By Adedayo Wale
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign
Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has blamed the increase in
illegal migration of African youths to Europe in spite of the high risk
involved on leadership failure in Africa.
She lamented that African youths have consistently seek hope in hopelessness by going through the
desert of Niger, Chad and Libya in their desperate quest to get to Europe,
adding that a large number of African youths who have embarked on such
dangerous journey never made their way
to Europe as most of them get drowned in the Mediterranean Sea.
Dabiri-Erewa stated this on Wednesday in Abuja at the maiden
edition of African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council Nigeria
(AU-ECOSOCC), with the theme: 'Harnessing Demographic Dividend Through
Investment in Youth’.
According to her, "What is the problem with the African
youths? Why are you not participating? Who is stopping you, why are you
allowing people that are not as intelligent as you, brilliant as you are to
take over your future? I think you should challenge yourselves. Nothing is
stopping you but yourself. You have young educated graduates drowning at the sea
trying to cross over from Africa to Europe."
She added that "I have come across graduates; these are
not poor people, these are people who have gone to school, and then you decide
that you can only get life by seeking hope in hopelessness by going through the
desert of Niger, Chad among others. Half of them die before they get to Libya
anyway, while some who get to Libya are even killed as a black immigrant all
because you want to get to Europe. This is a challenge and failure of
leadership in Africa.
"I was coming from Addis Ababa and I said I want a
situation where Europe will be migrating to Africa not Africa migrating to
Europe, but it calls into the question of leadership. We just have to get it
right all over Africa and that challenge goes back to the Nigerian youths also.
"We brought back a guy from Libya, he was locked up and about
to be killed by Gaddafi, and we also brought back 24 of them. As we mark the
day of the African youths, let's realise that our destiny is in our hands, and
in Nigeria in particular, you keep saying old people are ruling, if indeed you
make up more than half of the population, just carry the women along and the
women will follow you."
She expressed optimism that with this administration, the
country will get things right, noting
that it is going to be tough, it is going to be a long road but the country
will get there.
The former lawmaker said: "Don't just sit back
and say it is them, it is all of us together. This is the time to ensure we
save ourselves. We have a president whose integrity cannot be questioned, who
is fighting corruption; you need to support him. We have to support President
Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption, because corruption will destroy
our future, In fact it has destroyed a lot of things, let's save our country
now.”
Earlier, former Commissioner of Youth in Lagos State,
Mr. Michael Bamidele, lamented that the Nigerian system undermines youth creativity, energy and dynamism due to the myriads of
challenges like poverty, ignorance, manipulations and cultural hindrance.
He added that any government that attempts to
ignore the youths or fails to harness their potential and talents to impact
positively on the priorities of that governance is actually doing so at a very
grave cost-no matter how well-meaning or visionary such government might claim
to be.
Bamidele stated that "in Nigeria, no fewer than
60 million Nigerian youths are presently unemployed, roaming the streets and
battling with starvation, social neglect,
elite exploitation, extreme penury, stagnation and squalor of the highest
order."
He noted that these prevailing circumstances have
nonetheless crippled the potential of the Nigerian youth from maximum
expression, truncating their dreams and vision for a greater future.
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