Maku urges youth volunteers to support Transformation Agenda sustenance

(Information Minister’s Press Crew) – The Information Minister in Nigeria, Labaran Maku has called on youth volunteers in the country to give their support to the sustenance of the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
 
He made the call in Abuja when he received a coalition of youth organisations under the auspices of the Concerned Youth Forum, who are campaigning for the continuation of President Jonathan beyond 2015.
 
Labaran Maku expressed the delight of government to the volunteers for using their widow’s mite to support good governance and the course of development for the socio-economic well-being of Nigerians. He charged them to draw inspiration from the political campaigns of President Obama in the United States where scores of volunteers rose in support of what they believed was good for their country.
 
He iterated that with Nigeria’s emergent democracy, Government is expectant of organizations not inclined to governance, controlled by government and who are not in the pockets of anyone or unions, but made up of volunteers and people ready to work freely for democracy.  Adding, they should be citizens who are interested in the development of the country, the unity of Nigeria and want to make a mark for the country.
 
According to the Minister, President Jonathan has shown the capacity, commitment and vision to transform Nigeria into a modern economy, therefore there is need for volunteer-ships to spring up and to network through the Social Media towards promoting development. He indicated that through the creative policies of the present administration in critical sectors of the economy, Nigeria has changed from a net importer of cement to an exporter, thereby creating millions of direct and indirect jobs.
 
 “For a long time, it was as if the agricultural sector would no longer work.  Peasants were abandoned, whilst leaders who reside in Abuja awarded billions of contracts for fertilizers that were never delivered or whereas were mixed with sand for some people to make fraudulent money.  President Jonathan has now brought a new Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi  Adesina with the directive to change the situation in the agriculture sector. His resolve was based on the fact that a majority of Nigerians still rely on farm work and are the source of food for the rest of Nigerians. He introduced a new transformation system to agriculture which is presently ongoing,” he pointed.
 
“If you go to Kebbi as I am talking to you now, you will see hundreds of thousands of youths farming across ten local governments in the dry season; the same thing in Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kano.” 
 
Maku observed that the story has changed for the better in the transport sector with the revival of the railways and remodeling of airports as well as road construction with over 32 roads completed. He added that the economy is growing at seven percent per annum compared to two percent, zero percent and sometimes depression previously. “The story is changing,   Nigeria is changing rapidly and the economy is working under President Jonathan. We are creating approximately 1.6 million jobs annually from the reports of the National Bureau of Statistics,” the Minister disclosed. 
 
He inferred that the performance spans different angles – sports, road construction, railways and education which has a record of one hundred and twenty Almajiri schools built in two years for Almajiri children who have been roaming the streets of Northern cities. He further explained that in Nasarawa State right from 1960, the Almajiris, who are the young children that would be developing this country in the future, roam and walk about the streets without schools.
 
He recalled President Jonathan as saying that though he is from Bayelsa State in the South-South, all that matters to him is for young Nigerians to go to school. His concern was for   every child to be developed and that is what he is doing. The Minister opined that the President has built schools all over the North so as to remove those children from the streets into Quran education and western education and for them to become engineers as well as pilots while effectively practicing Islam.”
 
The Information Minister charged the youths to be the vanguard of peace and to promote the unity of Nigeria so as to effectively guarantee their future and the nation’s posterity.  Maku equally dismissed claims of the political opposition that President Jonathan’s government is not performing, stressing that it is evident to all Nigerians that the President has returned the country to the path of sustainable economic growth and development.
 
Speaking earlier, the leader of the youth groups, Jonathan Lamawal said that they have identified with the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan because of the remarkable achievements being recorded in the economy. He promised that the youths would oppose any attempt to disrupt the development process currently happening in the country and warned against politicians who publicise their gains of disunity and violence because of their personal political ambitions.