In his continuing effort to connect to a younger audience, President Barack Obama on Thursday, January 22 sat down with, and took questions, from three YouTube stars: GloZell Green, Hank Green and Bethany Mota – who have 13.8 million subscribers between them – on issues facing them and their audiences.
Responding to a question from 19-year-old Mota on the kidnapping of over 200 Chibok girls by Boko Haram insurgents in April last year, Obama said America has tried to help the Nigerian government to deal with the problem.
He then added: “The Nigerian government has not been as effective as it needs to be in not only finding the girls but in stopping this extremist organisation from operating inside their territory. What we are trying to do is mobilise other countries to try to give the Nigerian government more resources; not just military equipment but better intelligence to track where these folks are and to try to stop them.”
Throwing a challenge to the Nigerian youths, Obama said “the more young people are engaged in issues like this, and speak out and let their elected officials know that they care about it, the more attention that is paid to it and ultimately that is how you solve these problems.”
While some traditional media consider the YouTube interview a PR disaster because of some weird and somewhat “unintelligent” questions asked, liberals hail it a success because it reached thousands of people who have unplugged from mainstream media.
Other issues like legalising marijuana use, same sex couple, cyber security, terrorism, racial profiling and affordable education.
The interview has so far been watched by more than 1.5 million people.
Watch the video below:
