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.
Source: Punch
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