President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said he is struggling to build his house in his Otuoke village, Bayelsa State.He said he might give out the house before he dies if he found out that his children are not ready to live in the village.
Jonathan spoke in Lagos at a fund-raiser for St. Stephens Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre, Otuoke.
He
said, “We are all mortal beings, we are all biological specimen so we
will all die but when we die, what will we be remembered for, what will
we leave behind?
“I use to tell people that even the house I am
struggling to build in the village, these days in this global age, how
am I sure that my children will even stay in my root. They want to go
to West Indies, they want to go to Latin America.
“So, I was even
joking with people that if I look at the behaviour of my children and
if I don’t see any of them that will patronise the village, I will
donate my house before I die.”
The President urged wealthy
Nigerians to make meaningful contributions to the development of poor
communities in the country in order to better the lives of the youth and
empower them to make useful contributions towards national development.
He
said the project for the St. Stephens Anglican Deanery and Youth
Development Centre was dear to him because he wanted to make sure that
the younger generation passed through a better system of education
different from the one he experienced while growing up.
“I feel
the only thing I can do is to make sure that from nursery school to
primary and secondary school, there should be a standard educational
facility and youth programme, so that it gives opportunity for the
younger ones to grow. Even if we die in the next 100 years, people will
remember that those before them have something for them,” he said.
Present
at the occasion were Chairman of Visafone, Jim Ovia; Chairman Capital
oil, Chief Ifeanyi Uba; Chairman of A-Z Oil, Chika Okafor, Chairman
Arik Air, Joseph Arumemi–Ikhide, Oba Otudeko and Tony Elumelu.
Also
present were Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Tunde Lemo,
ministers, senators, members of the House of Representatives and
prominent indigenes of Otuoke.
Punch Nigeria
No comments:
Post a Comment