Fellow Nigerians,
It is now 55 years since that powerful moment in Kano, when I, as Federal Commissioner for Finance, challenged our nation to think boldly and act courageously. Today, I speak not from the past, but to the present—and to you, the youth of 2025, with a dream still burning in my heart: a Nigeria that fulfills its vast promise. We emerged from the civil war in 1970 battered but unbowed. We had survived armed rebellion and the growing pains of nine new states—without borrowing a kobo from abroad. Imagine that! Thirty months of war, and not a single credit line drawn. If we could do that, then we can do anything—if only we decide to do it together.

But what have we done with our peace?

Where are the basic national objectives that all Nigerians, from Sokoto to Calabar, from Yola to Lagos, can pursue as one people? The real enemy isn’t another ethnic group. The enemy is ignorance. It is a preventable disease. It is joblessness. It is hunger in a land that can feed a continent. So I ask you—youth of Nigeria: what kind of future are you building? Let me offer you a path. Seven objectives I outlined over five decades ago. Seven timeless pillars we must revisit—not as relics, but as realities still within our reach.

1. Full Employment
   It is a tragedy that in a nation bursting with human and natural resources, millions still sit idle. Nigeria’s youth are not lazy—they are locked out. We must plan—not for reduced unemployment—but for its total eradication. We have the land. We have the people. We have the brainpower. We lack only the will. Unemployment breeds envy, bitterness, and division. Full employment builds peace, dignity, and unity.
2. Free Education at All Levels
   Why must education be a luxury for the rich? An uneducated population cannot lead a 21st-century economy. Our youth deserve digital skills, global knowledge, and local wisdom—not exam malpractice, strikes, or dilapidated classrooms. In 2025, every child without access to quality education is a failure of leadership and a betrayal of potential.
3. Universal Healthcare
   Can we truly be free if a mother dies in childbirth due to poor care? If a child dies from malaria when medicine exists? Let us build clinics, train nurses, equip hospitals—not for the rich, but for all Nigerians. Health is not charity. It is a national investment.
4. Modernising Agriculture
   Our forefathers farmed with hoes. Why are we still doing the same in 2025? Mechanisation, irrigation, research, and logistics must transform our farms into agribusiness powerhouses. Food security is national security. Nigeria should be the supermarket of Africa, not its food basket case.
5. Industrialisation Through Agro-Allied Value Chains
   Industries should not be concentrated in just a few cities. Let each state build its own economic engine, powered by what it produces. From cocoa in Ondo to tomatoes in Kano, from rice in Ebonyi to fish in Bayelsa—we can process what we grow, package what we produce, and sell what we create. This is how we build jobs with dignity, not just jobs for survival.
6. Integrated Transport Infrastructure
   Without roads, rail, ports, and waterways—there is no economy. No nation moves forward while its people and goods are stuck in potholes and traffic. A nation’s strength lies in its connectivity. From the North to the Niger Delta, from the hinterlands to the harbours, let us move people and prosperity—seamlessly and safely.
7. A Strong, Compassionate Federal Government
   No state must be left behind. And no state must stand alone. A united Nigeria means the Centre must have enough to support any state in distress—whether from flood, poverty, or insurgency. Let revenue allocation be a tool for solidarity, not suspicion. Let political power be a platform for service, not domination.

Final Word to the Youth of Nigeria
You were born into a nation with smartphones but without stable power. With social media but not social safety nets. With potential—but little progress. Do not accept this as your fate. I believe in you—the coding girl in Katsina, the mechanic boy in Aba, the nursing student in Makurdi, the artist in Lagos, the farmer in Zamfara. You are not the leaders of tomorrow. You are the changemakers of today. Demand better. Build boldly. Think Nigeria. Think together. For if we could fund a civil war with no debt, imagine what we could do with peace, unity, and purpose.

The Nigeria we deserve is not behind us. It is ahead of us—and it is ours to create!