“Is This What You Want to Reduce Our Youths To: Driving Taxis?” – Atiku’s Aide Criticizes Wike’s Comment on Youth Employment

Paul Ibe, media adviser to former presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, has expressed strong criticism of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike for encouraging youths in Abuja to take up taxi driving as a career path.

Ibe’s response came after Wike presented cars to selected youths in Abuja, enabling them to enter the commercial driving sector. While giving out the vehicles, Wike suggested that beneficiaries should feel no shame in the opportunity, adding that many Nigerians willingly take on similar roles when they move abroad.

However, Ibe saw the gesture in a different light. Taking to social media, he argued that Nigerian youths are not inherently limited to jobs like taxi driving, but rather face constrained choices due to unfavorable economic policies. “This is a big fat lie. Nigerian youths did not create this economic situation that continues to serve them the wrong end of the stick,” Ibe wrote. He asserted that policies shaped by “megalomaniacs” have systematically denied young Nigerians better opportunities.

Ibe added that while some youths may turn to taxi driving, often with services like Uber and Bolt, it is not indicative of their true potential. “Is this what you want to reduce our youths to: driving taxis?” he questioned, insisting that Nigerian youths have proven their resilience and capability time and again.