Babangida under attack over Twitter comment on job creation

Former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida

Former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida has come under attack over his twitter comment on job creation. The former Head of State, who ruled for eight years from 1985 to 1993, in his twitter handle, @General_Ibbro, said: “The work of Nigeria is not complete, until every unemployed graduate gets a job.”

Some prominent Nigerians including erstwhile chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Chief Frank Kokori, National Chairman of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Ralph Nwosu and National Publicity Secretary, Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Mr. Yinka Odumakin differed on Babangida’s position.

While some described him as a failure desperately looking for relevance, others were of the opinion that though he failed during his tenure on job creation, the message was cogent and needed to be quickly addressed else unemployment might pull the country down with time.

Kokori said it was either Babangida is looking for a way to launder his image based on what is happening to the country or rather just feel like talking. According to him, “Babangida being an absolute military leader during his regime had every opportunity to transform Nigeria with the enormous wealth accruable then but he failed. I think he should just bury his head in shame.”

Kokori, a former General Secretary, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union (NUPENG) also added that serious minded Nigerians should no bother to take him serious over the call because he created most of the problem the country is going through today.

He however added that unemployment is a challenge that must be addressed as urgent as possible in the country. Nwosu, on his part said it was true many Nigerians including himself used to be very critical of Babangida until he owned up to his mistakes by saying if he had another opportunity he would have done differently.

According to Nwosu: “For Babangida to have owned up, unlike other leaders who saw their actions and policies as impeccable, he had demonstrated humility, which must have triggered his twitter comment.

“As a matter of fact, no reasonable person would feel unconcerned about the high rate of unemployment in the nation today.” Odumakin said the messenger does not matter in this sense but his message.

“Whatever Babangida must have done was in the past, we should be bothered about the message and the implications of the issue he is trying to address. Unless we tackle the challenges of the army of unemployed youths in Nigeria, the country may be heading for the rock.”