Buhari Tells VOA: Most Northern Youth Are Illiterates, School Dropouts.
- President Buhari
Barely three weeks after coming under severe criticism for calling Nigerianyouth lazy, President Muhammadu Buhari has described Northern Youth as illiterates and school dropouts.
Speaking in a chat with Voice of America (VOA) on Tuesday, President Buhari said most of the Northern population who are youth cannot make ends meet outside Nigeria because they are uneducated.
The president’s submission to VOA comes weeks after he said at the last Commonwealth Head of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) in London that “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.”
In the new interview with VOA, Buhari said: “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.
Buhari added that his recent comment about the youth at the Commonwealth forum was taken out of context.
“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.”