 let me thank you again for your constant invitations to come here practically every year for just as you said for almost eight years now when when you first invited me I was a much younger man as you can imagine because I'm told there are so many young politicians I've spoken here today so it's time for an older politician to speak and I want to thank you again for your very for for your confidence in me and also your confidence in this platform to continuously expose some of the best minds that we have in our nation as all the best ideas that we have constantly every year I want to also commend all of the previous speakers and to say that this is in my view one of the most important platforms that we have in our country to express our views to exchange ideas distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen nation building in its classical sense really just refers to the formal and informal processes by which political leadership attempt to build a national identity a national ethos a national spirit especially in ethnically and religiously diverse societies but it is my own thesis that while government's role is in casting the vision and creating the environment for nationhood the real building of nations is done and best seen through the accomplishments of many outside of political leadership men and women in business agriculture in education in entertainment and the arts who by just doing their business diligently or serving faithfully or making sacrifices contribute to building the economies and social systems that ultimately build the nation so this afternoon I'm going to be sharing with you stories of some young people many of whom I have had the privilege of meeting who by just doing their own work faithfully have contributed to the building of our economy and the building of our nation they have increased our national pride and our confidence they have created opportunities for others as well as inspired others to be the best that they can be my point is that we can contribute in profoundly transformative ways to changing our society by just doing our own bit with excellence let me begin with the exceptional role of young Nigerians in innovation and technology on the 17th of April I did a tour of technology businesses and hubs in Lagos my first stop was paystack here is a safe payment system which offers seamless money transactions between businesses and their customers it was established in 2016 in the midst of the recession by two young Nigerian alumni of the Babcock University Shola Akilade and Ezra Olubi within the first three months of 2018 they have processed over three billion Naira and they generate about 40 billion Naira annually for Nigerian businesses the company is today powering over 9 000 businesses that did not exist two years ago and they have created over 25 000 jobs paystack has almost 50 employees all of the employees are under 35 years of age I was also at andella andella is a multinational company specializing in training software developers co-founded by the Nigerian born and cannibal Jeremy Johnson and christian assas the company estimates that in the next 10 years there will be 1.3 million software development jobs and only 40 000 computer science graduates to fill them so the company's vision is to change the culture of Nigeria and the African continent by developing talent and potential in Nigeria today the company has over a thousand employees worldwide to enable that to happen the role of government is to mainstream technology startups to be able to benefit from the incentives of industry or we'll talk a bit more about that Kola Uine's veneer business hub was also another point where I visited this is one of the earliest business hubs in Nigeria here he has provided an efficient environment for many startups most of which use each other's skills and technology cooperatively but the pioneer of Nigerian hubs is clearly the co-creation hub or cc hub founded in 2010 by two young social entrepreneurs but soon tjani and family longer it provides a platform for innovative technology to solve social problems nearly 15 Nigerian tech driven businesses were incubated in the cc hub some of them include the now famous budget recyclers jenny games lifebank gomiway vacant boards track list auto box started grid systems and marmalade so many others all these businesses were started all of these businesses were started by young men and women under 35 years old one of the startups that came out of veneer hub is called flutter wave flutter wave was founded in may 2016 by a boy again and a team of engineers and former bankers this is a payment technology company that has since processed over two billion dollars not naira now worth of transactions on his payment platform but but of use who tie of use whose paga i'm sure many of us have heard of paga is in a class by itself it is the leading mobile money transfer service in Nigeria paga has 11 000 agents across Nigeria and six million users the company has a staff strength of 200 and by fastly by facilitating the payment for goods and services in this way paga has enabled several other businesses and several other transactions to take place in health care many young people are solving huge problems with ease i don't know how many of us have heard of life bank temi giwa who who founded life bank and all our record is flying doctors these are two startups using technology and innovation to fill critical gaps in our health care industry so life bank works on blood shortage problems in hospitals and they save lives by speeding up blood donations and delivery to hospitals in Lagos their life bank app connects and ensures delivery of blood within 55 minutes all our record is flying doctors is the first air operated emergency medical service in west africa her company provides air ambulances from a pool of 20 aircrafts and highly trained medical personnel for emergency evacuations but the building of a self-reliant nation must mean that the nation should at least be able to feed itself the response of many young nigerians to the to the call of government to grow what we eat and to eat what we grow and also to diversify our economy is responsible for the phenomenal growth we have experienced in the past three years in the agricultural sector in nigeria the transformation in productivity and increase in investment that nigerian talent and entrepreneurship have brought to agriculture is just remarkable farm crowding and that's the name of a business is a digital agricultural portal that crowd sources funding for farms across nigeria also founded in 2016 by onyeka akuma and three other young nigerians it operates like a mutual fund pulling together money from multiple investors to establish farms and hire smallholder farmers to cultivate them and then paying the investors dividends from the harvest from these farms in december 2017 it's succeeded in raising a million dollars in capital funding and from november 2016 to date it has over 3 000 rural farmers all of these farmers have been able to of course to keep a job to expand their operations to increase their revenue as a result of the intervention of farm crowding farmers like sunday ohimai who is a kasaba farmer in edo state ester who is a maize farmer from dorua babuje just outside joce she recently improved her small acreage to a hectare uka ages thrive at greek in abuja uses the same business model as farm crowding also with great success four years before farm crowding in 2012 yemisee in raloe founded sultry a kasaba processing company in the rural town of aduawai the starch it produces from the process kasaba is now used by several leading nigerian manufacturing companies including nestle unilever and nigerian breweries as they increasingly replace imported starch with locally sourced varieties sultry was one of the companies that found growth opportunities in the midst of the recession as companies cut down on imports and explored locally available substitution companies like sultry rose in 2015 its revenues grew threefold and in 2016 it began building a second production line that is a success story of sultry but then there's also abdu fatah sardik mutala 25 years old from batagara local government in katsina state he founded bio green agro in 2016 it builds greenhouses and hydrophonic systems what's a hydrophonic system is a method of growing plants in the growth chambers without soil bio green is producing now animal fodder in a climate control facility year-round using his technology using this technology bio green agro supplies farms and ranches now with fodder feed across the country let's call her mashah baban gona it supports small holder farms in northern nigeria with financing with agricultural input with training and marketing mashah is leveraging his experience in both the public and private sectors to deliver solutions that are changing the lives of thousands of struggling farmers like umamagaji for example umamagaji is a 35 year farmer who owns 1.5 hectares of land and as of this year he has leased another 2.5 hectares he plans to increase and thanks to babagana he says his yields are two to three times what they were last year he has now refurbished his house bought a motorcycle and rolled his children in school and is hoping that he can perform the pilgrimage to saudi arabia within the next two years angela delaga is a founder of fresh direct she has perfected an innovative approach to farming in disused containers without soil and with very little water what she's doing could very well be the beginning of a farming revolution in nigeria also while i was visiting the workstation which is a hub in victoria island i had the pleasure of drinking sholala doja's fresh juice the name of the fresh juices pick me up it's made up by his startup which is called simply green simply green is a farm to bottle raw organic cold press juice company using organic and technologically harvested practices meaning that they do not use chemicals or pesticides in growing their fruits and vegetables this is a kind of innovation that young people have brought to agriculture but in beauty and high fashion there's very little doubt that young nigerians have captured and in some instances dominated local and international imagination so the groundbreaking works and i'm sure some of us know deo lassego and lisa folawio has spawned a whole new generation of of nigerian designers who are confidently using nigerian and african print to make bold and unmistakable statements in high fashion so today deo lassego has transformed the traditional uroba uroa and buba by using laser cut ashok to create the now famous kumole show many of us know kumole the toast of rides across the country lisa folawio on her part has taken beaded african print to new levels of creativity and both of them have inspired a new generation of designers like andrea yama and 30 31-year-old am a a maca osakwe makio is the name of her brand and she started at the age of 23 she's now celebrated in vogue magazine and last year in the new york as west african's most daring designer her use of adire in many Many collections is an intentional ploy to boldly redefine elements of our culture. Of course there are others, orange culture, Mayatafo are also making waves in men's clothing. In the beauty industry, Tara Fela Dorotoe, of course you know Fela, founder of the House of Tara and Banker Meshida, BM Pro, stand out as pioneers who have influenced a whole generation of beauty experts and beauty products. They've opened a new vista in bridal makeup, Tara's training of hundreds of beauty experts and her franchising of the House of Tara has created a new indigenously Nigerian beauty industry. This has created thousands of jobs for beauty experts and retailers. So now we see more ladies with their contours and highlights popping. Elaine Edouzian Shobanjo, I'm sure some of us know Shomaya and Joyce Jacob have also introduced Hollywood glamour to the whole bridal makeup industry in Nigeria. By the way, what celebration today can beat the Nigerian wedding? From the makeup dresses to the decor, catering, the cakes, party planning and photography. A whole new industry has developed around weddings by creative young people making an otherwise memorable event even more memorable and linking ethnicities across the country in fashion and ceremony. Today everyone Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, where, they even call it, their wedding ceremonies are becoming increasingly similar, not just by uniformity that results in the loss of culture or tradition, but by creativity that brings a standard while accentuating tradition and culture. The whole nature of the moderation yet preservation of the traditional engagement ceremony is such a testament to the depth of thought and creativity of those young Nigerians who are internationalizing our wedding ceremonies. The Nigerian wedding has become so popular that the film Wedding Party was a major international commercial success. But it is perhaps in the literal arts, especially the written and the spoken word, that we see the difficult issues of nation building most poignantly confronted by young people. A new generation of literally touch-bearers have emerged. Talents like Chimamanda Adiche, Helen Habila, Teju Kou, Chika Onigwe, Chigo Ziebi Obiyoma, Chibundu Onuzo, Abubaka Ibrahim, Ehosa Emaswin, Ayobami Adebayo, Elnathan John, and many more. And points, you also have points like Titilakwa Shonuga, D.K. Chukumereji, picking up the baton from the Shoyankas and the Acebes. Their works expose the complications and solutions to the issues associated with the mentality of persons in the post-colonial state. How a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society can and how a multi-ethnic and a multi-religious society can thrive and survive. And how the major questions that emerge from all of these records and histories can be used to build a nation. The reflection and introspection from their talents, boldness, their precision, their undiluted expressions and call to action, invoking all of us exactly what nation building and greatness is made of. They're not timid, and they represent a growing class of sophistication and confidence that confront lingering post-civil war and even post-colonial exam pains. The highlight. They highlight the hypocrisy of ethno-religious barriers often set by the elite for selfish advantage. And they expose the underlying selfishness and failure of statemanship that exploits false lines for political and personal benefit. They highlight the cancer of systemic corruption, how it has eaten into the fabric of our society and cost us lives, years and retrogression. These writers and poets explore, explain and humanize the difficult issues around social justice, the humiliation and delegitimization that poverty brings and the failures of the rule of law. In Chimamanda Aditya's Half of a Yellow Sun, one of the main characters is a university professor and he tells his house boy the following, and I quote, he said, there are two answers to the things they will teach you about and the real answer and the answer that you must give to pass. So there are two answers, the real answer and the answer that you must give to pass. So you must read books and learn both answers. I'll give you two books the professor said. Excellent books. They will teach you that a white man called Mongo Park discovered River Niger. That is rubbish. People fished in the Niger long before Mongo Park's grandfather was born. But in your exam, write that it was Mongo Park. End of quote. This reminds me of one of the proverbs that Chinua Chebe popularized. He said, until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. An affirmation of the truth that nation building is also about storytelling and the importance of telling our own stories and writing our own histories. Anietta Isong, her book is called Radio Sunrise, is a scathing indictment of bribery in the journalism profession. The watchdogs of our democracy are sometimes mere captives of corrupt politicians and that news and its analysis may often just be paid for. There's no doubt at all from what Anietta Isong says in her book and also from experience that grand corruption remains the most enduring threat to our economy. Just to give an example, three billion US dollars was stolen in what was called the so-called strategic allowance contract sometime in 2013. Three Nigerians were responsible. Today, three billion dollars is one trillion Naira. Our budget, the entire budget, and budgets are estimates, not actual cash, is seven trillion. So if three people made a way with one trillion and the entire national budget is seven trillion, you cannot wonder how come it is that the economy will struggle when all in our country was selling for a hundred to a hundred and fourteen dollars a barrel. The government then spent 99 billion on transport and agriculture got 15 billion and transport got 15 billion and culture got 14 billion. All the ministries together, all those ministries mentioned got 139 billion. Today, with all prices between 60 and 70, powerworks and housing can get 415 billion. Transport gets 80, agriculture gets 65, and the total is 560 billion. How come we can do more with less income? How come we're able to invest in infrastructure? How come we can do the Lagos standard gauge railway, the Mambila hydro, the second Niger bridge with 60% less income that we earned a few years ago. The truth is, just as Isong said, if you control corruption, you can do more with far less. D.K. Chupu Meryje, I'm sure some of us know him, reminds us in his powerful poem The Revolution, that the poem is titled The Revolution has no tribe. The Revolution has no tribe. He reminds us that our that our destinies as Nigerians, no matter our tribe or religion, are inextricably tied together. What affects one affects all. Suffering neither knows tribe nor town. He says and I quote him, do you not know that poverty is not any German? He will not spare the rest of us and afflict only the Isha. He will stop, he will step over the river and come across the border. So when the drums sound, let everybody answer. Do you not know that corruption is not from Nakedi? He will not hear that Ife had no dealings with Mudakeke. He will wake up all of our children at night with hunger. So when the drums sound, let everyone answer. Do you know that our enemies have no faces? That they are indigens of no state, that they come from no place and if this boat capsizes, everyone of us will go under. So when the drums sound, let everybody answer. Do not say I am an Iroko when the forest is burning. Do not say I'm an obituary when the forest is burning. Our differences will not prevent us from perishing together. So when the drums sound, let everybody answer. Nations that end of quote. Nations are built by the contributions of many or many of us forget the public servants, those who work for governments despite sometimes poor remuneration. A few examples of these public servants, Damilolo Gumbi was 28 years old when as the first female general manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board, she supervised the building of the five independent power plants in Lagos State and was responsible for providing solar power to over 200 schools and primary health centers in Lagos State. Today, she is the first female managing director of the Federal Rural Electrification Agency, responsible for providing uninterrupted power to 13 federal universities and seven teaching hospitals. This is a new project called Energizing Education, which is pioneering from the Ministry of Powerworks and Housing. She started the project to provide power to Nigeria's largest markets already. The first phase of that project has been completed in the Sabungari market in Karnu and the construction phase of the Arariya market in Abah, the construction phase of the of the power center in Arariya market, has also started. Afalabi Mukwede handles the N-Power program, a major feature of the federal government's social investment policy. The program engages 200,000 graduates across all local government. Its applications come through a portal developed by Softcom, a company of young Nigerian engineers. The process of engagement goes through that platform and millions have applied through that platform. Tochi Inwachuku is a special assistant to the president on power privatization, responsible for transmission, doing innumerable transmission projects across the country. E-mail Kone is a senior special assistant to the president, advising on railways, roads, airports, and other infrastructure projects. Mariam Masha is a medical doctor, senior special assistant to the president on IDPs, and with Bisi, who is Ogumbadejo, both have been working with IDPs in Maiduguri since August 2015. Recently, they have been managing a newly built learning center and a home for 1,500 offers in Maiduguri. Muhammad Braima works on the Northeast Humanitarian Technology Hub, where groundbreaking innovation is applied to tackle humanitarian challenges. And all of these individuals, all of them, young people working in government, young people doing creative things in governments. I've mentioned only those who are working in the federal government and there are hundreds of others working in state governments, but often forgotten, very often forgotten, are the excellent teachers in primary and secondary schools. Take the wonderful ingenuity and dedication of a mayor for Chigozie. She is a secondary school teacher in the FCT in Abuja. She's earned several awards for extraordinary efforts in raising our next generation. This microbiology and chemistry graduate of the University of Nigeria and Sukha was named the best science teacher and recognized specially for exceptional performance in preparing students in the federal capital territory in quiz and project exhibitions. She's also recently received another award for contributing to the 774 Young Nigerian Scientists Presidential Award competitions. As a chemistry teacher, the success rate of a mayor for students in the past five years of Wayak and Neko ranged from 87 percent to 92 percent. There's also Doreen Omorige. She's a school teacher, primary school teacher and also now works in the secondary school for Medo State. She also works out of the federal capital territory. She's a graduate of chemistry education and she deserves this mention because of the consistent way that she goes beyond the call of duty in discharging her responsibilities. Even as a youth copper serving in a primary school, she organized a workshop for teachers on the use of primary science case. She was soon able to take her school towards winning the award for the first best state school in Nigeria in science. Ms. Omorige herself was the best science teacher in her school for three consecutive years. Quite remarkably, she's been able to use her knowledge in producing soap, sanitizer and disinfectants, many of which were used even during the Ebola crisis a few years ago. It's just amazing the incredible work that these individuals do. These are the true nation builders, the teachers, the farmers, the entrepreneurs, the public servants who work in this country. They pay their taxes, they bear the hardships, but they remain focused. They are determined. Most of them, just as Abiyoni Ginodyu said, are survivors but they are determined and they are committed. They are the ones who recognize that even where change is slow, it will come. They are prepared to do their own part day by day, their own dreams of greatness, their hard work at the building blocks of our nation. And how about the young men and women of the police and armed forces who lay their lives on the line daily to protect us? The story of late Colonel Muhammadu Abu Ali has been told often as commander of the 272 task force battalion. His battalion was responsible for the capture for the recapture of Bama, Baga, Mongunu, and later Konduga. He was decorated for bravery and excellence. He was decorated for bravery and excellence. He had become a terror to Boko Haramin surgeons, but he and four others were killed in an ambush. He was just 36 years old, survived by a wife and three children. The story of the late Sergeant Chukudi Boko went viral when he confronted armed robbers in a daylight robbery at the Zenith Bank in Oweri, Amos State. He killed one of the robbers. He killed one of the robbers, but the robbery was failed, but he and another officer, Sergeant Sunday Agbo, died of the gunshot injuries that they sustained during the attack. Both of them left wives and children. It is to these men and women who fight to defend our nation from terrorism and crime that we owe the preservation of our nationhood. Some of them do not die, they just lose their limbs, they lose their sight, they lose their hearing. The widows and widowers and children of these brave men and women bear the pain and anguish of loss by themselves for many years. And then there is the entertainment industry whose main advantage lies in how it transcends tribe, town, and location to bring joy to the screens of millions of Nigerians. Think how much bliss the music videos of Clarence Peters and the best-selling comedies of Ayo Maku, AY, Basket Mouth, Aporo Ro, Chioma Emerua, Chi Gao, Fouls the Bad Guy, Funke Akinele, Jennifer, and the talented singer and comedian Kenny Black have brought to audiences at home and abroad. All of these people, they proudly fly our flag and they make us proud. Of course, one of our favorites, especially at the villa is the one that you just saw, Senator MC Togo A. He's excellency the president. His impersonations of the president has the president himself nearly falling off his chair with laughter. The newest generation emerging as we speak on Instagram and WhatsApp, like La Cici Elena, something just happened right now. See this fellow? Something just happened right now. And Willem Zucimba, you know I don't like what I hate. Stand-up comedy in Nigeria owes much to the pioneering efforts and the mentorship of Ali Baba. He literally created a whole industry. AY Ayo Maku is not just successful. He has continuously given a new generation of comedians a platform with his AY live shows. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, an individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. End of quote. Few will deny the incredible dividends that Hollywood has brought to Nigeria. Jason Njoko and his wife and his wife, Mary Remy, owners of Iroko and Rock TV, pioneered live streaming of Nollywood movies. Taking Nollywood to the world. They've also provided opportunities for hundreds of production personnel and agents. For a lot of these, it is to Mo Abudu, founder of Ebony Live TV, which already airs in 49 countries and a prolific creator of high quality afrocentric entertainment content that the pride of place must be given. Mo has continuously sought to change the negative perceptions of Africa and Nigeria by telling African-Nigerian stories from a purely African perspective. Her project, which most of us know, the wedding party, became the highest grossing Nigerian movie of all time. Wherever you go in the world today, whether you're in an airplane or in a department store, anywhere in the world, you can hear Nigerian music. The credit for taking Nigerian music to the world must go to stars like Tiwa Savage, David O, Olamide, Whiskey, Wajie and so many others. Their creativity and talent has benefited our nation's image and put the spring in the steps of so many young and aspiring entertainers. The credit for the discovery, grooming and production of many world-class Nigerian acts and records and building true Nigerian brands is the likes of Don Jazzy. Don Jazzy's Mavin Records and Banki WU of EME. As government, our business is to create the environment for entrepreneurs to do business, to work on access to cheap credit and on providing the infrastructure, especially power and greater broadband penetration. But the task of nation building is never done. The builders confront new problems every day. Today we are confronted with the remnants of Boko Haram, with farmer-herdsmen clashes, with the potential of ethno-religious conflict. We have to feed ourselves. We have to provide millions of new jobs as every day more people are added to the population. The joy, the job of the builder is not to complain or to escape, but to confront and to resolve. But what we can do together to ensure that we don't spend the rest of our days looking forward to the past, frozen by inaction, we resolve to do the same things that we must not do the same things over and over again while hoping for better results. I believe the solution is in building that Nigerian bridge. The bridge will not be one that is built of steel or bricks or mortar. It is one that will be built of the strongest materials of all, our will to excel as Nigerians, our commitment to build a new society, men and women of a new Nigerian tribe. This is a bridge that connects us across tribes, across ethnicities, across dialects, a bridge that connects us across religion, politics, and across even generations. Every one of us can travel on this bridge, the strong and steady bridge, a bridge that rises from innovation and traditions that span the troubled waters of our past, a bridge that will withstand the powerful forces of fear, division and exclusion, a bridge that can take the traffic of all our best ideas, our creativity, our human and material resources daily to the destination of our dreams. This bridge will be built with the wisdom of the elderly and the strength of the youth. All of us deserve some accolades. God bless you. Thank you very much.