This paper interrogates the visual images and texts Nigerians posted on social media – Facebook as a counter-narrative to President Buhari’s narrative that ‘we have a very young population, a lot of them have not been to school, and they are claiming they should sit and do nothing but get housing, health care, and education free’. The narrative of Muhammadu Buhari was interpreted by Nigerians as suggesting that the youths are lazy. This attracted a swift reaction from Nigerians, who used social media platforms as the medium through which to present their counter-narrative not merely to the President but global consumers that Nigerian youths are not lazy. In doing this, eight visual images that show young Nigerians engaged in different socio-economic activities were analysed and some interactive texts that convey counter-narrative were interpreted. The analysis reveals that despite government failure in providing a developmental plan for the youths in Nigeria, they are either acquiring skills in furniture making or fashion designs. Some others engage in hawking of different products as a means of livelihood. Besides, a group of young men waiting under the sun on motorcycles in another visual image reflects commercial motorcycle transporters. We concluded that the visual images demonstrate that young Nigerians are not lazy but hardworking and energetic.

本文质疑尼日利亚人在社交媒体 Facebook 上发布的视觉图像和文本，作为布哈里总统叙述的反叙述，即“我们的人口非常年轻，他们中的很多人没有上过学，他们声称他们应该坐下来”除了免费提供住房、医疗保健和教育之外什么都不做”。穆罕默德·布哈里的叙述被尼日利亚人解读为暗示年轻人很懒。这引起了尼日利亚人的迅速反应，他们利用社交媒体平台作为媒介，不仅向总统而且向全球消费者表达他们的反驳言论，即尼日利亚年轻人并不懒惰。在此过程中，我们分析了八张显示尼日利亚年轻人从事不同社会经济活动的视觉图像，并解释了一些传达反叙事的互动文本。分析显示，尽管政府未能为尼日利亚年轻人提供发展计划，但他们要么正在学习家具制造或时装设计技能。其他一些人则以贩卖不同产品作为谋生手段。此外，另一幅视觉图像中，一群年轻男子骑着摩托车在阳光下等待，反映的是商业摩托车运输车。我们得出的结论是，视觉图像表明尼日利亚年轻人并不懒惰，而是勤奋、充满活力。在另一幅视觉图像中，一群年轻男子骑着摩托车在阳光下等待，反映的是商业摩托车运输车。我们得出的结论是，视觉图像表明尼日利亚年轻人并不懒惰，而是勤奋、充满活力。在另一幅视觉图像中，一群年轻男子骑着摩托车在阳光下等待，反映的是商业摩托车运输车。我们得出的结论是，视觉图像表明尼日利亚年轻人并不懒惰，而是勤奋、充满活力。