The President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari , has stated that his administration will work towards empowerment of the Nigerian youths within his first six months in office.

Buhari stated this yesterday at a symposium with the theme: “Maximizing the potentials of Nigerian youths as Economic Drivers for a secured nation in the next dispensation,” organised by Buhari Volunteers Network (BVN).

Buhari, who was represented by a Political Science and International Relations lecturer at the Pace University, New York, Prof. Mohammed Garba, stated that his administration would focus on opening up the mining and oil and gas sectors so as to create jobs for the youths, adding this will ensure youths engage in commercial activities and mentoring programmes.

“Nigerian youths have been supporting the General (Buhari) and the party. They have exhausted all their time and energy on the General and the success of the party. So we are looking forward to see how to get them employed, trained or involved in commercial activities and mentoring programmes. That is what we are going to be looking at in the next six months because these youths are computer and IT savvy. They are very knowledgeable in various fields. So we have to harness all those talents into one group. We cannot predict the number of youths to be employed because right now there is financial crisis.

“Let the government be on ground, we will tackle each problem one at a time. The issue of probe, yes, we have to investigate before prosecution, we have to know who spend the money and where the money went to,” he said.

Earlier, in his welcome address, the convener and national coordinator of the group, Comrade Olayemi Success stated that his group will constantly remind and support the President to deliver on his electoral promises, while also persuading and educating Nigerians on the need to trust the government with maximum cooperation, which will help fast track development.

He stated that the symposium was to x-ray the potential of the Nigerian youth and debate on how to maximally harness it to drive the economy of the nation.

The chairman of the occasion, and the former vice chancellor, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, University, Bauchi, Prof. Abubakar Sani Sambo, urged the incoming government to explore the power and energy sector to create jobs for the youths.

He called on the government to embarked on immediate review of various agreement with the new owners of the electricity generation and distribution with the hope of making the owners fulfil the agreement to boost election distribution and generation in the country..