Nigerians youth were yesterday counselled not to allow the frustrations of the current system in the country to discourage them in their desire for a new Nigeria.
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola gave the advice yesterday in Lagos while addressing APC youths at the party’s Youth Summit held at MUSON Centre, Lagos.
He said it was important to crave for a new Nigeria, where the leaders will place more value on human lives.
He spoke on the topic, ‘A New Nigeria by New Nigerians’.
He said Nigerians deserve a country where security, good health delivery system, public accountability and probity, good educational system, power supply and good roads are guaranteed.
Fashola said: “Each one of us will have a unique idea of the type of Nigeria we want, because we are different in many ways, but I think that because of our reality all of us can agree on a framework that allows our expectations to be met.
“A new Nigeria is the one that is safe and secured. It is the one that children and their parents are not kidnapped. A new Nigeria is the one that is better governed, where government gives account of how its resources are managed.
“The Nigeria of our dream is the one where the people are more important than any other projects or services that government wants to execute. A new Nigeria should be a better governed Nigeria, we expect our government to account for our resources and the billions of dollars that go missing will stop, and public funds are no longer lost to boyfriends and girl friends.”
The governor, who said Nigeria’s foreign policy should be centred around Nigerians, added that it is wrong for Nigerians to be suffering while government is busy protecting others.
“We must love ourselves, offer service to the people that is when we will be respected outside.”
Touching on the effect of power outages in the country, Fashola said many manufacturing firms folded up while others simply left the country.
“When power supply could not be guaranteed, some of these companies were exposed to stiff competitions from the foreign ones. Like you have it, the imported goods from the foreign companies were cheaper and patronised by the people. The companies folded up because they could not meet up due to alternative power supply.”
“Government should show us just one state, where it has provided stable light to the people, not even Abuja the Federal Capital. If we can just see one state, where power is guaranteed, we will believe that government is providing electricity.
“In Lagos, we have made efforts to provide independent power supply which now powers most of the street lights, some public and private concerns. Like I said a new Nigeria of our dream is the one that can guarantee electricity supply to the people of this country”.
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