The Serving Overseer of Citadel Global Community Church and Convener, Save Nigeria Group, Tunde Bakare, has urged Nigerian youths to channel their tremendous energy towards building the Nigeria of their dreams.
The clergyman said this in his address, The State of The Nigerian Youth, titled: “The Youth of a Nation Are the Trustees of Posterity,” on Sunday at the church auditorium.
Bakare stated that social media represents one of the channels the youths air their grievances and must not be obstructed.
He said: “I urge all our young leaders from across the length and breadth of our nation, North, South, East and West, to join hands with the progressive forces in our polity for a New Nigeria, the dream nation that it is your destiny and birthright to breathe to life.
“A Nigeria where the right to life is sacred and no one is brutalised or extrajudicially murdered; where no one goes to bed hungry and no child is left without access to quality education; where our homes, schools, streets, villages, highways and cities are safe and secure.
“Nigeria where our hospitals are life-saving institutions and every Nigerian has access to quality healthcare; where no youth is unemployed and our young men and women are job creators; where businesses thrive on innovation and made-in-Nigeria goods can compete anywhere, a Nigeria where homes and businesses have access to uninterrupted power supply, and ideas are facilitated by functional infrastructure and cutting-edge technology.
“A Nigeria where no part of our nation – North, South, East or West – has a reason to feel marginalised, and where every Nigerian is proud to say, ‘I am a Nigerian;’ a Nigeria that is a model for Africa and a beacon of hope to the world.
“I believe that now is the time to build this dream nation, and that one of the first steps towards this is the wholesale acknowledgement of every level of government that suffocating the spirit, creativity & liberty of Nigerian youth is both counterintuitive & counterproductive.”
Bakare also condemned the freezing of the bank accounts of #EndSARS campaigners, saying it sent a mixed signal of the government’s intentions.
“Targeting and arresting citizens on trumped-up charges, deploying court probes as a tool of intimidation, and generally eroding our fragile peace, are deeply worrisome signs of regression.
“To extend the olive branch to the youth in one breath, and to deprive the youth of the right to freedom of movement and property as enshrined in our constitution in another breath, will send confusing signals and cast doubts in their minds regarding the sincerity of the government.”
