We are not lazy,' Nigerian youth lash out at President Buhari on social media

We are not lazy,' Nigerian youth lash out at President Buhari on social media

Using the hashtag #LazyNigerianYouth on social media, Nigerians expressed their anger with the comments, which many said did not reflect the entrepreneurial drive of young people in the country.

Young people in Nigeria face chronic unemployment and underemployment, so the president's remarks have hit a raw nerve in a country where many are struggling in a tough economic climate.

Some said Buhari, 75, missed an opportunity during the panel to sell the potential of Nigeria's human capital and largely young demographic to an overseas audience.

"It was (a) pure undiluted gaffe especially with a foreign audience you are telling to come and invest in your country," Uche Enechi said in a Facebook comment. "Normally, a president will say, 'come and invest here because we have a youthful, skilled and hardworking labor force that you need, plus a secure and business friendly environment.' He just said the opposite."

Buhari's media aide, Femi Adesina said the president's remarks were misinterpreted to mean he had taken "all Nigerian youths to the cleaners."

In a statement, Adesina said: "... elementary English recognises a wide gulf between 'a lot of' and the word 'all.' How can 'a lot of them," suddenly transmogrify to mean 'all of them?' Mischievous and unconscionable!"

"There is no way President Buhari, father of the Nigerian nation in every sense of the word, who equally has biological children of his own in the youth age bracket, pass a vote of no confidence on all youths. It can only exist in the imagination of those who play what the president has described as 'irresponsible politics'," Adesina added in the statement.

Others seized the opportunity to highlight how they are forced to work two or three jobs to make ends meet.