Former US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Andrew Young on Thursday August 22, alleged that ”something is wrong with everybody” in Nigeria as they are always complaining about the government.
Speaking at the dinner organised for him by the Emeka Offor foundation and also to mark the record of no wild polio virus case in Nigeria in three years, the former US envoy said he has never heard about a good government in Nigeria. He also told those complaining that the world has never been perfect.
“Everybody know that Nigerians are to be respected, if not feared, except you Nigerians. Nigerians are always complaining about themselves,” he said.
“Is like complaining about government you have had, I never heard about a good government in Nigeria – something is wrong with everybody. Well let’s face it, the world has never and would be perfect.
“There have never been a people that have come further and work harder and produce more with less and suffered more problems than the people of Nigeria and the government that you have produced” he said.
Young also described the eradication of polio as a ‘tremendous achievement’. He also said South Africa would not be free today and Mandela would not be out today if not for Nigeria.
“I don’t know if you have 50 million people, 90 million people, 120 million people and you don’t know either but we know that polio has been cured,” he said.
“I remember polio as a boy because Franklin Roosevelt was a victim of polio and we started when we were little children to wipe polio, now here we are in Nigeria, with its millions and millions of people trying to end a disease that has killed millions and millions throughout its existence.
“So cannot tell me that things are not better, I look at the way the cities are growing, I look at the Nigerians that come to the United States of America and you don’t send dumb Nigerians there, they are all smart.
“Some might be a little sleek but they are all brilliant, they work hard. They solve problems.”
