Every day, facts and figures emerge that show that this administration is one bereft of governance ideas and epitomizes ineptitude in a grandiose scale.

Yesterday, the National Bureau of Statistics released some troubling figures reflecting unemployment and economic engagement in Nigeria.

An impassioned X-ray of this data reveals that Nigeria is in a despondent state.

NBS report shows that 4.07 million Nigerians joined the unemployed pool in the third quarter of 2017; making the total number of unemployed Nigerians to stand at 15.99 million.

It is therefore pathetic and sad that the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the President Muhammadu Buhari led Administration decided to run to town in gleeful ululation of misplaced joy at the report that 77.55 million Nigerians were working out of an active workforce population of 85.08 million.

The APC in their inebriated ecstasy forgot to comprehend the irony in the fact that out of 77.55 million Nigerians engaged in economic activities, 18.02 million were underemployed while 51.32 million were self-employed in farming activities (29.66 million) and non-farming activities (21.66 million).

It is instructive to note that this category of Nigerians gets no direct or secondary support from this government.

What this means is that Nigerians being resilient people, irrespective of the anachronistic economic policies of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, are relying on self-help to create some sort of employment for themselves even though the harsh economic situation in the country is in its most unfavorable point.

From the report, we can glean that most Nigerians are resorting to subsistence farming as a way out of the debilitating hunger and poverty creeping all over Nigeria like clinging ivies.

Now the question is if hunger is not being used as a weapon by this APC government, why isn't President Buhari taking proactive security measures to curb the menace of killer herdsmen slaughtering innocent Nigerian farmers and destroying their farms?

If President Buhari can't create jobs; ensure the security of lives and properties, or effectively fight corruption without shrouding it in favoritism, cronyism, and nepotism, what then is he still doing as the President of Nigeria?

I want Nigerians, particularly the youths, to know that they are the bosses and the buck stops at their PVC. It is therefore imperative that every Nigerian get their PVC and show President Buhari that we own Nigeria not him. With our PVC, we the electorate can hire and fire after every four years.

As you go about getting your PVC, remember that it wasn't this bad under the PDP.

Signed

Rt. Hon SKE Udeh Okoye
National Youth Leader (PDP)

BlackMbakara1:
Let's assume Buhari is the cause of every and PDP is here to salvage the situation...

Please what will they do differently now when they were borrowing to pay ordinary salaries during GEJ's government and owing contractors they couldn't pay...

They negotiated with ASUU but lack balls to pay and kept the bills for PMB to offset abi na APC do the negotiation den?

They are so fast to type without telling Nigeria how much accrued from oil sales during GEJ's tenure and why the FX was fixed instead of allowing market forces to determine the price.

Why won't there be jobs when ordinary civil servant that earns less than 150k flies a private jet, buy choice houses, cars etc

Why won't there be jobs in the bank when our monies were been stashed there with different maid's names and claims they were gifts from friends and well wishers?

Why won't there be jobs for private jet owners and pilots when south African withheld the acclaimed "arms money"?

Why won't there be jobs when some politicians were collecting "prayer" money on behalf...

Atleast if you want to criticize, do it with facts and don't be vague. Tell us how much Nigeria earned during PDP 16 years, what was the achievement, how much was spent and how much was left for APC or Buhari which he has squander.

So according to your wisdom, only corrupt nations create job? This means all advanced nations that create jobs for their citizens are corrupt? Hmm... No wonder you support APC and Buhari.

The youths of Nigeria are worst hit by the archaic economic policies of the APC led government of President Muhammadu Buhari which has resulted in job loss, fuel scarcity, plus an increase in human mortality. Today, the youths of our country walk about with despair and hopelessness on their faces as they go through a period of hardship unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.

For 50 days now, the availability of gasoline has become a mirage as fuel scarcity becomes unending and pervading due to the lack of leadership ideas and political will to proffer a lasting solution which has made Nigerian youths to now buy gasoline at a black market price of N220 per litre at the filling station pumps.

The whole scenario becomes more worrisome taking into cognizance the fact that during the preparation of the 7.298 trillion Naira 2017 budget, crude oil price benchmark was projected and pegged at $42.5 USD per barrel but today, it sells at $71 USD per barrel. This means that this government earns an extra $28.5 USD above budgetary estimate for every barrel of crude oil sold by Nigeria.

Now, the question is, why is this government finding it difficult to utilize the extra funds to strengthen the Nigerian economy and better the economic situation of our youths who are losing jobs in droves daily? According to the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS), 4.07 million Nigerian youth lost their jobs in the third quarter of 2017, making the total figure of unemployed Nigerian youths to hit a record high of 15.99 million.

Inflation has also climbed up in Nigeria, hitting another record high of 18.55% as of last year. All these saddening figures point to one reality: That being a youth in Nigeria with President Buhari at the helms of the presidency is painful, terrible, and difficult.

Resilient Nigerian youngsters that struggled to create economic engagements are losing it all because they can’t get fuel; can’t lay hold of foreign exchange, and electric supply is terribly epileptic.

Due to this government’s poor economic policies, the fuel situation is now so terrible that PMS (gasoline) is sold at N220 per litre at the pumps with unending long queues being the order of the day. A visit to the few filling stations dispensing fuel will present you with a sad picture of group of able-bodied Nigerian youths wasting away productive hours in long queues at filling stations.

We can’t continue like this. The youths of Nigeria must reclaim their destiny by getting their PVC and voting out President Muhammadu Buhari and his APC. We just can't continue to watch helplessly while young, intelligent, and productive Nigerian youths lose their lives every day in the hands of unknown killer herdsmen while our president is busy doing nothing and travelling around the world. Nigerian youths did not commit any crime in voting him in but since he has abandoned his duties and have rejected us, we will also reject him at the poll with our PVC. Voting President Buhari out in 2019 is now a task equivalent to a patriotic national duty.

*Rt. Hon. SKE Udeh Okoye*
National Youth Leader (PDP)

BERNIMOORE:
They are releasing book haram in batches, without triail. I sensed this thread should would not be encouraged to grow on Nairaland, just watcj

By paying ransom to Boko Haram, this APC-led FG is inadvently supplying BH with needed fund

dudebuck:
buhari never start dealing with you people, now na morning, by the time his second tenure goes into its sixth month, una go chop sand. You know that second tenures are the usually the time the government in power performs the worst.

God forbids that he gets second term

In approximately two and a half year, Nigeria has been unfortunate to be saddled with a regime that is totally bereft of positive ideas, and one that seems to be at war with the youths.

Interestingly, this same clueless regime, tirelessly mouths rhetoric of change, progress, and zero tolerance for corruption, yet we are all witness to the tragedy of election that happened in Kano during the council poll.

As the barometer of the Nigerian society, for that is what we are as youths, we must hold INEC to the spotlight, and demand impartiality from it because as an independent election umpire, INEC is not meant to be biased or partisan.

It is for this reason that INEC must explain how come teenagers had PVCs in Kano and their names were in INEC's voters registration list.

Making the lame defense that it was a council poll, organized by the State's election commission, is moot when one take into cognizance that, the PVCs used by these kids, and the voters registration list, are all properties of INEC.

It is a shame that under this APC-led administration of President Buhari, INEC is now teaching our teens and youth how to indulge in election malpractices and election frauds.

Rather than work towards fulfilling their numerous campaign promises, the APC-led government of President Muhammadu Buhari slipped into coma, from day one, and has exalted ineptitude into a State policy.

This docile and lethargic government promised that it will make 1 Naira to equal 1 Dollars (USD), but today it exchanges at 363 Naira to 1 US Dollars.

This government also promised to create 720,000 jobs in the 36 states in the federation per annum (20,000 per state), but ironically, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its unemployment report revealed that 3.67 million Nigerians became jobless in 2016 alone and by the last quarter of 2017, unemployment figure was 15.99 million.

In the same report, the Bureau said that, at least 18,919 Nigerians lost their public sector jobs of the federal, state and local governments between October 2015 and March 2016.

It is instructive to note that within the same period, 11, 593 new public sector jobs were generated, putting employment generation figure in deficit.

We all know that the active workforce of any nation are the youth, therefore majority of those losing their jobs are the youths of Nigeria.

In his Democracy Day’s speech, the then Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo said that the government has engaged 200,000 unemployed graduates through the N-Power scheme.

Though the government has not come out to explain to us how they got the 200, 000 figure, we must not forget that the promise was 20, 000 jobs per state, totaling 720, 000 jobs in a year, not 200, 000 in two and a half year.

Another false promise of this government of propaganda is the Ban on all government officials from seeking medical care abroad. This promise is laughable considering the obvious: President Buhari attends to his health challenges in the United Kingdom yet our youths die daily because of poor medical facilities in Nigeria.

The unfulfilled promises of APC are just too many. They promised 20, 000 megawatt of electricity generation within four years. Well, it is not yet four years, but the current power situation will tell us how this promise will end up.

We are now four months gone into a biting fuel scarcity that sees our youths spending countless of productive hours in filling stations, and buying the non-available product at three times the PDP-era price.

Petrol was sold at 86/87 Naira during the PDP adminstration of President Jonathan, and APC promised to reduce it to 45/50 Naira but today, we are buying the product at 140/180 yet the product is hardly available, making our youths to waste productive hours idling away in fuel queues.

The fight against corruption is a mirage as corruption has become worse under this government as nepotism, condoning of corrupt practices by friends of the administration, and tribalism has become governmental policies today.

Security is still a serious challenge and has gone worse with terrorist herdsmen, that are said to be foreigners, slaughtering Nigerian farmers and youths unabated while the central government fiddles with indecision.

For a government, that lays claims of being a progressive change oriented administration,, the grandiose illegality, policy somersaults, and banditry happening in Nigeria today is disheartening.

We cannot continue like this unless we want Nigeria to be destroyed beyond redemption. We must exercise our power as the driving force of the nation by becoming politically active. We must engage and vote out this incompetent government.

Nigerian youths must put a stop to this debacle of a government by mobilizing massively, to vote it out come 2019, and give PDP a fresh mandate to repair and salvage Nigeria from the wreckage APC has turned it into.

Signed

Office of the National Youth Leader

Mr Chairman, guest speakers, youth leaders of the South West, distinguished party leaders, members of the Press, ladies and gentlemen, I deem it a privilege and honour, to stand here in your midst, for the first time, after the last elective national convention that brought about our emergence as the current members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party, PDP.

In the said elective convention, some of you here, as delegates, worked tirelessly to see to our victories, and so with a sense of humility, I humbly say thank you, and also convey to you the goodwill of the National Chairman of our great party Prince Uche Secondus and the entire NWC. We are grateful.

I want you to know, that the party national hierarchy, is pleased with your efforts in strengthening our party in the South West, and your show of loyalty and commitment to the objectives of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, therefore, it is with a sense of solemn responsibility that I stand before you as a soldier of democracy and a witness of truth, to make this speech today.

In 1789, at the outbreak of the French revolution, the Irish Statesman and parliamentarian Edmund Burke stated the following that, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

These words of Burke, captures the essence of present day Nigeria where, if it wasn’t for the vigilance of youth like you, both male and female, the gerontocratic tyranny of this APC-led Federal government would have totally ravaged and plundered our land beyond what we are experiencing today.

Under this APC controlled federal government, we have witnessed and experienced a civilian dictatorship that tolerates no opposition and cannot bear to be cautioned by voices of reason.

Though the Nigerian intelligentsia, the Press, elders, and the youths have persistently challenged this monstrous anti-democratic attitude, the APC led federal government is still hell-bent on eroding all the democratic gains we achieved as a nation under PDP, so we must keep on challenging them.

You have to challenge them, because under this administration, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), released a report on the appalling outlook of Nigeria socioeconomic situation and stated that, within 26 months, 15.99 million Nigerians lost their jobs and became unemployed.

We all know that the active workforce of every nation is made up of people between the ages of 18 and 40; meaning that in this season of job loss in Nigeria, Nigerian youths are the most affected, and if we don’t stand up and vote them out in 2019, this vision-less government will continue to implement wicked policies that will make life more unbearable and acutely difficult for the average Nigerian youth. Things will be worse than what we are experiencing today.

As youths of this nation, we must continue to speak out, and come 2019, we must vote out this failed government, by not only voting, but by protecting our votes, or, if I may ask, is life so dear to us or so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Or should we continue to suffer and smile while a heartless government persist in making mockery of our hard earned democracy? I say No, No, and NO!

Let we the youth say no!

The world over, the youths are the voice of the people and the catalyst of change in their countries. As the voice of voiceless Nigerians, now is the time for us, as the youth of this nation, to rise up and say that enough is enough. Now is the time for us to speak up, mobilize our people, and galvanize our compatriots, to get our PVC and be ready to vote in 2019, so as to change this change that has brought tears and sorrow upon our land.

The youths of Nigeria must look to the past to draw inspiration from illustrious Nigerian leaders like Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, who was born in 1921, but was already politically active at the age of 31. Yes, he was 31 when the British authorities arrested him for political activism in 1952. In 1958, at the age of 37, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode successfully moved the motion for Independence.

We can also draw strength from the political exploits of Sir Ahmadu Bello, who was born in 1909, and became politically active at the age of 28, when he made attempts to become the Sultan of Sokoto. Though he lost to Sir Siddiq Abubakar lll, Ahmadu Bello became the Sardauna of Sokoto in that same year.

How many of us here knew that Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa became Minister of works at the age of 40? Or that he was elected to the Northern House of Assembly, in 1946, at the age of 34? Come to think of it, did you also know that Anthony Enahoro, moved the first ever motion for Nigeria’s independence at the age of 30 in 1953?

We can also emulate the great Zik, who started writing about African Nationalism, at the age of 27, in faraway USA while still in the university, and later established the West African Pilot in 1937, at the age of 33, with which he used to fight colonialism.

Today, youths of contemporary Nigeria must emulate the exploits of our leaders past. We must become politically active by participating in the electioneering process. We must register to get our PVC, and must help enlighten our peers to be involved in the political process. We must lend our voices to agitate against tyranny and dictatorship, as to safeguard our democracy.

I, for example, standing before you as your National Youth Leader, became active in politics, when I contested and won a seat in Enugu State House of Assembly in 2011, at the age of 32. I did not wait for the position to be bestowed upon me. No, I engaged and participated in the process. It was all about hard work, vision, courage, and dedication.

Come 2019, we must not only vote, but with boldness and courage in our hearts, we must stand up and protect our votes. We must insist on the declaration of results at each polling unit, and we must post same results all over the social media, as it is being announced, so as to checkmate the rigging plans of the APC, and so to this end, ward youth leaders, must implement a 16-man polling unit youth wing, made up of youths from that polling unit, with valid Permanent Voters Card (PVC), as a way of strengthening our presence in the grassroots and at the polling units.

The youths must know, that this task is not an easy one, but it is a task that must be done, if we truly want to safeguard our today and protect tomorrow. We must not only vote, but must be ready to defend our votes with all we have, for what is life without liberty and freedom? What is life without hope? What is existence when it is steeped in artificially created poverty, hardship, and insecurity by a government that promised so much, but has refused to fulfill even one of its promises?

Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, during the campaigns, or to the professions of the present, as daily churned out by this government, the conduct of this administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the APC, seems equally hideous and revolting.

Buhari and the APC has proven to be false to their past promises, false to the present, and have solemnly bind themselves to be false to the future, and so, we cannot – in all sincerity – bear to entrust our tomorrow, on a party that thrives in lies, falsehood, calumny, fallacy and propaganda.

We must therefore prepare ourselves for the battle ahead, which is to rescue our dear country from the clutches of APC, that have painted the horizon of our beloved country with the colours of pain, anguish, blood, sorrow, tears, brutality and hardship by doing absolutely nothing, in safeguarding the lives of Nigerians, from the terrorist herdsmen, and by implementing retrogressive policies, that seems to enhance rather than alleviate hardship.

Now, the question is, how can we effect positive change in our polity as youths? The answer is simple: by political participation and engagements as youths of Nigeria. We cannot change the current terrible situation of our country, by watching entertainment TV and showing apathy to political happenings, or by being cavalier toward political participation and engagement. We can only rescue Nigeria, from the grip of this group of Ali-Baba Political Conmen, known as APC, by participating actively in the electoral process.

Today, the youths of our great nation, waste away in endless queues in filling stations, as fuel scarcity enters its fourth month, and creeps toward the fifth month, and yet we do nothing. Today, our economy wallows in recession, while favoured government officials, that are members of this government’s cabal, steal our commonwealth with impunity, and yet we do nothing. The gap between the Naira and the US Dollar has widened to an unprecedented margin yet, we do nothing.

Our young men and women are dying in foreign lands, oceans, deserts, and most painfully, in slavery, because of the harsh economic situation, brought to bear by this clueless APC-led federal government, which has made our youths, to flee the shores of our country in droves into danger, prostitution, and slavery in foreign lands, yet we do nothing.

Our girls are being raped, by syphilis infected men, in foreign climes, yet we do nothing. Our farmers are being murdered daily, by foreign mercenaries called armed herdsmen, yet we do nothing. Our graduates roam the streets unemployed, because of the negative economic policies of this federal government, yet we do nothing.

The price of foodstuff and cost of living has so increased, that these days you see Nigerians scavenging in waste bins and dump sites, for food like stray dogs, yet we do nothing. This government has turned our people into refugees, in their own lands, yet we do nothing.

For how long shall we continue to do nothing? How long shall we continue to endure this torture, this shame, and this hardship? How long shall we continue to watch this vision-less administration, destroy all the gains achieved in Nigeria under PDP?

Under PDP, Nigeria became the fastest growing economy, but today, APC has led us into a debilitating recession. Under PDP, massive employment was generated but today, under the APC, 85.1 million Nigerians, majority of them youths, are currently under-employed, according to the NBS.

Is it not ironic, that we have an administration that believes in a 97% and 5% dichotomy, of the favoured and un-favoured, while the Nigerian constitution states, that we are one indivisible nation and people?

We must remember that it was we, the people; not we, the old citizens; nor yet we, the Daura citizens; but we, the whole people, north and south; east and west; Christians and Muslims; young and old, that make up Nigeria, yet our president, spoke about dichotomy of the citizens, along a line of those favoured and those un-favoured, yet we did nothing.

In this election period, when the fate of Nigeria is being decided, we cannot afford, not to speak out, or actively participate, because to do so, would stain our soul and conscience. We cannot allow tyranny and dictatorship, to dance unfettered, and unchallenged, all over our country, leaving a trail of suffering, hardship, blood, and agony in the land. We must speak out, and we must vote.

We must vote because we, the people of Nigeria, fought for this democracy, we didn’t fight for it, to beg for the blessings of liberty, we fought for it,so that we can give liberty, and also secure that liberty.

The lives of the likes of MKO Abiola, Kudirat, and others, were not laid down, so we will secure a democracy that has been turned into a government of the old. No! What we fought for, was for a government of the whole people — the old, as well as the young; women as well as men.

This was the kind of democracy, which we the people fought for, but what do we have today? Today, we have a gerontocratic dictatorship, which excludes the youth, both male and female from government.

Now, concerning the ‘not too young to run’ advocacy, and the commendable processes of passage, of the bill – by the National Assembly – that reduced the age limits, to run for elective government offices in Nigeria, I want to state for the record, that there is no moral issue here; for what is wrong is wrong.

But we must commend the National Assembly, for what it has done in reducing the age limit, to 25 and 35 years, for legislative positions, and 30 and 35 years for executive positions. We know that if not for the collaborative effort of PDP Senators and their PDP friendly colleagues, this bill wouldn’t have been passed because it goes against the trademark, of this APC federal government, which is a government of the old, by the old, and for the few chosen old.

It is wrong — deadly wrong — for a Nigerian government to deny any Nigerian – within the voting age of 18 to 24 – the right to be voted for, in this country. If an 18 to 24 year old can pay tax and vote, then it follows that they should also be allowed to be voted for.

If you would all remember, it was during the PDP era that the likes of Charles Soludo, Nuhu Ribadu, late Dora Akunyili, El-Rufai, Donald Duke, and a host of others, were brought into government, while still in their youthful age. The PDP has always been a youth friendly political party. As of 2013, when the PDP had a National Youth Leader, in the person of Abdullahi Hussaini MaiBasira, who was in his late twenties, APC had a National Youth leader in the person of Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo-Waziri, who was in his late forties.

Today, Jalo is in his early fifties, as APC national youth leader, while in the PDP, we have a national youth leader, who is in his late thirties. Now you may wonder; why am I drawing these analogies? I’m drawing these parallels, to show you, that the PDP is a youth friendly party. When Jonathan appointed Bolaji Abdullahi, as Minister of Youth and Sports, he was 42 but under this APC government, the Minister of Youth and Sports Solomon Dalung is 55 years old.

From the above, you can see that the PDP is a youth friendly political party that gives opportunities to young Nigerians, to participate in government and contribute to nation-building.

I make bold to state, that if voted into power in 2019, PDP will sponsor legislations that will further reduce the age limit, so that 18 to 24 year olds can be voted for, as against the present scenario, where they can only vote but cannot be voted for.

Finally, I want to state, that PDP has learnt, from the mistakes it made in the past. This time around, we will do better, than we did in the past, if voted into power in 2019.

In our first four years as a central government, we gave Nigerians liberalized telecommunication that gave birth to the GSM companies and other telecommunication providers. We also restored the railways, while the last PDP administration, removed fuel queues and created jobs, by making Nigeria the fastest growing and largest economy in Africa.

Today, the APC has reversed all these gains and brought hunger, starvation, fuel queues, disease, high foreign exchange rate, job loss, murder and plunder upon the Nigerian people. Today, tears and lamentation pervades the land, as Nigerians suffer every possible ill that a failed government, can bring upon a people.

Let us be reminded that, if we do not vote out the APC in all elections, in this 2018 and 2019, Nigeria will become a failed state because the symptoms are beginning to manifest. People are now being massacred daily, in their ancestral lands in Nigeria, while the federal government looks away, as if we live in a failed state without a government.

So, now is the time for us to rescue Nigeria, by becoming active in the political process. Every Nigerian youth, should key into the PDP policy, which is to rescue Nigeria from this hideous and inhuman government.

We must save our country, from this government, that believes that only members of the opposition, that questions its vision-less policies, are corrupt and should be persecuted, while all the corrupt sycophants, in the APC, that make merry, like drunken seamen, with our collective wealth, are shielded and protected, in their corrupt practices. Some are even recalled by the federal government, when sacked for wrongdoing.

Ladies and gentlemen, our sole objective in the PDP is to rescue our country, from imminent collapse, in the hands of the APC.PDP is the only political party currently, with the national structure to do this, so please, join hands with us, to save our country before it is too late. A stitch in time saves nine.

Thanks for having me.

Rt. Hon. SKE Udeh-Okoye
PDP National Youth Leader

(being text of a speech delivered in Oyo State at PDP youth summit)

If we could all remember that prior to Tuesday, December 26, 2017, Nigerian youths had never seen our President show concern on issues bordering on the welfare, security, and well-being of the youth.

Even his political appointments were anti youth, and our president exhibited a high level of undisguised disdain for the youths of our country.

Killer herdsmen were butchering our youth in a wanton orgy of bloodbath, yet our president kept an aloof demeanor that reflected a total lack of concern.

He couldn't even visit massacred communities nor speak directly to the nation. The only messages he could send were half-baked press releases from his aides.

Then, in December 26, 2017, his son Yusuf was involved in a power bike crash and rushed to Cedarcrest Hospital Abuja, and immediately, our president went to pay his son a visit.

Now, there is nothing wrong in a father showing concern over his son or child's welfare, but as the President of the nation, Nigerians had expected President Buhari to be a father to all, particularly when our youths, who were farmers, were being butchered in cold blood, but the president never cared.

While millions of Nigerian youths wasted away precious productive hours in long fuel queues at the filling station due to a biting fuel scarcity that the federal government has refused to end, President Buhari's son Yusuf, was cruising and racing on a high fuel consuming BMW power bike, with his friend, Bashir Gwandu, bought at N56 million each!

Now the question remains, when millions of Nigerian youths are losing jobs and becoming unemployed, with no hope of where and when the next meal will come from, or when they would be able to see fuel, or how to afford it if they eventual see petrol, where then did a fellow youth, President Buhari's son, get N112 million Naira to buy two fuel consuming BMW bikes at N56 million Naira each?

The Yusuf Buhari's accident exposed the fact that while other Nigerian youths were losing jobs and facing starvation because of the wicked economic policies of the Buhari administration, the youthful unemployed son of the President was getting rich and spending it lavishly like a rock star.

At this moment, no sane person can claim that President Buhari has any iota of integrity left. Only his conniving sycophants in APC still pretends that he is fighting corruption.

It is now obvious that the president is totally bereft of ideas on how to govern even a local government, not to talk of a country, and so, we the youth of Nigeria must do the needful by voting him out in 2019 so that PDP can put our country back on the track of true progress that the APC derailed it from.

My fellow Nigerian youths, get your PVCs and do the needful.

Rt. Hon SKE Udeh-Okoye
*PDP National Youth Leader*

Since this government took over the reins of governance in May 2015, things has gone from manageable to bad, and from bad to worse in Nigeria, and unfortunately, the youth are the most affected constituency.

For example, as of 2015, before President Buhari and his horde of APC Buccaneers came into power, Nigeria's debt profile was at $10.718 billion (US dollars) total foreign debt figure.

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria’s domestic and external debts profile as at June, 2015 stood at N12.12 trillion, but as of today, it stand at approximately N20 trillion.

The N12.12 trillion total debt was at a time the PDP government of president Jonathan was already involved in a lot of construction projects like the standard gauge rail, power, and food storage silo projects, including the new federal university projects among others. At that time, the domestic debt profile alone was N8.51 trillion.

But as of 2016, after approximately one year of Buhari's clueless administration, Nigeria's foreign debt profile alone had climbed to $11.406 billion, and one year later, by June 2017, it was at $15.1 billion. All these figures are according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report of September 2017.

According to NBS, of this total foreign debt profile of $15.1 billion, as of 2017, President Buhari's federal government is owing $11.106 billion, while the entire 36 states, plus FCT, are owing $3.94 billion, while the total debt profile, in Naira, stands at N19.16 trillion

This means President Buhari's administration has added about N10 trillion to the debt within two years without doing any tangible project, apart from paying batches and batches of ransom money to Boko Haram.

It is then no wonder that while our youths lose jobs, die of poverty and hunger, Boko Haram has the financial capacity to plan and execute more attacks against our people.

We must put an end to this government and all their failed policies by voting them out in 2019.

It is now time for us to go back to the developmental strides of the PDP era.

Okah Ewah Edede
SA media and Documentation
To
PDP National Youth Leader

HOW APC DECEIVED AND FAILED NIGERIAN YOUTH

Prior to the 2015 presidential poll, majority of Nigerian youth, particularly the almajiri, were swayed by APC’s daily dose of lies and propaganda into voting massively for the party.

Now APC is on the saddle and instead of working for Nigeria’s development and progress, APC has failed, disappointed, and betrayed the trust of Nigerians, particularly our youths, and most especially the abandoned almajiri class that PDP tried to uplift through education.

In education, unlike the PDP administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that built 169 almajiri schools in the North, built 14 new federal universities across Nigeria of which one is sited in President Buhari’s home State of Katsina.

This university remains till date the only meaningful project, by the federal government, in the past 3 years in Katsina State. The APC federal government has done nothing, save only for the helipad they built in Daura for Buhari’s personal and exclusive use.

This APC government has also failed Nigerian youth when it comes to all the numerous campaign promises the party made before 2015 polls like, the promise to make N1 equal to US $1; the promise to create 3 million jobs yearly but instead, our youths have lost approximately 10 million jobs in 33 months under APC, according to NBS report.

Nigerian youth today must be feeling deceived, and truly they were deceived by APC’s lying machine.

The propaganda machinery of APC churned out many lies about PDP and Nigerian youth forgot that it was PDP that gave Nigeria NHIS, GSM, bank reforms, new power plants in Omotosho (500mw) that was commissioned on Saturday, 19th February 2013, Olorunsogo (750mw) that was commissioned on Friday, 20th February 2015, and the 504 megawatts power-plant in Alaoji, Abia State, commissioned on Wednesday, 25th of March, 2015.

It was also our party PDP that built the 187 kilometer Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge railway – the first of its kind in Nigeria.

APC lied and deceived our youths into voting for them in 2015; our youths did, and they failed us. Now it is payback time.

Let us teach APC a lesson by voting them out in 2019, and voting PDP back into power. This time around, PDP will do better than we did prior to the entry of calamity APC in 2015.

Nigerian youths, vote wisely, your future depends on it.

Rt. Hon. Udeh-Okoye SKE
PDP National Youth Leader

Pertinent questions we should be asking:

A defeated Boko Haram drove 200km and abducted girls and quietly drove back another 200km?

No checkpoints, no aerial surveillance? No resistance, they had all the luxury of moving on the road that one cannot move 3km in Lagos or Port Harcourt without a checkpoint?

Where was the army? The vigilante? The police checkpoints?

It is so sad and disheartening that the All Progressive Congress (APC) has chosen to rule Nigeria with lies and propaganda even where human lives are involved.

Every government, that is truly of the people and for the people, owns it as a duty to be accountable to the people. This accountability implies that the government would strive to be honest to the people at all time.

Unfortunately for Nigeria, the Nigerian people voted in a lying government. As a political party, APC won the 2015 presidential election through the use of lies and propaganda.

It is for this reason that the APC government of president Muhammadu buhari has, since the inception of his administration, been governing with lies and more lies.

The government in place today is one that is not dedicated to the Nigerian people, rather it is loyal and committed to lies and propaganda which are the tools that brought it to power.

Every day, we have been regaled with fairy tales of how Boko Haram has been defeated or technically defeated. That grandfather of lies and falsehood Lai Mohammed has be feeding us with untruthful stories of how Boko Haram has been degraded to the point where they can't carry out anymore attacks.

Yet is is a defeated and degraded Boko Haram that this APC government negotiates with and pay ransom monies to for the release of the Chibok girls!

Isn't it ironic that our government chooses to pay millions of US dollars, as ransom to a defeated Boko Haram, to release our kidnapped girls instead of our military showing strength by being the ones to free them after victory in battle?

Of all the release Chibok girls, none was released by our military after a victorious bout with Boko Haram. They were all released after huge sums of dollars were paid to the terrorists as ransom.

Lai Mohammed keeps telling us that Boko Haram is defeated, yet the same Boko Haram attacked a school in Dapchi and carted away 110 girls without any resistance.

The same Boko Haram also attacked UN aid workers and killed some of them, while at the same time attacking a military base and killing some of our soldiers like my friend in this picture Lt Col. Ewela (the Son of Col. Maharajah).

My friend Lt. Col Ewela died serving his country but might not be remembered and honoured because his government prefers to lie about his sacrifice than say the truth regarding it.

I am so embittered that this government cannot simply tell us the truth about the war against Boko Haram insurgents! How on earth are we going to defeat these terrorists when our government uses money they should use in buying arms for the military to pay ransoms to Boko Haram?

How are we going to defeat the insurgents when this APC federal government keeps releasing and freeing batches and batches of captured Boko Haram fighters, and giving the lame excuse that they have repented? How did the government know they had repented?

Now, because of the insincerity and lies of this government in the fight against Boko Haram, look at the way Boko Haram fighters are kidnapping our youths and killing our youthful soldiers.

The youth of Nigeria must not forgive this government; we must massively and decisively vote them out come 2019 for all the wrongs they have done to us.

Every Nigerian youth should get his or her PVC and be ready to vote and protect their vote.

Always remember that things generally weren't this bad under PDP, so please support PDP if you want to protect your today and secure your tomorrow.

Okah Ewah Edede
SA Media to,
PDP National Youth Leader

Mr Chairman,
Party leaders,
The State youth leader,
Distinguished guests,
Members of the Press,
Ladies and gentlemen

It is my pleasure to be here today to deliver to you, the goodwill message of our national Chairman Prince Uche Secondus and the NWC of our great party PDP. They said I should inform you that the national leadership is aware of the dedication and loyalty of Edo State chapter of PDP. It is also an honour and privilege for me to deliver this message to you titled:

A March into Destiny: The Role of the Youth of Edo State

You should know that for every nation on earth, there comes a time when courage is needed and necessary on the part of free men, to stand up – without fear of intimidation – but with faith, hope, and vision, to liberate a people and chart a new course for a nation waking up from the departure of dusk into the brightness of dawn.

It is in such times, like we find ourselves today, that deeds of glory are inscribed on the archives of history, so that over time, posterity can proclaim with pride that ‘we stand today because these giants stood when we were long suppressed and our voices stolen, these men stood to give us utterances and return liberty upon the shores of our beloved country.

Nigerian youth, I stand here today, as a soldier of freedom and democracy, to tell you that no matter how strong; no matter how brutal, and no matter how vicious tyranny is, it will never triumph over the truth of good men – if free men fight for the good of all – and for the liberty of the future. Trust me, that if good men do, every tyranny will be defeated and humiliated.

Today, it is unfortunate – that after the struggles of our contemporary heroes of democracy like late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, late MKO Abiola and his martyred wife Kudirat Abiola, Anothony Enahoro, Frank Kokori of NUPENG of 1993/1994, Col. Abubakar Umar, Alfred Rewane, Rear Admiral (retd) Ndubuisi Kanu who escaped several assassination attempts for the sake of democracy, late Beko Ransome-Kuti, and the indomitable Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memory, amongst others – we are once again saddled with a draconian administration, in civilian garbs, that has disrespected every constitutional and democratic injunctions and tenets, and has imposed hardship, suppression of freedom of speech, intimidation of the right of association, and victimization of the liberty to vote and the casted votes to count.

We were making progress under PDP in this present democratic experience; elections were becoming credible, people could freely express their opinions, even anti-government views and no one would harass them, but all these changed when this APC administration came into office in 2015 and, suddenly, all our democratic and developmental gains flew out of the window.

Underage voting became a norm as this APC government, in connivance with INEC, used our kids to perpetrate electoral malpractice thereby robbing them of their innocence, and teaching them how to engage in fraudulent elections. Kano council poll is still fresh in our minds where kids as young as 6 years were used to perpetrate electoral malpractice.

Insecurity has become a daily occurrence in our lives today, as killer herdsmen slaughter Nigerians like cows in an abattoir, while an alleged technically defeated Boko Haram kidnapped 110 teenage girls from a girl’s school in Dapchi, in Yobe State, and drove them over 200km into the Chad bordered jungle of Sambisa without encountering a single security checkpoint on the way! This scenario seems like a plot by this APC government.

Under this APC government, the youths of Nigeria have become an abandoned constituency as we are under-represented in government appointments; over 10 million of us have lost our jobs within 33 months of this APC government; there is no fuel in our filling stations, prices of goods and services are three times higher now than they were three years ago, and our currency is almost becoming worthless in value. This gerontocratic government is taking us down the Zimbabwean path of battered economy.

We cannot continue like this. As youth, we are the catalyst of change and therefore must change this APC change come 2019 because; failure to do so will translate to a continuation of this unmitigated disaster of an administration that wants to kill our today and bury our tomorrow.

We must therefore resist their desperate attempt to rig the elections like they rigged out the youthful PDP Edo State gubernatorial candidate Osagie Ize-Iyamu by conniving with an INEC that has lost its integrity and soul, and the Nigerian security organizations that has shameless turned itself into an armed wing of APC.

We will not allow this to happen again. Edo State youths must become the army of truth and freedom. As youth, we must become prepared to not only vote, but to protect our votes because our vote is the guarantee we have of a better today and a secured tomorrow.

I want you all to know that even with their bullets and their instruments of oppression, they cannot defeat us because we carry the flame of liberty in our hearts and the banner of truth in our hands.

This time around, it is our duty as youths, to fight for the rescue of our democracy. This democracy is ours; passed to us by those that ran before us. We must not disappoint them and their memory; for this democracy is their legacy to us.

We must therefore do all we can legally, and within just law, to rescue our democracy from APC and hand it over to the only youth friendly political party with the will, reform, blueprint, and national structure necessary to rebuild our battered country and economy.

That political party is PDP. Let us vote for PDP.

As your National Youth Leader, I say thank you for your faith and loyalty to our party PDP, and to Nigeria. I also urge you to rise up and kill these snakes and monkeys that have become corrupt officials under this APC government. We must believe we can kill these corrupt money swallowing snakes and monkeys.

If we truly believe we can do it, then surelywe will do it for ourselves, our children, and for those Nigerians yet unborn. Nigeria is worth rescuing, for we have no other country. Let us therefore march boldly into our destiny. Let us rescue Nigeria with our PVCs.

I remain your humble servant and national youth leader Rt. Hon Udeh-Okoye SKE. I therefore declare this summit open.

Long live PDP!
Long live Edo youth!!
Long live the federal republic of Nigeria!!!

Thanks and God bless you.