National youth leaders, under the Forum of National Youth Leaders of all Political Parties in Nigeria( FNYLPPN), has called on President Bola Tinubu to do more in addressing the nation’s economic challenges.
Onyebuchi Chukwu, Chairman, FNYLPP, in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, congratulated Nigeria on its 64th Independence Anniversary.
He said that the country had been through war and many other crises yet survived and would continue to thrive in unity.
Chukwu congratulated the nation’s heroes past, present heroes and future heroes.
He expressed confidence that the youths of Nigeria would do better than their predecessors.
“We appreciate our forerunners who fought for and achieved independence for us and the subsequent leaders who made sure that we remained independent and self-led.
“We are not where we want to be as a country but we are definitely not where we use to be and we are very confident that a better Nigeria is possible.
“However, we are aware of the crisis in the country and we are here to call on the president to do more.
“Dear President, we recognise and appreciate your efforts so far to help the country out of hardship especially among the young people; we are aware of all the programmes that you have put up to help the youths.
“We are also aware of the minimum wage increment; we appreciate the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses you introduced and the CNG-powered tricycles for the youths.
“All these and more are geared towards alleviating the hardship in the country especially among the youths; we thank you in all of them.’’
Chukwu said that FNYLPPN was worried that if much was not done and in time, the hardship could worsen the insecurity in the country.
He commended Nigeria youths for their patience with the government.
“We are also calling on the youths to continue in their calmness: we beg that you give the president more time hoping that he will do the needful in a no distant time.
“We are also aware of all the efforts of the youths of Nigeria to see that the country works including putting their lives in line to protest and draw the attention of government.
“We are not insensitive to the plight of the youths in this country but for the sake of Nigeria; we are begging our youths again to eschew protests especially now that there is too much anger in town knowing that violence is inevitable.’’
Chukwu said the group was aware of the call for protests on Oct. 1 and urged the youths to be cautious so as not to worsen the problems they were trying to solve.
He said if protest must be held, it had to be peaceful and reasonable as there was need to give the government more time and support to address the issues.
“We, therefore, call on governments in all levels from councillorship to the presidency to invest in the programmes that will help, empower and equip the youths.
“This is because we shall be shifting our attention to other tiers of government beyond the president; we are also calling on the youths to consider political offices while we call on our leaders to give Nigerian youths the chance to lead for a better Nigeria.
“As a forum, we are assuring any youth of this country who will be courageous enough to vie for any political office of our total support,’’ he said. (NAN)