Aiyedatiwa’s aide, Yusuf urges youths to stop waiting, start building future

The Special Assistant to the Ondo State Governor on Digital Media, Rahman Adekunle Yusuf, has urged Nigerian youths to stop waiting for the government and others to create opportunities for them, saying they must take deliberate steps towards building their future.

Yusuf, who made the call while reviewing Christopher Olusa’s book, No More Future: Why Waiting Is Over—and What to Build Instead, said the culture of waiting had become a major challenge among young Nigerians.

He said many youths had continued to postpone action while waiting for better economic conditions, employment, government interventions, or financial opportunities.

According to him, the book challenges young people to see the future not as something they should wait for, but as something they must consciously build through skills, discipline, relationships, credibility, and purposeful action.

“The future is not a destination we eventually arrive at. It is something we construct deliberately, often imperfectly, with whatever resources, skills, and opportunities are available to us now,” Yusuf said.

He said No More Future went beyond conventional motivational literature by encouraging young people to take responsibility for the aspects of their lives within their control.

Yusuf acknowledged the challenges confronting young Nigerians, including unemployment, economic hardship, educational disruptions, weak institutions, technological changes, and the increasing attraction of migration, popularly known as “japa.”

He, however, warned threcognizinging those challenges should not become an excuse for inaction.

“We cannot control everything the government or society does, but we retain responsibility for our own actions. The book asks a very important question: what are you doing with what you have?” he said.