Jonathan Pledges To Help Nigerian Youths Succeed Without Godfathers

President Goodluck Jonathan has pledged his administration's
commitment to help Nigerian youth succeed in their business and other
endeavours.
Mr. Jonathan said on Wednesday that the youth should no longer require
godfathers to achieve success in their activities and that the era of
`godfatherism', where some Nigerians secured government opportunities,
without merit, was over.
"The country should be the godfather of everybody. The government
should be the godfather of every Nigerian.
"We will continue to encourage the young people," the president said
after inspecting products manufactured by some Nigerian youth.
The manufacturers were among the first batch of 1,200 Nigerian youth
who benefitted from the "YOU-WIN Programme" introduced by the present
administration.
Mr. Jonathan said he was impressed by the products manufactured by the
youth and displayed for inspection by members of the Executive Council
of the Federation (FEC) before the commencement of their weekly
meeting.
"We must build a society where our young people will see a different
Nigeria, see a Nigeria that they will believe in, a Nigeria that will
also protect them," the president said.
The President also pledged assistance to Nigerian youth by developing
their skills and business expertise to become international
entrepreneurs.
He reiterated his administration's commitment to build a country that
the future generation would be proud of.
"The concept of YOUWIN is to build entrepreneurs that will start from
the scratch, develop their skills and their business acumen and grow
them to the known larger business in the world.
"Some of the big names we are hearing started this way. Very few
people get into their business in a big way but most times they
collapse because they didn't know how to growbusinesses.
"We are quite impressed by what you have done so far,'' he said.
The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the manufacturers
whose products were displayed are just a small section of the first
batch of 1200 YOUWIN beneficiaries.
She disclosed that over 16,000 jobs hadbeen created by the first batch
of winners of the programme.
The displayed products included food products like poultry feeds,
coconut cooking oil, cakes from cassava flour, Moringa tea; as well as
other items likeV-Sat Internet connectivity gadgets, and dresses.
The President directed the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi
Chukwu, to assist some of the young entrepreneurs who have
difficulties registering their products with the National Agency for
Food and Drug Administration and Control.