Femi Gbajabiamila, the outgoing speaker of the house of representatives, says many young Nigerians have lost faith in the country.

Gbajabiamila spoke on Wednesday at the valedictory session of the ninth house of representatives said the country is losing some of its “best and brightest” brains to other countries, adding that urgent action must be taken to avert a “painful consequence”.

Gbajabiamila said despite the “considerable investments we have made to improve our public infrastructure and the numerous reforms we have enacted to change how we administer the government”, the country still faces many “significant challenges”. He said the challenges have caused many young Nigerians to “wonder if the promise of democracy will ever become real in their lives”.

“Too many of our young people have lost faith entirely and are choosing in droves to seek their fortunes and their futures in other lands,” Gbajabiamila said. “We are losing some of our best and brightest, and if we don’t act now, the consequences of this loss will shortly become painfully evident.”He said the government must ensure that the economy is “healthy, vigorous, growing“ and that all Nigerians will have equal opportunities to succeed through their labour, hard work and ingenuity.

Gbajabiamila further said the citizens must be protected from marauders, insurgents, petty criminals and assorted villains who wish to harm them.

He also said the government need to “restore faith in our young people so that so many of them no longer feel like the only way to achieve their best aspirations is to chase their fortunes in far away, often hostile lands”.

“With each new day, we have an opportunity to make the hard choices and take the necessary actions to guarantee our nation’s future.  With each new day, we have less time to act and a more outstanding obligation to act quickly,” he added. After the valedictory session, the house was adjourned sine die.

The 10th national assembly will be inaugurated on June 13.