 I'm delighted to be able to join you at this maiden edition of the National Youth Conference and to commemorate our National Youth Day. The theme of this conference is energizing the youth for development, inclusiveness, governance, security and employment, and this speaks directly to the imperatives of this present moment in our nation's history. As is the country of young people and the cliché that the youth are only leaders of tomorrow is now well discredited. The fact is that young Nigerians are currently at the front lines of every consequential struggle for our future. Every consequential struggle that is being waged today, they are serving as members of our armed forces and security agencies, laying down their lives, risking life and limb in the battle against terrorists and other forces of anarchy. They are in civil society, advancing the struggle for a fairer and a more just and humane society by promoting the rights of women and ensuring that concerns and interests of the vulnerable remain at the center of our society's attention. In terms of the labors of our youth, in addition to being home to the third-largest film industry in the world, we are the epicenter of the global and pan-African popular culture anchored to the dynamism of Nigerian creatives. We are home to celebrated and award-winning writers from Chimamandia Dice to hundreds of younger Nigerian writers. In one Grammy Award ceremony, two Nigerian musicians, Bono Boy and Whiskeyed, won awards. Our sportsmen and women are in world-breaking records and they are winning medals. The lights of Esa Brume, Tobi and Musa, and Okadegoke, and blessing Oboro Dudu. These are all young Nigerians who are doing great things in sports. They are also young Nigerians riding the crest of the wave of the information technology revolution and they are pioneering new patterns of enterprise and wealth. And in the process, they've established this country as the most vibrant innovation hub on the African continent. There are several unicorns and promising start-ups in Nigeria already. In the FinTech sector alone, we have at least five unicorns. And when you say a unicorn, that is a company that is worth at least a billion dollars. Flutterwave, Paystack, OPE, InterSwitch, all valued at more than one billion dollars each. In the e-commerce sector, we have Jumea. We also have Piggy Vest, a wealth management platform that at the end of 2019 had helped about 80 million users. And all of these are persons who are doing incredible things. Our tech entrepreneurs and innovators are not just applying their talents to profit-making endeavors, but also seeking to address social problems. People like Sardata Liu, who runs a tech hub in Kano, has developed an app for reporting cases of sexual assault. Only recently, the Kano Young Champion of the Year Award, which celebrates the achievements of young people around the world who are driving social and environmental change, went to Alabi Samuel and Jola Oluwa in the under-21 category. His inspiration project is titled Students of Ibadan, and it shines a light on the struggles faced by underserved poor students in the city of Ibadan. The genius of young Nigerians for invention is evident. You know the likes of Syla Zadekule, the robotics engineer who invented Mechamon, the world's first intelligent gaming robot. Max China, who at 26, invented the Genesis Cooker, a smokeless stove. This is a stove that addresses the problem of smoke pollution, which kills almost every year 4 million people. You can also speak of the likes of Eji Keme, Patrikun Wosu, an organic chemist who has invented a fire retardant paint that could drastically mitigate the risk of fire outbreaks. How about outstanding young teachers in primary and secondary schools? The award-winning Henry Anumundu, who has been recognized for his effective teaching of primary school children in very poor communities. Oluwa Bumi Anani, the 2020 winner of the Multina Teacher of the Year Award, recognized for her revolutionary teaching in English and English literature for senior secondary school students in Yola in Adama, our state. Across the world, our most potent ambassadors are young Nigerians who are breaking new grounds, they're breaking records and winning laurels in diverse fields of endeavor. We recognize that our young people are this country's most strategic asset. Investing in them is clearly investing in the economic strength and development of our nation. This is why my administration has established initiatives such as the 75 billion National Youth Investment Fund and the Central Bank of Nigeria's Creative Sector Fund. It is why I recently approved the investing in digital and creative enterprises, the I-DICE program, an over $600 million program supported by the AFDB, which will support young tech and creative sector entrepreneurs through the provision of finance for their businesses, finance for training and skills development, and also finance for infrastructure. Earlier this year, we partnered with the UNDP and the private sector in the Jubilee Fellows internship program. And under this program, for the next five years, every year, 20,000 students after their youth service will be given internship opportunities in private sector companies and in public against it. The idea is that these interns, these participants, will gain relevant career and life skills that will enable them transition seamlessly into the professional or business or public sector while also earning a very good pay during the period of the internship. Every youth copper who is here today is eligible to apply to be one of the 20,000 that will be chosen as a Jubilee Youth Fellow. And during the course of the internship, when you will be attacked to a private company or a public company, you will be paid for that entire period for the entire year. And this is, as I've said, a joint effort of the federal government of Nigeria and the UNDP. I have also, as you must be aware, approved the increase of the empire beneficiary scheme from 500,000 beneficiaries to 1 million because young people constitute the majority of our population. They are, both by default and design, the very center of all of our efforts to stimulate growth from our social investment schemes and all of the other innovations in the economy and support for micro and small and medium enterprises. We have placed the interest of our youths at the heart of our policymaking. Despite these efforts, I still think it is natural and inevitable that there would be a degree of tension between a generation at the vanguard of innovation and the establishment. Young Nigerians often feel frustrated by the inability of our institutions to keep pace with their drive, with their aspirations, and with their dynamism. I can certainly relate to this. For believe it or not, I was once a young person too. All differences of opinion in respect of official policies is normal in liberal democracies such as ours. But out of respect for the rights and sensitivities of others, disagreement must be temperate and channel through legally and socially acceptable means. Disagreement must never mean destruction. It must never mean violence. If it does, we will destroy the very basis of the progress that we expect to have. Most importantly, we must keep our faith in our country and remain optimistic that it will serve as the center and locus for fulfilling all of our aspirations. Building a nation is an intergenerational endeavor. I think that this is a particularly important point. We can be changed in electoral cycles, but the destiny of a nation is shaped across generations. This country is ours, above and beyond partisan squabbles, disagreements and everything else. The future will be what we make of it. In these days, when we seem to be a sale on all sides, it is natural to fear for the future and to nurse anxiety about what holds tomorrow. However, this is not the time to give up or to succumb to despair. This is the time to engage and to work more seriously to build the country of our dreams. The successful Not Too Young to Run campaign, which led to the legislation that expands opportunities for political inclusion of young Nigerians, is a sterling example of how dedicated youth advocates initiated and saw through a key piece of political reform by working through the system, by insisting on following the rules. It is evidence of what can happen when Nigerians from diverse backgrounds make common cause. My signing into law of the Not Too Young to Run bill almost three years ago opened the door for youth inclusion in our political process and by extension in governance. It is my belief that young Nigerians should organize, mobilize and participate fully in public affairs. Your contributions are invaluable to the debate on what sort of future we want. Your engagement in political life is about participating in the campaign to ensure that Nigeria works for all of us. The big policy questions of the day, how to transform Nigeria into a first world economy that provides high levels of good paying work, welfare, security and equity for its people are questions of particular relevance to your generation. But so also are the challenges that attend all massive social and economic transformation in a diverse society. Our present challenges are therefore neither unique nor exceptional. The task of lifting people out of poverty or promoting economic growth and social justice, healing communities torn apart by conflict, addressing social grievances, historical grievances, doing justice and forging a common identity in a diverse society is one that many nations throughout history and across the world have had to tackle. It is within our power to emerge from them even stronger as a people. This is why you must reject the temptation to inherit the biases and prejudices of your parents, the biases and prejudices of many who have gone before us or seen the country through John Deist eyes of some in generations that have gone before you. The lesson of history is that the world's most successful nations are those that have learned how to harness the power of diversity. I urge you to build the networks, the partnerships and alliances in life, in business and politics that transcend ethnicity and transcend race and religion. Diversity is an opportunity to learn, to make new friends and to add to the wealth of your experience as human beings. By the same token, do not be captives of nostalgia, be wary of the invocation those who say the good old days, those who speak of the lost golden age that supposedly existed before you were born. There was no such era. Every generation makes the most of the time that it has. Before they have split their part in their time, you must also seize yours. In the words of our nation's first president, Dr. Nambia Zikwe, I quote, youth is the golden age of man. Youth is the golden age of man. There is no more golden time than the present that you are in. So seize it. Progress is not made by looking back, but by looking ahead. Your generation has been gifted with so many tools and opportunities. You are at the most developed time in the history of the world. You are at the most developed time in the history of technology in the world. Everything that you have today was much, much better than previous years. So with this, you can't ship not just your destiny, but the destiny of your nation. It's up to you to use them well, refuse to succumb to hopelessness and easy cynicism. By all means, you must learn the lessons of history and the diligent students of memory. But the future will be defined by our capacity for visioning and innovation, imagination and reimagination, invention and reinvention. That is what will determine the future. To speak of a new Nigeria that is not bound by prejudice and divisive narrow-mindedness, and defined by a progressive spirit of liberalism, of enterprise, of innovation, of mutuality and openness, is to speak of a new breed of Nigerians who manifest these values. Gather in this place here today our young Nigerians from diverse backgrounds, different ethnicities and creeds, and you represent that new Nigeria. Your generation will need Nigeria, will lead Nigeria into its best era yet. While I do not subscribe to the notion that youths are leaders of tomorrow, as I said, I don't subscribe to that notion, I nevertheless know it to be true that the future does not arrive until it is imagined and produced and modeled in the present. Another thing the future requires us to engage even more deeply in constructive endeavors that build up communities, whether through public service and politics or enterprise and political activism. Young Nigerians are the best of us, they are our reservoir of hope and creative optimism. All that is good and great about us as a people is inherent in our young people. I know of no other set of people as obsessed with constant self-improvement as young Nigerians. At home and abroad, this drive to not just be better, but to be the best that they can aspire to be is what defines us and this makes us all very proud of you. I urge you to continue to seek the path of self-actualization. On the part of government, we will as an administration continue to support your efforts by creating an environment that enables the fulfillment of your dreams. It may be difficult, but we will get there. In conclusion, I want to ask you to boldly and with commitment continue to ensure that the Nigerian youth and this great Nigerian dream remains at the heart of everything that you do. For us, it will remain at the heart of our investment and development agenda. I look forward to receiving the outcome of your deliberations from this conference with the promise that government will process it quickly and seek the implementation of relevant aspects for the benefit of the young people of this country. Wherever you are in this country, whatever it is that you are doing, keep moving. Don't look back. You will win eventually. Keep moving ahead. Whatever the situation, we move. We move. Thank you very much. God bless you.