See the full remarks of the Vice
President below:
"Let me first say how truly
excited we are to receive here
today Mark Zuckerberg, (and
from now on I will only call him
Mark as everyone else does.)
"As you know Mark is a very
informal person. I had asked him
earlier why he wasn't wearing
his T-shirt but he assured me
that that was just out of respect
for the formality of coming to see
the President.
"But it is really exciting to have
you here today with us, Mark. I
think that one of the great things
that you have demonstrated is
that it is possible to live your
dreams; it is possible to make
your dreams not just coming
true but coming true so
fabulously that you not only
influence your environment but
you influence the whole world.
"I had said earlier-(referring to
earlier meetings today at the
Presidential Villa) that one of the
things that you have done is
really to create connectivity
across the world so that people
are really able to interact across
tribe, across race and across
countries and feel as part of one
family.
"This is really one of the great
things that you have done and
your coming to Nigeria has been
especially energising for not just
the young people but everyone
else.
"As you could see, even the
President is of course on
Facebook, and I am also on
Facebook. So we are one of the
17 million. So this hasn't just
been exciting for the young
people.
"Everyone who organised this
Aso Villa Demo Day are young
people, all of them work for the
government of Nigeria in one
capacity or the other, aside from
the private sector who have
done such an excellent work and
all of them are very young
people. I just want to thank you
all for the excellent work you
have done putting this whole
thing together.
"Let me also congratulate the
winners. First the 30, I must say
that all 30 of you are winners in
every sense but of the 30 there
are three who have shown
themselves to be outstanding
and have been adjudged to be
outstanding and I want to
congratulate you all on that very
great achievement.
"This is the first iteration-
(edition) of the Aso Villa Day. In
the next year I am sure it is
going to be bigger and better. I
don't know if we are going to
get Mark to be able to show up
for that. But somehow or the
other we are going to keep him
in the loop and let him know
what we are up to and how
much progress we are making.
"I want to thank you all for
taking the time to be here, taking
the time to participate. And I
want to say that this country is
going to be built on the energy,
on the innovation and on the
creativity of the very young
people who are here. And
whenever young people say that
we want to be included, I believe
very strongly that today you are
included and no one has a choice
in that matter.
"Today technology has created a
level playing field; technology has
made it possible for you seated
somewhere in your office or
living room to create wealth, to
create connectivity, to create all
manner of things across the
world.
"So this was not like when I was
25. It is a new day, it is a
completely new day and I think
there is so much hope and there
is so much that your generation
of people are going to do. And I
am certainly looking forward to
being a part of that. By the time I
am 80 I hope that I will be in a
position to have an App that
enables me to follow very closely
whatever all you people are
doing seated somewhere in my
village enjoying life.
"I am sure that you are all going
to have a great future and I
certainly look forward to
working with you as part of the
government of Nigeria to ensure
that all of our plans, all your
talents and abilities are put to the
best possible use and we
support you all the way.
"We are also looking forward to
cooperating with Facebook. I am
sure that in the next couple of
months we will be working out
the ways in which we can
cooperate especially with
connectivity and some of the
great ideas that Mark has for
improving connectivity in Africa.
We are going to be working very
closely with him so that in the
next few months we are able to
achieve something by way of
increased connectivity for all of
Africa.
"Again thank you very much. God
bless you all. Thank you, sirs, and
thank you ma."
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