Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has urged youths of the #EndSARS generation not to allow frustration becloud their hope in realising the Nigeria of their dream.
The governor said though the country was passing through many challenges at the moment, youths should not “give up and pick that visa and go to Canada” because Canada has a “glass ceiling”.
Fayemi spoke on Saturday at the 2021 edition of The Platform, an annual conference organised by the Senior Pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos, Poju Oyemade.
He said though he won’t “discourage anyone who wants to leave this country in search of greener pastures, education, health care and what have you” because he once “lived outside this country for 15 years” to study and work. The ex-senator, however, urged youths to stay in the country and organise for political control rather than agonise or resort to violence.
Fayemi said, “What I am saying in essence is that we have a duty of mentorship to younger people to say to them that sometimes, you don’t always get what you push for but that not necessarily mean that is the end of the road, you keep knocking on the door, banging it and inevitably, it will open. How long it will open for will depend on your capacity to organise.
“At the risk of sounding immodest, that’s what got some of us into politics. We believe that another Nigeria is possible, a better Nigeria is possible and we should not stand by the sidelines in pushing for that Nigeria of our dreams, we are not there yet but that does not mean we will give up.”
Addressing the youths gathered at the venue of the event at The Covenant Place, beside the National Art Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos, Fayemi said, “Don’t succumb to despondency, there is a lot to hail in this country. There is a lot to frustrate you, a lot to want to make you give up and pick that visa and go to Canada. I know it is a popular destination – Canada — but you know what? There is also a glass ceiling in Canada. When you get to the top of it, you will now discover there is a glass ceiling there. This (Nigeria) is the place where there is no glass ceiling, let us work towards making it a better place.”
Canada, one of the top destinations of Nigerians, has witnessed an upsurge of global immigrants of late including Nigerians in their 20s and 30s who relocated after the #EndSARS protests last October.
The Canadian Government had also said it targets receiving 1.2 million immigrants from 2021 to 2023 in order to make up for a shortfall caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Kayode Oyero,
The Punch