President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said that he
was yet to complete his house in his hometown Otuoke in Bayelsa State.
According to him, he might give out the house before
he passes on, if he discovers that his children may not be willing to relocate
to the village.
Mr. President said this in Lagos at a fund raising
ceremony for St. Stephens Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre,
Otuoke.
His words, “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 behavior of my children and if I don’t see any of them that will patronize
the village, I will donate my house before I die.”
He called on the need for prominent Nigerians to
make meaningful contributions to the progress of poor communities in the nation
for the betterment of lives of the youth and empower them to make useful
contributions towards national development.
Jonathan noted that project for the St. Stephens
Anglican Deanery and Youth Development Centre was very important to him because
he wanted to make sure that the youth go through a better system of education
different from the one he experienced while growing up.
He voiced his conviction thus, “I feel the only
thing I can do is to make sure that from nursery school to primary and secondary
school, and 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.
Those 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.
Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Tunde
Lemo, ministers, senators, members of the House of Representatives and
prominent indigenes of Otuoke also graced the occasion.
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