Nigerians Have No Reason To Be Poor - Tinubu

 

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu has said his countrymen have no reason to be poor.

 

He made the call in the US while calling on Nigerians in the U.S. to rise above failure by having a change of mindset for success in all their endeavours in life.

 

Tinubu who gave the advice at the Presidential Townhall Meeting with Nigerians in the diaspora on Wednesday in New York noted that Nigerians had no reason to be poor.

 

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Townhall Meeting was organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.

 

Tinubu, who commended the efforts on out-of-school children, the healthcare programme and the need to eradicate poverty, said Nigeria was a blessed country.

“There were so many hurdles on my way that would have stopped me. I refused to be stopped, you can do the same as many of you here that are contesting elections”, the President said.

 

Speaking further, he said, “I want to give you a measure that will resonate with you. I was once a diaspora. What you have been through, I have been through it. A change of mindset is necessary.

“Also, anywhere you stay, there is always going to be an opportunity in, and in everything you do, there is always going to be an opportunity, if you know how to search and put your mind into it,’’ he said.

 

The president, however, expressed delight in the conduct of Nigerians who have continued to excel in their chosen fields in their host country.

 

“But, we need you back home, Nigeria has arrived; forget the frustration of the previous year’s leadership,’’ he said.

 

In addition, he urged the Nigerians to embrace one another, urging that there should not be no sentiment and discrimination among them.

 

Tinubu said: “You ought to embrace one another. No labeling, no identity, you should remove ethnic identify that tend to differentiate us.

Earlier, the Chairperson of NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, introduced some Nigerians excelling in their chosen fields in in the U.S. to the president.

 

Some of them who spoke expressed their delight in the leadership courage of the president, pledging to continue to support him in his efforts to reform Nigeria.

 

They promised that they would continue to make Nigeria proud in their host country and also contribute their quotas to the development of the home country.

 

In his remarks, the first Nigerian-American elected into the United States Congress, Oye Owolewa, said 25 per cent of business orders in the U,S. were black and 1.7 per cent got federal contracts.

 

Owolewa, who represents Washington DC, said they have been supporting people to take advantage ot such opportunities for their economic empowerment.

“In my office, we do the talk, we teach our people how to get contract, we teach our people how to get grants.,’’ he said.

 

Also speaking, a Nigerian-American, Olufunmilola Obe, an Inspector working in the New York Police Department, briefed the president on her efforts to make Africa, especially Nigeria proud in her office.

 

She told Tinubu that she  was the coordinator of an African Law Enforcement Organisation, an association within the NYPD, as Vice President.

 

Obe is the first African ever to be promoted to the rank of an Inspector in the history of NYPD.

 

NAN reports that the Town Hall Meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign of Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar; Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola and the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Amb.Tijjani Muhammad-Bande