A youth development advocate, Mrs Khadijah Okunnu-Lamidi (KOL) has announced intention to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
She is the daughter of Femi Okunnu (SAN), an elder statesman and former Federal Commissioner of Works and Housing.
The entrepreneur is the first female, in the current political circle, to announce bid to lead the country.
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On Monday, she told the media in Lagos that it was high time the youths in Nigeria took over the reins of power.
The aspirant said with a large population, young citizens should support their peers to occupy the high offices to bring about more job opportunities in all sectors.
Okunnu-Lamidi insists she isn’t in the race out of vanity or frivolity, but with humility, responsibility and the burden of a generation to whom the future of the nation belongs.
KOL noted that youths believe in the promise of an equitable and just political union which consolidates the people’s diverse strengths and harnesses untapped resources.
“Our contribution to Nigeria’s character, stability, peace, and progress deserves recognition and reward.
“The challenge of the presidency is to make Nigeria work for all of its diverse peoples. Nigeria is not working for us,” she lamented.
Okunnu-Lamidi cited the unemployment rate, lamenting that youths, who represent about 70% of the population, are worst hit by failed governance.
She decried deficient school curricula, poor teacher orientation, lack of focus on manufacturing, overdependence on the oil sector, low life expectancy and infant mortality rate.
“A president for all Nigerians must have integrity, competence, a 21st-century vision, energy, empathy for all our peoples, the weak, the dispossessed and the disenfranchised”, the aspirant added.
KOL said the poverty rate of estimated 40 per cent living below the poverty line and the rising number of out-of-school children can only be fixed by a competent president.
Okunnu-Lamidi holds a Business Management (Hons) degree from University of Bolton, RAK Campus in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a Master’s degree in Strategic Project Management (SPM) from Heriot-Watt University, Dubai.
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