• Says youths are Nigeria’s economic mainstay, not oil
• Gives Mountain Top varsity best graduating student N2m 

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has said that Nigeria’s huge population of youths and not oil are the nation’s economic mainstay.

He said that well-nourished and developed youths are capable of launching the nation into global reckoning.

Abiodun, who gave the assertion in a lecture he delivered at the fourth convocation ceremony of Mountain Top University, declared that Nigerian youths are knowledgeable and vibrant with indomitable spirit.

He said that though the nation is blessed with abundant oil, solid minerals and other natural resources, Nigeria’s wealth resides with the youths that are regarded as future leaders.

The governor, who spoke on “The Youths as Catalysts in Building Nigeria’s Future,” said: “Let me say without fear of contradiction that we have a lot to be proud of but our attitude to our youths is not part of it. A significant dimension of our leadership predicament in Nigeria is due largely to the disenfranchisement of Nigerian youths.

“I dare say that the statistical story of the Nigerian youth seems to have taken worse dive even with democracy. It is important for you, our youths, to have faith and believe and for those who desire to change the equation and advance the course of our youth in business and politics.

“But more than anything else, do not let someone else create your world for you. For when they do, they will always make it too small and it may not be the world you want for yourselves.”

Abiodun, therefore, charged the youths to channel their energies by exploring new frontiers in the different areas of human endeavours that would bring the desired development to all facets of the economy, as they are the “new oil of the nation.”

MEANWHILE, the governor at the event offered N2 million to the overall best-graduating student of the university, Amaechi Chinenyenwa, who graduated with the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.96 from the Department of Microbiology.

He identified non-encouraging attitude of the elders as one of the major reasons youths are not found occupying elective positions in the country. 

The governor urged the university and others to come up with a productive approach to produce youths that would sustain and increase the tempo of development and provide a solid foundation for the future.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented at the occasion, said the school had made tremendous contributions to manpower development in the country and had also set a standard in academic excellence in the country.

He charged the graduating students to engage in solving problems and not be job seekers, commending Ogun State government for its efforts at putting the education sector on a sound footing.

In his remarks, Founder of Mountain of Fire Miracle Ministries (MFM) and also the Chancellor of the university, Prof. Daniel Olukoya, tasked the graduating students on becoming relevant towards contributing their quota to the development of humans and the country at large.