They can’t give you erratic power supply and say you are lazy, Tinubu tells youths

Young Nigerians cannot be blamed for being “lazy” with erratic electricity supply in the country, a presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had been criticised after he said some Nigerian youths were lazy because they were only hustling to get on the gravy train.

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“More than 60 per cent of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil-producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare, education free,” Buhari had said during a panel appearance with world leaders at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London.

The president’s comment sparked massive online protest, which led to the creation of the hashtag ‘#LazyNigerianYouths’ to counter the president.

Speaking on Saturday at a rally of South West youths of the ruling party, Tinubu said no nation can witness “rapid development” without electricity, adding that the country cannot continue to give “excuses” for failure to generate a stable power supply.

He said the country is blessed with enough gas that can be used to generate electricity and even export to European countries.

Tinubu said: “We cannot continue with excuses on NEPA failure. No! No nation can make rapid development without electricity.

“Give us that, and if we cannot be successful, you can abuse us. You cannot give us erratic electricity that is undependable and then blame us again that we are lazy. No!

“Nigeria — it is about time. We have enough gas to fire up our electricity. We can supply the rest of Europe with gas, and we can make money from it.”