The Minister for Youth Development, Mr Ayodele Olawande, has urged youths in the country to take advantage of government policies and programmes to build a desirable future for the country.
Olawande made the call on Thursday at the inauguration of a book titled “No More Future: Why Waiting Is Over, What to Build Instead,” authored by a young Nigerian, Mr Christopher Olusa, at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
He said that the era of waiting for the government to fix things before building, waiting for the right connections before starting, and waiting for permission to become what we already have the capacity to be is over.
Represented by Mr Dotun Omoleye, the minister said that Nigeria’s greatest asset is not what lies beneath its soil, but what lies within young people.
He said that through the Renewed Hope Agenda, President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA) to equip youths with relevant skills.
The minister said that Nigeria does not lack potential, but sometimes lacks the collective courage among young people to stop waiting and start building.
According to him, the book is a call for that courage; the government’s investment in young people is a call to that courage, and I believe that this generation is finally ready to answer it
The minister said that seven million young Nigerians had been trained, and five million new jobs had been created.
According to him, as of this month, 239,726 young Nigerians have already been equipped with digital and practical skills through NiYA, and that over 1.2 million certificates had been issued to young people showing up to build.
“Through NiYA StartUp, 200 young business owners have each received one million naira, and a further 200 young Nigerians working in the informal sector have received N500,000 grant each.
“Just this month, we are pairing 20 early-stage entrepreneurs with intensive investment-readiness training, mentorship, and non-dilutive funding of up to five million naira each.
“Government is repositioning NYSC from a routine rite of passage into a genuine platform for skills acquisition, entrepreneurship, and productive engagement after service.
“To young people in this room, and to the many more who will read this book: the Renewed Hope Agenda has opened a door that did not exist for the generation before you.
“What you do with that open door is the story that has not yet been written. Christopher has given you a framework. The Ministry of Youth Development will continue to give you platforms, capital, and training but the actual building of your future remains yours to do,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman, House Committee on NELFUND, Rep. Ifeoluwa Ehindero (APC-Ondo), said that the title of the book challenges the mindset of waiting that has held many people back.
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The lawmaker said that rather than waiting, young Nigerians should deliberately build the future they wish to have.
“The remain that the book is a powerful call to action; it reminds us that the future is not something we should merely wait for; the future is something we must actively create.
“For too long, many young people have been encouraged to wait for government, for opportunities, for employment, for someone to discover them, or for circumstances to become perfect.
“The reality is that nations are transformed when their citizens move from expectation to action, from dependency to enterprise, and from complaining about the future to building it,” he said.
Prof. Jerry Ugokwe, the reviewer of the book, said that many had treated the future as a destination or as something that will happen or be given.
He said that the book has destroyed that illusion that presents the future as something one waits for, rather than something to build.
According to him, we live in a generation of extraordinary contraception as this generation has more access to information but still struggles with direction.
“One of the most compelling strengths of this book is its intellectual honesty. It does not romanticise the Nigerian condition, nor does it weaponise victimhood. Instead, it balances realism with responsibility.
“The systemic issues are acknowledged, educational gaps, economic volatility, institutional delays but the reader is not allowed to hide behind them.
“The message is clear: you may not control the system, but you are responsible for your response to it,” he said.
Addressing newsmen, the author of the book said that the book is a product of research, collecting personal and societal experiences.
Olusa said that young people had been taught to wait, and the societal structure ensures young people are kept waiting for a bright future.
“We are expect while waiting and what happens after that is disappointment; so this put together to help young people, instead of waiting, they can start and build.
“Life is a process; if we sit down and expect something we did not work for, we will get disappointed at the end of the day.
“My charge to young people is that they should build. This book challenges the culture of waiting; the future is not something we just move into. It is something we have to build; if you don’t build it, do not expect it,” he said.
Olusa said that the book is available on all book sales platforms, urging all young Nigerians to get a copy and read.