Nigerian youths are frustrated —Ooni

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi has said that Nigerian youths, who are about 70 per cent of the population, are being frustrated by the system.

Delivering a convocation lecture of the Kwara State University (KWASU), on Saturday, the monarch blamed the current economic hardship in the country on heavy dependence on foreign goods.

In the lecture, titled,: Practical entrepreneurship: Leeway to Nigerian Economic Recovery and Growth, Oba Ogunwusi said that “70 per cent of Nigerians are youths. They are vibrant, energetic and purpose-driven; they can think outside the box, yet they are frustrated by the system. The system has not encouraged them.”

The traditional ruler, who listed investment, production and consumption as some of the ingredients for a viable economy, said that the way out of the economic recession was huge investment in locally made goods, saying that, “If we change our orientation, things will move forward properly for the country.

“There is no shortcut to success. We have propensity to consume but no propensity to produce. In the 60s, Nigeria had so much money and did not know what to do with the currency, then out propensity to produce started dropping.

“One of our fundamental problems in this country is that we don’t want to learn from our mistakes. We have forgotten how to link all economic ingredients for economic recovery in Nigeria.

“The current economic hardship in the country is a blessing in disguise.

“How well we are thinking out of the box is food for thought for us all in Nigeria. Necessity is the mother of invention.

“The leeway to economic recovery in Nigeria lies with you and I. let us believe in our country and think positively,” he said.