Recently, Mr Bill Gates was in Nigeria where he made an appeal to the federal government to invest in its people especially through education and health. Since his statements were released, the federal government and its supporters have tried to discredit his assertions and observations, trying to frame his point of view as motivated by politics instead of economics. They have flooded social media with pictures of achievements in rail and roads.

One of the pro government social media handlers while defending the government and rebuking Bill Gates stated with ignorance that the rails being built by the government will be used by Nigerians as a result it is an investment in its people. This comment actually shows a poor understanding of the concerns of Mr Bill Gates but we don’t need to worry about that any longer even if the government fails to act on it.

As it has always been its practice, BudgIT a civic organization has taken up the challenge by Mr Bill Gates. At its recently organized program tagged “investing in the people of Nigeria” where various speakers across the economic strata of the country where present, they jointly harped on the development of Nigeria by government investment in Nigerians.

According to them majority of the crisis bedeviling Nigeria at the moment especially the insurgency in the North East region is a product of long term abandonment of the people by the government. In the words of Fati Abubakar, a photographer at the event, “radicalization started because we did not invest in our people; it followed from idleness and lack of role models.”

The co-founder of RED Media Mr Debola Williams believes political participation by young ones will help in redefining the state of the nation, according to him “It is up to us to make the human capital investment a sustainable cornerstone of our growth. The problem with Nigerians is that they don’t want to be identified with political parties. I always tell young people that the best way to get involved. Get registered in a party and help them improve.All the prayer points in Nigeria today are as a result of failed policies.”

BudgIT has promised to take this symposium around the county while curating feedback for the Federal government.