Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday
said Nigeria’s population and natural resources have put the country in a
difficult situation among comity of nations.
Buhari said this while receiving
members of the National Planning and Implementation Committee of the
first National Youth Open Water Swimming Competition, tagged Youth Unity
Cup 2016 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The delegation was led by the Chairman of Senate Committee on Works, Senator Kabir Gaya.
The President said the nation was in a tight situation where everybody expects it to do well.
He attributed the huge expectation from Nigeria to its quality human and material resources.
He said Nigerians, especially the
youth, should therefore be up and doing in order to show the world that
the country’s population was not for nothing.
The President said, “Our size as
Nigeria, our natural resources and our population have put us in a very
difficult position, not only in Africa but throughout the world.
“Everybody expects Nigeria to perform
because of our quality human and material resources. So this is putting a
lot of responsibilities on us, especially the youth.
“We just have to be up and doing in
order to show Africa and the rest of the world that our size and number
are not for nothing. We should prove that we can produce competitive
individuals and we are able to manage ourselves.
“I am pleased to be associated with
this event. I have been told how you have been training very hard.
Please, try to convince your colleagues to be more competitive so that
you can justify our size and our resources.
In his remarks, Gaya described the
competition as “an exceptional initiative that will mark a massive
turnaround in sporting development of Nigeria.”
He commended Buhari for what he called his “deep concern” in building a better Nigeria for the youth.
The federal lawmaker acknowledged the “myriads of developmental strides” the present administration has achieved.
He listed them to include commitment to
the anti-graft campaign; the multi-billion naira youth empowerment
fund; N-Power Youth Entrepreneurship Development and Empowerment
Programme for over 500,000 youths; market women empowerment; as well as
massive boost and investment in agricultural development and rice
cultivation.
Gaya listed the objectives of the
competition to include raising a pool of responsive young Nigerian
swimmers; discovering hidden talents and breeding future stars and
professionals to represent Nigeria in international swimming
competitions; as well as to promote cohesion, national peace, unity and
security among youths.
Comments
Post a Comment