The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande

FILE: The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande

The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, has urged youths to take advantage of government policies and programmes to build a desirable future.

Olawande made the call on Thursday at the inauguration of a book titled, “No More Future: Why Waiting Is Over, What to Build Instead,” authored by a young Nigerian, Christopher Olusa, at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.

He said the era of waiting for the government to “fix things before building, waiting for the right connections before starting, and waiting for permission to become what they already have the capacity to be” was over.

Represented by his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Dotun Omoleye, the minister said the country’s greatest asset was not what exists under the soil, but what is inside young people.

He said the country did not have a shortage of potential, but sometimes lacked the collective courage in young people to stop waiting and start constructing.

According to him, the book is a call for that courage, adding that “government’s investment in young people is a call to that courage and I believe that this generation is finally ready to answer it.”

He said, “To young people in this room, and to the many more who will read this book: the Renewed Hope Agenda has opened a door that did not exist for the generation before you.

“What you do with that open door is the story that has not yet been written. Christopher has given you a framework. The Ministry of Youth Development will continue to give you platforms, capital, and training, but the actual building of your future remains yours to do,” he said.

Also speaking, the Chairman, House Committee on Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Ifeoluwa Ehindero, said the title of the book challenged the mindset of waiting that had held many people back.

The lawmaker said rather than waiting, young Nigerians should deliberately build the future they wished to have.

“The book is a powerful call to action; it reminds us that the future is not something we should merely wait for; the future is something we must actively create.

“For too long, many young people have been encouraged to wait for government, for opportunities, for employment, for someone to discover them, or for circumstances to become perfect.

“The reality is that nations are transformed when their citizens move from expectation to action, from dependency to enterprise, and from complaining about the future to building it,” he said.

In his remarks, the book reviewer, Prof Jerry Ugokwe, said many youths had treated the future as a destination or something that would happen or be given.

He said the book had destroyed that illusion that presents the future as what one waits for, to something to build.

“One of the most compelling strengths of this book is its intellectual honesty. It does not romanticise the Nigerian condition, nor does it weaponise victimhood. Instead, it balances realism with responsibility.

“The systemic issues are acknowledged: educational gaps, economic volatility, institutional delays, but the reader is not allowed to hide behind them.

“The message is clear: you may not control the system, but you are responsible for your response to it,” he said.

Addressing newsmen, the author of the book said it was a product of research and the collection of personal and societal experiences.

Olusa said young people had been taught to wait as the societal structure ensured young people were kept waiting for a bright future.

“We are expected to wait, and what happens after that is disappointment. So, this was put together to help young people; instead of waiting, they can start and build.”

“Life is a process; if we sit down and expect something we did not work for, we will get disappointed at the end of the day.

“My charge to young people is that they should build; this book challenges the culture of waiting. The future is not something we just move into; it is something we have to build. If you don’t build it, do not expect it,” he said.