The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, has urged Nigerian youths to stop waiting for government connections or perfect conditions and take advantage of available opportunities to build their future.
Olawande, who spoke in Abuja on Thursday at the launch of No More Future: Why Waiting Is Over, What to Build Instead, authored by Christopher Olusa, said Nigeria’s greatest asset was not its natural resources but its young people.
Represented by Dotun Omoleye, the minister said, “The era of waiting for the government to fix things before building, waiting for the right connections before starting, and waiting for permission to become what we already have the capacity to be is over.”
He said the government, through President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, had introduced programmes to equip youths with skills, capital and opportunities.
Olawande said seven million young Nigerians had been trained and five million jobs created, while 239,726 youths had been equipped with digital and practical skills through the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA).
He added that more than 1.2 million certificates had been issued to young Nigerians who had undergone training.
“Through NiYA StartUp, 200 young business owners have each received N1 million, while another 200 Nigerians in the informal sector received N500,000 grants each,” he said.
The minister said the government was also repositioning the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from a routine programme into a platform for skills acquisition, entrepreneurship and productive engagement.
Also speaking, the Chairman, House Committee on NELFUND, Rep. Ifeoluwa Ehindero (APC, Ondo), said the book challenged the mindset of waiting for government, jobs or opportunities.
“The future is not something we should merely wait for; it is something we must actively create,” he said.
The book reviewer, Prof. Jerry Ugokwe, said the book dismantled the idea of the future as something that would simply happen or be given to people.
Olusa said the book was inspired by research and personal and societal experiences.
He urged young Nigerians to reject the culture of waiting, saying, “The future is not something we just move into; it is something we have to build. If you don’t build it, do not expect it.”
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