JUST IN: Why I Called Nigerian Youths ‘Lazy’ – Buhari

Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has personally clarified on what he meant in his comment at Commonwealth forum in London two weeks ago.

Buhari had said a lot of Nigerian youths have not been to school and they want everything free, banking on the
notion that Nigerian is an oil-rich nation.

“More than 60 percent of the (Nigeria’s) 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”.

A lot of Nigerians came out on the president for using such statement on his people.

However, speaking during an interview with Voice of America on Tuesday, Buhari said most youth in the north
are uneducated or school dropouts, noting that his comment at the Commonwealth forum was taken out of
context.

“You know Nigeria’s population is now between 180 and 190 million and 60 per cent of this population is youth that is 30 years down ward,” he told VOA.

“You know in the north most youths are uneducated or school dropouts. If not because we had good harvests in the last two farming seasons, the situation would have deteriorated.

“These youths even if they travel out of the north for greener pasture they hardly make it economically because what they earn as income cannot afford them to meet their basic needs or return home.

Back lashing the Nigerian media, Buhari noted that journalists failed to include full details of his comments in their reports.

“All these explanations I made, they refused to highlight them in their report and you know the media in Nigeria in most cases only do what they like”, he ended.