OGBENI Rauf Aregbesola of Osun has warned Nigerian youths against quick money syndrome mentality, leading them to engage in fraudulent activities.

Aregbesola gave the warning on Saturday at the 2018 South-West Conference of the Junior Chamber International (JCI).

The governor said the youths must champion the virtues of hard work, integrity, honesty, the pursuit of knowledge and the quest for innovation and pathfinding.

Represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Mudashiru Toogun, Aregbesola said that Nigerian youths were the hope of better future for the country.

He said that for Nigeria to actualize her set objectives, the youths must refrain from acts capable of rubbing the corporate integrity and reputation of the country‎ in the mud.

According to the governor, for Nigeria to reclaimed its glorious position of providing genuine and outstanding leadership among the comity of nations, her youths must ‎rise to the present challenges and take their historic position to lead the black race.

He said that youths must wake up from their slumber and hold firmly to their future by being productive and hardworking.

“The trend in other parts of the world is that young people are increasingly setting the pace.

“People like Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, the online retail corporation, Mark Zuckerberg, who invented Facebook, Jerry Yang, who created Yahoo,

” David Cameron, immediate past Prime Minister of Britain and several others who, as young men in their 20s and 30s, have taken the direction of the world in business and politics.

“In our land, we have Anthony Enahoro, who was elected into the Federal House of Representatives in his early 20s, Adeyemi Lawson, who at 24 became the chairman of Lagos Island Local Government, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, who as young men, became a political colossus.

“Regrettably, too many of our youths have been wasted and are also poised to self-destruct.

“The youths are the hope of our race and they must take their historic position,” he said.

The governor, however, said that his administration had secured a better future for the people of the state through the provision of quality and functional education.

Earlier, the National‎ President of JCI, Mr Adeniyi Balogun, urged the youths to continue to use their strength to make the difference towards national development and growth.

In his remarks, the Executive Vice President of JCI (Southwest), Mr Abiola Olorunnisola, said the conference was put together to awaken Nigerian youths to their responsibilities for national growth and development.