British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms Catriona Laing said this at a dinner to mark the Queen’s Birthday Party with the theme “Youth and Creativity” in Abuja on Wednesday.

Laing said that the event was also celebrating the UK-Nigeria relationship through creativity and innovation of the Nigerian youths.

“We are celebrating the 93rd birthday of Her Majesty, the Queen who is an amazing icon and somebody we all look up to and aspire to be like.

“Secondly, we are celebrating UK-Nigeria relationship and the way I chose to celebrate it is through celebrating creativity and innovation and all the exhibitions you see tonight; the dancers, the musicians, fashion designers, drone designers, are all different aspects of that.

“It shows the economy of the future and both Nigeria and the UK are grappling with this and together, working on creative industry, we can do better.

“That is something I want to work on with in my time here in Nigeria.”

She advised the youths to not to be discouraged by the challenges experienced in the country and urged the government to create the right environment to enable growth and creativity to thrive.

“Nigeria is all about the youth, the creativity, championing this incredible talent and let us do it now and not wait till the future.

“Life is tough here in Nigeria and I recognise that but I have been to many countries including many African countries and I have not seen the kind of amazing creative talent that Nigerians have.

“So try and succeed despite the difficulties and having a government that is not always there to support you because you will come through if you persevere, stick with your idea and believe in yourself.

“It is actually the private sector that drives growth, so what the government should do is to create right environment to enable that growth and creativity to thrive.”

The high commissioner recalled Her Majesty, the Queen’s last visit to Nigeria in 2003 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

She added that it was the Queen’s desire for the “friendship between our two peoples to go from strength to strength”.

“From a Nigerian perspective, I am confident that whoever becomes our new Prime Minister, interest in Nigeria will only rise.”

One of the youths featured in the event was Mr Benjamin Chiedu, a self-taught drone-maker and Founder of Rotors and Pilots, a drone-making company.

Chiedu also encouraged the youths in the country to “think outside the box” and be influenced by “things that are of the future”.

He also urged the government to support the youth especially in the area of research and development.

“The government should bring those (youths) with talent into a hub and supply all that they need to bring their dreams to reality.”

He described his drones as locally made and designed according to clients’ needs.

“I refer to them as custom-made because it can be made to the taste of our clients.

“My clients are video makers, individuals who want drones for mapping like surveyors and farmers also because if you need a drone to spray over farms, the drones found off the shelf cannot carry such load needed.

“Most times, when I fly them, people think that they were bought so I made one here on display with recycled materials so that people can see that I actually made them,” he said.

Another featured youth was Mr Ernest Ibe, a graffiti artist who said the art showcased at the event was meant to celebrate the youths and creativity.

“We (youths) in this country know that we have a lot of potentials so we (through our art) are trying to portray the creativity we have in this country.

“Also, the work is telling us about the freedom of youth to express themselves in whatever they are doing; it means we have the ability to make our own world, to create a lot of things that can make an impact in our society.

“The Nigerian and UK flags which unite us together is a form of synergy between the countries and what we can do together as one,” he added.

Delivering goodwill messages, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State said the Queen had influenced the government of Nigeria positively.

“We are all here to celebrate the birthday of a great personality, a global leader, Queen Elizabeth II.

“The influence she has had a very positive influence on our government; we pray that she will continue to have more of such positive influence on our country and on global politics.”

Also, Senate President Ahmed Lawan used the occasion to wish “Her Majesty the Queen a very happy birthday and we pray and hope for many more returns of this very memorable and important day”.