AYEEN president Summy Francis addresses Nigerian youths and encourages them to vote

Fellow Young Nigerians,

As we all know, general elections will be held in our great country the "Giant of Africa", Nigeria on the 14th February 2015, when we will choose the people to govern our affairs for the next 4 years. Since the start of democracy in 1999, it has been a long journey. Continue...

Nigeria having the largest population of youths in Africa, it is quite unfortunate that as in many other African societies, ethnocentrism, tribalism, religious intolerance, and high rates of corruption continue to constitute major challenges to Nigeria leading to poverty and security crisis. These have made millions of Nigerian youth to emigrate during times of economic hardship, primarily to Europe, United States, South Africa and Australia. Depriving themselves of the opportunities available in our country, forgetting “investment is like farming, there is no better feeling like harvesting from your own land.”

 

With the abundance of natural and human resources the future of our country is bright. Our focus as young people should be contributing to the social and economic development through the growing of our businesses. While the year 2014 was difficult for many Nigerian Entrepreneurs with our economy been weakened and our confidence shaken due to security crisis, amongst other constraints, we must reflect on this year 2015 and know that our challenges may be great, each of us has the inherent courage to rise up and overcome any of it.

The answers to our problems does not lie beyond our reach, it is in our votes. Nelson Mandela once said "When people are determined they can overcome anything."

The state of our country will directly or indirectly affect our businesses and our state of livelihood  so it is high time we took our destinies in our hands.

On this note, as the election day draws nearer, I encourage every youth and members of the Africa's Young Entrepreneurs (A.Y.E) who are Nigerians to vote without any selfish gain of what you have been given but rather what would benefit us as a Nation. Let us eschew completely from any form of violence or barbarity , avoid being used by egocentric politicians for any horrendous act , "any youth that fights and kills himself for the sake of a political party , is as stupid as a boko haram member , at least a boko haram member was  given arms , you were given t.shirts" With 68.8 million eligible voters, let us vote for the right candidate regardless of religion, social status or ethnicity. Your vote is your voice as a Nigerian citizen , it is your only opportunity to be heard and to hold elected officials accountable for their decisions.  This is the only time that our government sees the importance of the youth , let us then use this power wisely and safely ," any soul that is lost for the sake of any political party is a LOST SOUL INDEED because there is no place neither in heaven nor in hell for him , you can proof me wrong search your Bible or Quran and see if there is a record of such a death . we do not need to kill ourselves to pass a message, "with the right tune and approach leaders will listen to you" .On Election Day, encourage friends, family and clients to head to the poll and decide Nigeria’s future,This is the country we live in, the country we love and the country we desire to prosper.

 

As the A.Y.E  motto goes "If you can achieve this much alone, how much more can we achieve together?". TOGETHER We will rebuild, TOGETHER we will recover, and TOGETHER the Federal republic of Nigeria will emerge stronger than before. Our country and ultimately the world can be a better place if we work TOGETHER to truly make it one.

Long live A.Y.E!

God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!