Independence Anniversary: We Need Joint Efforts to Overcome National Challenges

Ololade Adeyanju/

Former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki says all Nigerians need to work together and play positive roles if the country must overcome present challenges and realize her manifest destiny as a global leader.

Saraki, in a statement to mark the nation’s 59th Independence Anniversary signed on his behalf by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, stated that both the people in government and the governed need attitudinal change and must start exhibiting the determination to tame and eliminate factors that keep the country down or retard progress.

He noted that experts who at independence in 1960 predicted that Nigeria would within its first two decades of independence become an economic giant did not make any mistake because all the indices pointed in that direction for the nation.

He added that the dream was derailed by the actions and inactions of both the elite and the ordinary people in the country.

His words: “Now, we should have realized our mistakes and know that our present situation is far from what our country was destined for. It is high time we all decided that we would forget ethnicity, focus on issues that unite the country, become our brother’s keeper, be law abiding and protect public properties more than we protect our own.

“While it is important for those in government to initiate progressive, innovative and problem solving policies, programmes and projects, particularly those that will uplift the poor in the society and create a more egalitarian society, he said the people should also be ready to give maximum, patriotic and solid support for the success of the initiatives.

“This is a time for all of us, citizens, to take a deep introspective look into how come the South-East Asian countries that were in worse situation than our own in the 60s and 70s are now developed and have turned the fortune of their masses around, while things are worse for us.

“Pondering over this question will help us agree that the common point we should all subscribe to now is the one that will enable us work collectively and individually towards breaking the yoke that have kept our country down.”

He, however, congratulated all Nigerians for the fact that in spite of the challenges of the last almost six decades, the country has remained one and has been able to permanently adopt democracy as the system of government just as Nigeria has successfully defended democracy and warded off dangers against it across Africa.

He also  noted that if the economy of the country gets better, most of the ills of the nation like insecurity, youth unemployment, collapse of infrastructure and moral decay will disappear and a modern Nigeria will emerge as the real giant of Africa.

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