Rawlings denies backing Buhari's 'lazy Nigeria youth' comment

Former Ghanaian leader Jerry John Rawlings has issued a statement through his office denying ever endorsing comments by Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, about the youth of Africa’s most populous country being lazy and wanting to be spoon-fed.

President Buhari, at the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London on Wednesday, described the youth of his country as lazy people who always want freebies.

“About the economy”, he said, “We have a very young population, our population is estimated conservatively to be 180 million. This is a very conservative one.

“More than 60 per cent of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil-producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, health care, education free.”

He has received a lot of flak from Nigerians over that comment with some social media commentators dragging Mr Rawlings’ name into the Nigerian affair necessitating his denial statement part of which read: “The office wishes to state that former President Rawlings has made no comment whatsoever nor issued a statement on the comments by President Buhari”.

Any comments purportedly coming from Mr. Rawlings are false and a creation of individuals who wish to use the former President of Ghana’s name for their own political interests.

April 22, 2018

FORMER PRESIDENT RAWLINGS HAS MADE NO COMMENTS ON PRESIDENT BUHARI STATEMENTS ON NIGERIAN YOUTH

The attention of the office of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, former President of Ghana, has been drawn to a post on various media, especially in Nigeria, professing his support for comments made by President Muhammadu Buhari on Nigerian youth.

The office wishes to state that former President Rawlings has made no comment whatsoever nor issued a statement on the comments by President Buhari.

Any comments purportedly coming from Mr. Rawlings are false and a creation of individuals who wish to use the former President of Ghana’s name for their own political interests.

All official statements or comments by Flt Lt Rawlings can be found on his Twitter handle @officeofJJR or his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/President.J.J.Rawlings/