treatment. Mr Buhari was on “medical leave” in the UK for three months early last year. He revealed after his return to Nigeria that “I have never been so sick”, but did not disclose what he was suffering from.”
SEE: More Nigeria news in Nigeria News Archive as well as in Nigeria News In Brief.
Reuters reports that “Buhari took office in May 2015 after vowing to improve security and crackdown on endemic corruption, but Africa’s top oil producer fell into its first recession in 25 years in 2016, largely caused by low crude prices and militant attacks in the Niger Delta, and its recovery remains fragile.”