Donald Duke To Nigerian Youths: Stop Behaving Like Tenants In Your Country

A former governor of Cross River state, Donald Duke on Tuesday charged young Nigerians to play a pivotal role in leadership and governance and start acting like people who truly own the country.

Speaking at the Nigeria Symposium for Young and Emerging Leaders which held at Terra Kulture, Lagos, he observed that Nigerian youths behave like tenants in their country, thereby leaving older politicians and godfathers to take decisions on their behalf.


The symposium, themed: ‘Open Governance: Improving Transparency and Accountability in Government’, attracted leaders in politics, business, media, and more to discuss issues and challenges of open government and active citizenship.

Speaking during the panel session entitled: ‘Office of the Citizen’, the ex-governor stated that Nigerian youths need to get involved to make a difference while in the prime of their lives, or suffer the consequences of not making the right demands from their government.

His words, “Godfatherism grows out of mentorship… They are there to set you on a path, but do not let them enslave you. Right now, Nigerian youths have the numbers to make positive changes in this country, and they should use it.

“There is a lot of contempt in government now because there are no consequences to wrong actions by the government. The failure in the country is the youths’ inability to aspire for better lives and situations for themselves. They behave like tenants in their own country.”