President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said that he was yet to complete his house in his hometown Otuoke in Bayelsa State.
According to him, he might give out the house before he passes on, if he discovers that his children may not be willing to relocate to the village.
Mr. President said this in Lagos at a fund raising ceremony for St. Stephens Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre, Otuoke.
His words, “We are all mortal beings, we are all biological specimen so we will all die but when we die, what will we be remembered for, what will we leave behind?
“I use to tell people that even the house I am struggling to build in the village, these days in this global age, how am I sure that my children will even stay in my root. They want to go to West Indies, they want to go to Latin America.
“So, I was even joking with people that if I look at the behaviour of my children and if I don’t see any of them that will patronise the village, I will donate my house before I die.”
He called on the need for prominent Nigerians to make meaningful contributions to the progress of poor communities in the nation for the betterment of lives of the youth and empower them to make useful contributions towards national development.
Jonathan noted that project for the St. Stephens Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre was very important to him because he wanted to make sure that the youth go through a better system of education different from the one he experienced while growing up.
He voiced his conviction thus, “I feel the only thing I can do is to make sure that from nursery school to primary and secondary school, there should be a standard educational facility and youth programme, so that it gives opportunity for the younger ones to grow. Even if we die in the next 100 years, people will remember that those before them have something for them,” he said.
Those at the occasion were Chairman of Visafone, Jim Ovia; Chairman Capital oil, Chief Ifeanyi Uba; Chairman of A-Z Oil, Chika Okafor, Chairman Arik Air, Joseph Arumemi–Ikhide, Oba Otudeko and Tony Elumelu.
Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Tunde Lemo, ministers, senators, members of the House of Representatives and prominent indigenes of Otuoke also graced the occasion.
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