Prominent Nigerians, including State Governors, members of the National Assembly and professionals, yesterday declared that irrespective of the security challenges facing Nigeria, her people should celebrate the country’s 54th Independence anniversary today. As part of events lined up for the anniversary celebrations, President Goodluck Jonathan will this morning address the country on current national issues. The nationwide broadcast will begin at 7am.
In his goodwill message on the anniversary, Senate President David Mark said what the people need to do to make the country great was to have faith and remain steadfast in promoting peace and unity no matter the odds.
Mark said the indivisibility of “our nation is not negotiable because there is no better place than Nigeria.”
He recalled the nation’s chequered political history since 1960 when it got Independence from colonial Britain, the 30-month civil war to the various ethno-religious conflicts and asserted that it was a thing of joy that Nigeria had come out from them stronger.
Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda said Nigeria would have done better in its 54 years of Independence but for military interventions in its governance and other challenges.
The challenges notwithstanding, Governor Yuguda said the country was on course and would soon emerge a major global economic and political force.
The governor told State House correspondents after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja that some of the challenges the country had faced had prepared it for greatness.
According to him, “We cannot discard some of the challenges we have had which have made the country to suffer a lot of problems which ordinarily would have made the country more developed. Politically, we have had a lot of military interventions in the last 54 years which had made it impossible to deepen our democracy but now we have 15 years of uninterrupted democracy and we are deepening democracy. Politically, you can see the effect of our journey towards being a democratic nation.
“For the other sectors, sadly we have also had some challenges. Economically, we have challenges when it comes to implementation of our development programmes and some of those interventions which made it impossible for us to implement development programmes.
“We certainly could have done better even when it comes to operating the structure that can fight corruption in the system, it is only as late as the year 2006, 2007 that some of these institutions that fight corruption were put in place. So, even the infrastructure for fighting corruption has not been put in place for a very long time until only recently,” he said.
To his Plateau State counterpart and Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, Jonah David Jang, the nation’s 54th Independent anniversary “is a thing of celebration in spite of the economic, political and security challenges.”
The governor stated this in his message to Nigerians on the occasion of the country’s Independence Day celebration.
In a statement signed by James Mannok, his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Jang said the day should be well celebrated by Nigerians because of their resilience in the country’s journey to nationhood. He noted that Nigerians had stood strong in forging ahead as one indivisible entity.
Governor Jang urged “Nigerians to love, tolerate, forgive and respect our diverse cultural values in a bid to strengthen this bond of fraternity.”
Similarly, Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji, has called on members of the Boko Haram sect to lay down their arms and embrace peace as a mark of respect for the sacrifices of Nigeria’s nationalists made to secure Independence for the country.
Governor Orji, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Charles Ajunwa, expressed the hope that the current security challenges facing the nation would soon be over.
According to him, “if all citizens, ethnic nationalities and political parties, as well as religious bodies see Nigeria as one indivisible entity, the nation will be better for it,”
The governor commended the military and other security agencies for the recent victories in the war against insurgency and expressed strong belief in “an indissoluble Nigeria,” stressing that “insecurity shall soon fizzle out if we rediscover ourselves as one people and harness the strength in our diversity.”
Meanwhile, former Minister of Sports and Special Duties, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, has said that the mere fact that Nigerians are still together under one country, “despite our cultural and language differences shows that God is interested in the Nigeria project.”
Prof. Adedoja who is also a governorship aspirant in Oyo State under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said that the Transformation Agenda of President Jonathan in the last three years had filled the gap in the economic and social lives of Nigerians.
Also, former Oyo State Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala appraised President Jonathan and gave him kudos on his numerous achievements.
Alao-Akala disclosed this in his Independence message made available to the Nigerian Pilot in Ibadan yesterday.
He said that Jonathan’s administration had recorded tremendous feats, adding that such was enough to guarantee the nation’s glorious future.
According to him, “A glorious future awaits our dear nation if we are not weary and do not allow what we are passing through to overwhelm us. We have passed through what can be described as the ugliest time as a nation and the current trend shows that we are gradually moving out of the doldrums to a better Nigeria.”
Culled from Nigerian Pilot
No comments:
Post a Comment