The Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has called for continued investment in education, hands works, production and love for the country.
He spoke at City Hall in Onikan, Lagos on Thursday, during the Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF) Gabfest 2018 to celebrate his 55th birthday. The theme was: “The youth in Nigeria: Mapping the future”.
Fashola’s call were part of the resolutions he made for youths in Nigeria to map the future.
He said there should be continued investment in education, adding that is what would secure the future of the youths and the nation at large.
“We should also not let down our local language; we should try and explain things we know to our children in our local language, because the understanding is deeper when the teaching is in the local dialect.”
Fashola also called for children to be taught how to use their hands, saying this would make them to become producers.
“Often times, we are in a hurry to get our children memorize things without understanding and this makes them to only know how to take orders.
Children should be originated to solve problems. We need to change our curriculum; classes should be dedicated to solve problems so that we will build a generation of problem solvers.”
“We must not speak evil against our father land, which is our country Nigeria. If you love something, you will overlook the negative sides and focus on the strength. A lot of us have identified the problems we have as a nation, but how many of us have brought up the solution.”
He urged Nigerians to spend more time on production and hard work, saying all should use made in Nigeria things. “We want Nigerians to produce opportunities and food among other things. It does not start and end with government alone; we all have a part to play,” he said.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), The Chair Centre Group, Ibukun Awosika, said there is need to create a right environment, noting that it starts from harmonizing the education system.
Awosika who was the keynote speaker said; “The future of the adults is not secured if we cannot secure the future of the youths. If we do not build the right generation of youths now in the country, they will be the one to destroy the country in the future.
“We need to give the youths the knowledge that will be relevant now and in years to come. Graduates must have the skills that are needed in the work place. We need to review the knowledge we are passing in the institution, to know if the knowledge is relevant to the needs of the present day.
According to her, “If we do not make the country stable by creating an enabling environment for the young ones to strive, and create jobs for themselves, the country would be at risk.
“To map the future for our youth’s means that we must create an environment that empowers and allows people to create jobs for themselves. Nigerian youths need to retrain the youth’s people for new generation jobs,” she said.