Quit whining, as a graduate, I worked as a security guard, no one owes you anything - Minister of Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi tells Nigerian youths

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, yesterday told Nigerian youths to wake up and stop complaining and blaming government and others for the challenges they encounter in life, as nobody, neither the government, family members or any other person, owes them anything.

Fayemi said this while delivering the 2016 convocation lecture of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) at the J. F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium. Drawing lessons from his own experience in Life, Fayemi told the graduates that he had to make certain sacrifices in life for him to get to the position where he presently occupies.


He disclosed that he engaged in odd and menial jobs such as driving public taxis and working as a security guard both in Nigeria and during his postgraduate days in the United Kingdom.

"Quit whining. No one owes you anything. The earlier we realise that no one owes us anything, the better for us and the more prepared we would be to face life’s challenges. Don’t think you are entitled to a job, just because of your parents’ influence or what they have or your good grades. The only guarantee you have in this life is what you do for yourself with the grace God has bestowed on us all. You have to be prepared to bend backwards and do what you might consider to be beneath you, because of the bigger picture. As a UNILAG graduate and a postgraduate student at the United Kingdom, I have also driven taxis and worked as a security guard, amongst several other menial jobs I did in the past to survive”he said