Nigerian youths, masses ready for Buhari again — Adhama
Alhaji Nasiru Sa’idu Adhama is the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Youths and Students’ Affairs. In this interview, he said Nigerians, especially the youth are ever ready to vote for Buhari in 2019 if he contests again. Excerpts:
In what ways has your office intervened in the crisis following the eviction notice issued by a coalition of Arewa youth groups?
My office was one of the first to establish contact with some of the known members of the Arewa coalition after they made the Kaduna declaration, to highlight to them the potential dangers of what such a statement can make. We also issued an official statement challenging their statement and to also appeal for calm.
There was a statement issued a few weeks ago by some youth groups calling for the creation of an independent Youth Ministry due to the purported neglect of youth issues by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. What can you say about this?
I read the statement in some newspapers where the youth groups made claims that the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has been neglecting youth issues in favour of sports development. I may not have any authority over this matter but my advice is that they would feel the impact of the ministry whenever the National Youth Policy is implemented. The National Youth Policy is a policy document meant to serve as a blueprint for youth empowerment and engagement in Nigeria. It was reviewed in 2009 from the 2001 version. I believe the nonimplementation of the document since it was reviewed in 2009 is at the core of their feeling of neglect. However, I am confident that the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports is working towards the implementation of this document.
We have observed that your office did not feature in the 2016 and 2017 budget passed into law. How did you execute the programmes of your office without funding since your appointment?
Let me a general misconception about my appointment and operations of my office. You see, the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Youth and Students’ Affairs is a policy advisory office under the office of the president, with a focus on youth and students’ issues. The office is not an agency and that may explain why you will not find it listed in the budget schedule of the Federal Government.
However, with the approval of Mr President, special programmes are included in the budget as you may have noticed the Social Investment Programme, Sustainable Development Goals and Presidential Amnesty programmes, which have all featured in the budget and are supervised by the offices of Special Advisers to the President or a Senior Special Assistant.
In actualizing some of these programmes that you have identified, I rely mainly on partnerships with multinational organisations and other organs of government. However, these have not yielded the desired result in impacting on the lives of as many youths as we have intended. clear
Having been with President Buhari for 16 years now, do you think Nigerian youths will support him if he decides to contest again?
If you have followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s declarations to run for the presidency in the past, you will notice a very consistent trend. Right from the beginning, President Buhari has never run for office based on a personal ambition. He has always been pressured by the masses, especially the youths to contest.